On October 4 President Bush signed the FY 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release, the bill "will allow DHS to make significant progress...particularly in three critical areas: improving border security, enhancing chemical security, and strengthening FEMA."

The bill includes $198 million for FEMA's ongoing flood map modernization program. Other significant provisions deal with FEMA's administrative structure:

- The Administrator of FEMA will now report directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than an Under-Secretary.

- The Administrator will also be considered a principal advisor to the President and can even be designated by the President as a Cabinet member in the event of a natural disaster.

These changes were in response to several groups' and legislators' opinions that FEMA's authority had been significantly weakened since the agency was folded into the DHS in 2003.

On the legislative front, Congress adjourned for the election season without acting on the NFIP reform bills currently pending in both the House and Senate. Both chambers will reconvene for several days following the November elections, but they are not expected to act on the bills at that time. It is more likely that the bills will be pushed into 2007 for action by the 110th Congress.