5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable
Raise FEMA's per capita indicator threshold for public assistance
Printed page 153 5. Department of Homeland Security
“FEMA should raise the threshold because the per capita indicator has not kept pace with inflation, and this over time has effectively lowered the threshold for public assistance and caused FEMA's resources to be stretched perilously thin. Alternatively, applying a deductible could accomplish a similar outcome while also incentivizing states to take a more proactive role in their own preparedness and response capabilities.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The President's FEMA Review Council, established by EO 14180, recommended in its final report exactly what the Quote asks: "a reset of the Per Capita Indicator threshold, using the Consumer Price Index to account for historical inflation", spelled out as raising the Public Assistance per capita indicator from its FY2026 value of $1.94 to $2.99 to recover the inflation FEMA never applied between 1986 and 1999. The Council's own analysis says this would have disqualified 29 percent of disasters declared between 2012 and 2025, about 16 fewer major disaster declarations a year. The report says the change "would require regulatory changes" and that in the interim the President could direct higher thresholds by executive action. Neither has happened: FEMA has proposed no rule amending 44 CFR 206.48, and the only indicator FEMA adjusted in the window was the separate statewide cost-share indicator, set at $189 for 2026 by routine inflation adjustment.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Attempted and not partial: a presidential council’s recommendation to the President is a concrete administration step, but the indicator itself is unchanged and the regulation that carries it is untouched.
The Council also proposes the Quote’s alternative - a deductible-like device - in the form of an annual calendar-year minimum expenditure a state must incur before it can request a declaration. That too is a recommendation only.
Reviewed 2026-10-01: a routine CPI step, not the raise. FEMA’s notice “Notice of Adjustment of Statewide per Capita Impact Indicator” (FR 2026-19855, 91 FR 61430, 2026-09-29) was read in full. It says that “the statewide per capita impact indicator was increased to $1.94 for all disasters with an incident start date on or after October 1, 2025”, based on “an increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers of 2.9 percent”. It acts under 44 CFR 206.48 and amends nothing. $1.94 is the FY2026 value already recorded here; the notice publishes it late. This is the annual mechanism the Quote says “has not kept pace”, not the reset to about $2.99 that the Council recommended. Status unchanged, attempted. No event.
A boundary call, made alongside #385 and #273. #273 treats the same Council as not a step toward moving FEMA to Interior, because the report recommends against it; here the report recommends precisely the ask, which is why the two items diverge on the same instrument.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- FEMA per capita indicator for public assistance
- ID
- 384