November 15, 2019 — A U.S. Senate committee earlier this week passed a bill that would make changes to how NOAA Fisheries disaster relief program is managed.
On Wednesday, 13 November, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee passed S. 2346, the Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act. The bill sponsored by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), the committee’s chairman, calls for the disaster declaration to be streamlined by requiring the U.S. Commerce Secretary to evaluate a disaster request within 120 days.