Tim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told the Senate Finance Committee that the agency manages an extraordinary volume of federal disaster funding and asked the Legislature for capital and operating support to modernize Texas’ emergency response infrastructure.

“Our job at the Division of Emergency Management is to make sure that we are prepared for, respond to, recover well and mitigate against all hazards of all disasters,” Kidd said, laying out TDEM’s case for expanded regional staging sites, ongoing staff and fleet support and continued funding to close out open federal grants.

Nut graf: TDEM reported roughly $23.7 billion in open federal grants and said the agency will face a 10% reduction in Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) funding from FEMA unless the federal picture changes. To improve preparedness and response the agency asked for a $315,000,000 exceptional item to expand regional warehouses and staging areas, plus requests for fleet and back‑office staff funding and a rider to allow carryforward of certain COVID‑related balances.

Kidd told senators the agency is managing tens of billions of dollars in public assistance and hazard mitigation projects — public assistance totals listed in the presentation topped $21 billion in project value — and that drawdowns and closeouts are sensitive to federal rules. He warned that FEMA reimbursement timing and grant formula shifts are already trimming TDEM’s historic preparedness grants and could require the state to provide more sustainment capacity locally.

TDEM’s specific asks before the committee included capital and operating support for regional warehouses: climate‑controlled facilities with pallet racking, on‑site office and sleeping space for responders and the ability to stage vehicles and equipment. Kidd said those sites would reduce hotel and urgent response basecamp costs and improve surge logistics. He also asked the Legislature to fund IT systems and back‑office capacity to coordinate assets nationwide and to biannualize statewide salary adjustments and to address fleet needs the agency says have been underfunded in previous sessions.

Kidd emphasized that most of TDEM’s budget — roughly 97% of some line items — is pass‑through for local governments and sub‑applicants and that additional state investment is aimed primarily at improving statewide capacity to receive and distribute aid, maintain inventories of critical supplies such as PPE, and to reduce the risk that federal funds will be deobligated because of long closeout timelines.

Ending: Kidd thanked the committee for earlier supplemental funding that established regional warehousing pilots and said TDEM will provide requested reports on lapsed federal funds and carryforward balances to assist the Legislature’s review.