Will money go for small business recovery in Cedar Rapids

Tyler Olson's weekly newsletter for House District 38 covered a variety of topics, including the following topic:

1. $100 Million Disaster Recovery Plan Receives Preliminary Approval

The House Rebuild Iowa committee approved a $100 million disaster recovery proposal,
HF HSB 271, last week. The bill was referred to the House Appropriations
committee for further discussion. The bill is the Rebuild Iowa committee’s
response to presentations heard during committee meetings. The bill calls for
funds to be spent from the state’s reserve funds, although we are still
discussing where to fund the priorities and it will likely change as the overall
budget process moves forward.The bill allocates resources for flood aversion
projects, storm water drainage system projects, cultural and historical
projects, housing buyouts, childcare relocation projects, nonprofit restoration,
United Way 2-1-1, long term soil and water management practices, financial
incentives to improve watershed structures, emergency restoration of soil and
water conservation practices, restoration of residential rental property,
regional watershed planning, and floodplain mapping.The resources in this bill
are in addition to the $20 million Cedar Rapids received earlier this year, of
which $10 million was for housing assistance and $10 million for the city to use
within certain categories (e.g. small business recovery, nonprofit assistance,
infrastructure repair). These numbers also do not count the nearly $18 million
in small business recovery dollars distributed in Linn County. Allocating state
resources for disaster recovery is my number one priority as we move through the
overall budget process. - Tyler Olson Iowa House 38

There are a variety of fronts on Flood Recovery in Cedar Rapids. Senator Rob Hogg continues to comment that it took America three years to establish a second front during World War II.

How much money will go towards small business recovery in Cedar Rapids from this new amount? Currently, there has been more money allocated for housing recovery administrative costs than what the total amount of for small business recovery. Gary Ficken, President of the Small Business Recovery group in Cedar Rapids highlighted his concerns on Friday during the Chamber Legislative Forum.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns that 40% of small businesses in a disaster impacted area will normally be out of business in five years, due the impact from a disaster. We have a variety of fronts to Flood Recovery. We need help from Federal, State and local officials that we don't forget the small business sector in our recovery efforts.

Robin Tucker