THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

April 15, 1994

          PRESIDENT CLINTON MAKES AVAILABLE $809.5 MILLION FOR 
          CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY; $23 MILLION FOR OTHER 
                             DISASTER RELIEF

The President today notified the Congress that he will make available $832.1 million in emergency budget resources for the Small Business Administration (SBA) and several other Federal agencies to assist disaster recovery efforts, primarily in response to the January earthquake in southern California. Vice President Gore will announce the action upon his arrival this afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport.

"Our Administration is doing everything we can to respond to the continuing needs of individuals, families, businesses, and communities arising from the January earthquake," the President said.

"California's economic future depends in part on a strong recovery from the earthquake, and the loans and other assistance included in this package will help considerably. Our departments and agencies will continue to monitor events in California and take whatever actions are needed to meet Federal responsibilities there," the President added.

Most of the funds made available today are directed toward the economic revival of southern California's earthquake-damaged areas, including business loans, infrastructure repair, and housing. This most recent action by the President brings the amount of federal resources provided to California in response to the January earthquake to a total of $10.3 billion.

Of the $832.1 million the President is making available, approximately $809.5 million will be directed to California earthquake recovery relief. That total includes $652.5 million in SBA disaster loans (supported by $150 million in budget authority); $53 million for the Department of Commerce for economic development projects under the Economic Development Administration, including establishment of a local Infrastructure Development Fund to upgrade damaged facilities not eligible for other Federal assistance; $30 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the acquisition or repair of damaged multifamily rental properties; and $39 million to the Department of Health and Human Services for community services, repair of damaged health facilities, to assist frail and impaired senior citizens, and for other purposes.

In addition to the assistance for California, the funds announced today also include $18 million for the Department of Interior for conservation, acquisition, and reconstruction activities following the 1993 Midwest floods.

Finally, $5.1 million of the $832.1 million will be directed to Interior for its Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement abandoned mine reclamation fund. The funds will be used to remove debris and to stabilize land around abandoned coal mine sites in Kentucky affected by major mudslides caused by recent excessive precipitation. The President declared 64 counties in Kentucky a disaster area on March 16 due to severe snow and ice storms.

The package announced today, which was put together by Office of Management and Budget Director Leon E. Panetta, uses a total of $329.1 million in budget authority from the $550 million contingency fund provided to the President under Public Law 103-211, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1994, to support emergency disaster needs. The funds will be available to the agencies in 15 days.

Combined with the $133 million from the fund already designated by the President for emergency use, a total of $462.1 million has been designated to be released, leaving $87.9 million in the fund.

In addition to those listed above, agencies receiving funds for California are the Department of the Interior, General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Legal Services Corporation.

Upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport at 4:30 p.m. PDT today, the Vice President is expected to meet with reporters to discuss the Administration's release of the disaster funds. Fact sheets on the emergency funds are attached.

NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $53 million is provided to the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to assist in the economic recovery of communities affected by the earthquake.
• This includes $50 million for the creation of a local Infrastructure Development Fund that will make funds available to repair or upgrade local infrastructure damaged by earthquake which is not eligible for other Federal assistance.
• Also included is $3 million in grants for tourism promotion.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• The Infrastructure Development Fund will be capitalized by EDA and will be administered by the City of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions. These funds will be used to leverage existing financing through matching grants, loans, insurance, and subordinated debt. Local communities will identify the infrastructure projects to receive assistance.
• Eligible projects would include earthquake damaged non-public infrastructure ineligible for FEMA assistance, such as a privately-owned water system, and repair projects in which it makes economic sense to upgrade the infrastructure beyond pre-earthquake specifications.
• The tourism grant would be used to conduct an international media campaign promoting Los Angeles as a convention and tourism destination. Los Angeles is the second most popular U.S. destination for foreign visitors, and accounts for over 17% of all tourist visits to U.S. cities. These funds will be matched by locally-generated funds.

            NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
               HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
     ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (ACF)
  HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (HRSA)
             ADMINISTRATION ON AGING (AOA)
          SOCIAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SSA)
          NATIONAL INSTITUTES FOR HEALTH (NIH)

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $39 million is provided for a coordinated program to address community health and social service needs arising from the earthquake. Individual program elements are as follows:
• Administration for Children and Families ($20 million)- This includes $11.2 million for Community Services Block Grants to provide services to the low-income population, such as home repairs, employment assistance, food, and clothing; $7 million for Social Services Block Grants for mental health and substance abuse services, case management, counselling and other supportive services; $1 million for Head Start, primarily for emergency and long-term mental health services to children, families and staff; and $0.8 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth for facility repairs, mental health and substance abuse treatment and youth employment and training.
• Health Resources and Services Administration ($10 million) -This includes $6 million for Community and Migrant Health Centers to repair damaged facilities and provide additional services and $4 million to support multi-disciplinary outreach teams to identify and serve people with health problems caused by the earthquake.
• Administration on Aging ($6.75 million) - AoA will provide Disaster Advocacy Services focusing on the most frail and impaired older persons, emphasizing relocation, in-home chore, and repair services.
• Social Security Administration ($1.25 million) - Funds will be used to relocate the damaged San Fernando branch office and finalize unprocessed claims in offices affected by the earthquake.
• National Institute for Health ($1 million) - Replace equipment for NIH research grantees.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• Funds will be distributed through existing regulatory and grant procedures. Services will be coordinated with those being provided through State and FEMA funding.

                    NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
                      SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
                          DISASTER LOAN PROGRAM

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $150 million is provided to support $652.5 million in additional lending to victims of the Northridge earthquake. These funds are needed because initial loan demand estimates now appear to have been too low.
• $0.5 million is provided to support three investigators and two auditors to work on fraud detection and deterrence activities related to the disaster assistance program in southern California.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• SBA direct disaster loans are provided to homeowners, renters, and businesses to repair or replace damage to real property to its predisaster condition. Businesses of any size are eligible, as are non-profit organizations. Also, economic injury disaster loans (EIDLs) are available for working capital to small businesses and small agricultural cooperatives.
• Interest rates are currently 3.63 percent or 7.25 percent for home loans, and 4 percent or 7.7 percent for business loans, with the higher rate applying if the applicant has credit available elsewhere. Maximum loan terms are 30 years.
• Home loans are limited to $200,000 for real estate and $40,000 for personal property. Business loans are limited to $1.5 million for real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and all other physical and economic losses. Within these limits, the loan amount may be increased by up to 20 percent to finance mitigating measures that will prevent future property damage.
  • Eligibility: For physical disaster loans, must be located in disaster area and suffered a physical property loss as a result. Must demonstrate an ability to repay the loan. Individuals, business concerns, charitable and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply for assistance. For economic injury loans, must be a small business concern located in the disaster area. Must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere. Must furnish evidence of the cause and extent of injury claimed.
• Application procedure: All potential applicants

  should first register with FEMA at the nearest Disaster Application Center (DAC). FEMA refers victims with incomes above minimum thresholds and all business victims and self-employed homeowners or renters to SBA for possible loan assistance. SBA will provide assistance in preparing the loan application. Loan applications can be submitted by mail or in person.

                    NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
              NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $20.8 million is provided to cover earthquakerelated costs in NASA's Space Shuttle and Space Station programs.
• $9.4 million is for repairing damage to equipment and buildings owned by the Federal Government. This includes damaged NASA-owned equipment in contractor facilities located less than three miles from the earthquake's epicenter.
• $11.4 million is for NASA's share of contractor "indirect" costs that must be reimbursed by the government. These earthquake-related overhead expenses include debris removal, setting up and recalibrating machine tools, and employee "lost time" when work sites were inaccessible.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• The Federal Government owns facilities in Downey, CA, and Palmdale, CA, that are used for maintaining and modifying NASA's four Space Shuttle orbiters. Buildings at Downey were harmed by the earthquake, and a Space Shuttle orbiter at Palmdale for servicing had some of its thermal protection tiles damaged. Other equipment for the Space Shuttle program was damaged at both sites.
• Contractor facilities owned by Rockwell International and its Rocketdyne subsidiary sustained damage in three locations northeast of Los Angeles: Canoga Park, DeSoto, and Plummer. Work for NASA at these facilities includes developing the Space Station's power system and manufacturing and servicing the Space Shuttle's main engines.
• NASA is liable for some contractor indirect costs resulting from the earthquake because of the costreimbursement nature of these contracts. Allocation of these costs to NASA and other Federal agencies is consistent with Federal Acquisition Regulations.

            NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
            GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• A total of $6.7 million is provided, consisting of $5.2 million to repair damaged buildings and $1.5 million to establish telecommuting centers.
• Two Federal buildings in Los Angeles sustained substantial damage in the earthquake, the Van Nuys Federal Building and the Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard. Ten other buildings sustained minor damage. Also, some GSA-leased space sustained structural damage which forced GSA to relocate the tenants.
• To ease congestion on the earthquake-damaged freeways, GSA has opened three telecommuting centers for use by Federal employees. Two additional centers will be opened shortly.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• GSA owns 12 and leases 142 buildings in the affected area. In general, GSA must pay repair costs on federally-owned buildings while the lessor pays the cost on leased buildings. GSA can incur costs associated with relocating Federal employees from damaged leased buildings.
• The telecommuting centers each include 30 fullyfurnished workstations (15 with computers), telephones, fax machines conference rooms and an administrative manager to operate the center. Current centers are in Santa Clarita Valley, Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks and Thousand Oaks.

            NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
               DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $5 million is provided for emergency technical assistance provided by the National Trust for Historical Preservation and for rehabilitation grants administered through the California State Historic Preservation Officer for nationally designated historic properties damaged by the earthquake.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• In excess of $50 million in property damage was done to nationally registered historic properties in southern California as a result of the Northridge earthquake and related aftershocks. To facilitate restoration, the $5 million will be used for immediate site surveys and technical assistance to affected historic properties.

            NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
               DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
           MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE (MMS)

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $0.5 million is provided for seismic research on offshore oil and gas facilities.
• The funds will be used by the Minerals Management Service Royalty and Offshore Minerals Management Program.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• MMS is responsible for the management of energy and mineral resources on the Nation's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Included in this activity is the conduct of environmental studies and assessments on the OCS as well as the regulation of exploration, development, and production to ensure safe and environmentally responsible activities.
• MMS will use these funds to complete a seismic monitoring network by installing two strong motion instruments on the seafloor offshore California; to evaluate the effect of earthquakes on platform operating facilities; and to assess the effects of seismic ground motions on the integrity of offshore pipeline systems.

                    NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
                       LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION 

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $0.5 million is provided for the Legal Services Corporation.
• Of this amount, $450,000 is for emergency legal assistance. The Corporation will use this money to assist earthquake victims in establishing eligibility for disaster assistance addressing other legal issues, such as fraudulent home repair contractors.
• The Corporation will use the remaining $50,000 to repair legal services facilities damaged by the earthquake.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• The Legal Services Corporation funds private attorneys, non-profit organizations, and State and local agencies that provide free civil legal assistance to the poor.
• The Legal Services Corporation is a private, nonprofit corporation which is outside the Federal Government.

                MIDWEST FLOOD FACT SHEET
               DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
          U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE (FWS)

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• A total of $12 million is provided for the following activities:
• $5.0 million is provided to FWS to assist landowners in voluntary projects to restore wetland flood storage capabilities in watersheds affected by the Midwest flood.
• $4.0 million is provided to FWS to acquire private lands from willing sellers in conjunction with the USDA's Soil Conservation Service's Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program.
• $2.0 million is provided to FWS to meet its statutory responsibility to assist USDA in determining preferred parcels to enroll in the wetlands reserve program, and to assist in the restoration of the enrolled wetlands.
• $1.0 million will be used by FWS to acquire land for the National Wildlife Refuge System, to promote a more normal hydrological regime for the Midwest Rivers, thereby lessening future flood risks.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• The Private Lands program has successfully worked with landowners and other cooperators to create easements on private land, which is then restored to functioning wetlands. FWS will use this $5 million to target this program to river basins affected by the Midwest flood, where the USDA Wetlands Reserve Program is not also heavily involved, and where wetlands restoration can be expected to produce significant flood water retention benefits.
• FWS will spend $4 million, in close cooperation with USDA, in order to leverage the resources of USDA's Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program (EWRP). The FWS funds would be used to buy property ineligible for the EWRP, in order to assemble coordinated buyout deals to restore whole areas to natural river hydrology, and encourage farmers and others to relocate from flood-prone land.
• FWS has a statutory responsibility to work with USDA in choosing acres to be enrolled in the USDA Wetlands Reserve Program, and then to provide technical assistance to the landowners in associated wetlands restoration work. FWS will spend $2 million to help USDA most effectively use the approximately $100 million available through the EWRP.

                MIDWEST FLOOD FACT SHEET
               DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
         UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (USGS)

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $5.0 million is provided to acquire high priority mapping data for urbanized areas affected by the Midwest flood of 1993.
• $1 million is provided to establish and operate a clearinghouse to share data collected and generated by the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team (SAST).

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• The data to be collected -- mostly state-of-theart, computer-generated digital maps of the areas affected by the flood -- will be used by decisionmakers in the flood restoration effort. It is particularly important to have this information for the urbanized areas of the Midwest, because these areas received the greatest economic damage, and will be the areas where the greatest new investment is made. This information will help decisionmakers plan their investments so as to reduce the risk of damage from future flood events. The data will also be useful long after the flood recovery effort is completed, as an aid in infrastructure planning.
• Collecting valuable high priority information is only part of the job. This data must be easily accessible to the Federal, State, and local governments, and the private sector decisionmakers, if it is truly to be a useful tool. The USGS will operate a clearinghouse for this high priority data, thereby making the data available to all who can benefit from it.

             KENTUCKY LANDSLIDE FACT SHEET
               DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $5.1 million is provided to remove debris and stabilize disturbed lands from major landslides and mine blow outs caused by excessive levels of precipitation on abandoned coal mine sites in Kentucky.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• The Emergency Program under the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund purpose is to provide immediate relief from abandoned mine hazards that threaten public health and safety. Kentucky emergency funds of $5 million, the maximum any one state can legally receive for fiscal year 1994, have been exhausted. In addition, $5 million in nonemergency project funds has been provided to handle emergency efforts.
• An additional 29 sites have requested emergency assistance for which no other funding is available.
• On March 16th, the President made a disaster declaration for 64 counties in Kentucky due to severe snow and ice storms in mid-February.

                    NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE FACT SHEET
                      HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
                  HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM

CONTINGENCY FUND RELEASE

• $30 million is provided for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program. The funds will be distributed to HOME participating jurisdictions for financing the acquisition and/or repair of earthquake-damaged multifamily rental properties.
• The program will allow localities to: (1) rebuild damaged housing critical to neighborhood revitalization efforts; (2) add to the existing affordable housing stock in their communities; (3)stem the increase in homelessness resulting from the earthquake; and (4) catalyze the rebuilding process in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by the earthquake.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

• Funds for the $30 million targeted program will be channeled through the Department's existing HOME program, with the new funds allocated based on relative amounts of damage in affected participating jurisdictions.
• In exchange for subsidized financing, borrowers will enter into 55-year affordability restrictions. In addition, borrowers must be willing to offer rehabilitated units first to very-low-income households displaced by the earthquake.
• Localities will administer the program in the same way that they administer HOME funds, with the addition of new requirements to target the funding for the acquisition and/or repair of earthquake damaged properties.
• Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, private developers/owners and joint ventures or partnerships among those entities who are willing to commit to extended affordability restrictions in exchange for funds to acquire and/or repair earthquake-damaged multifamily rental property.
• Properties must be located within census tracts that have high proportions of damaged buildings.
• As with the regular HOME program, participating jurisdictions will have the flexibility to set conditions, with the exception of the affordability restrictions and rehousing requirements.