Law Commons^™

Center For Health & Homeland Security Newsletter, Spring 2023

Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Need For Additional Landslide Regulation: Examining Flooding Through A Case Study, Kristen Gartner

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Natural disasters are increasing at an alarming rate. As of this writing, the top five deadliest disasters occurred after 1970, and the top five most economically devastating occurred in the years since 2005, with three of them occurring in 2017. These increasing storms are exacerbated by the worsening of climate change and global warming. The problem will continue to increase if federal and state governments fail to properly regulate and prepare for these natural disasters. This Note will specifically discuss the regulation and prevention of landslides by comparing them to the regulation of flooding. Other examples of natural disaster regulation …

On Fires, Floods, And Federalism, Andrew Hammond

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the United States, law condemns poor people to their fates in states. Where Americans live continues to dictate whether they can access cash, food, and medical assistance. What’s more, immigrants, territorial residents, and tribal members encounter deteriorated corners of the American welfare state. Nonetheless, despite repeated retrenchment efforts, this patchwork of programs has proven remarkably resilient. Yet, the ability of the United States to meet its people’s most basic needs now faces an unprecedented challenge: climate change. As extreme weather events like wildfires and hurricanes become more frequent and more intense, these climate-fueled disasters will displace and impoverish more …

Challenging Equality: Property Loss, Government Fault, And The Global Warming Catastrophe, Laura S. Underkuffler

Northwestern University Law Review

One of the bedrock principles of American property law is that all property owners and all property are protected equally. We do not believe—when it comes to compensation for loss—that poor owners are compensated rigidly and rich owners are not, or that property in private homes is protected rigidly and property in commercial or industrial structures is not. When it comes to compensation due to public or private fault, we believe in absolute equality. Equal treatment of property is at the heart of the liberal state and is the promise of American property law.

This Essay challenges that bedrock idea. …

Gimme Shelter: Amending Fema's Enabling Legislation To Permit Citizen Suits For Failures In Disaster Recovery Efforts, Zachary R.M. Outzen

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note argues that democratizing the disaster relief process through enabling citizen suits against FEMA to timely deliver housing relief assistance is one potential solution to the immense problem at hand. This Note provides an overview of FEMA’s obligations to survivors of natural disasters under both federal law and evolving interpretations of binding international law. This Note asserts that FEMA’s repeated failure to deliver necessary disaster relief aid to these survivors constitutes violations of these obligations. This Note will then assert that the issue underlying these failures (i.e., flawed administrative and bureaucratic processes) is analogous to similar failures by environmental …

A Burning Question: Sparking Federal Protection Of Inmate Firefighters Through California’S Conservation Camp Program, Zachary T. Remijas

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The mounting demand for inmate firefighters in response to increased disaster relief has made such individuals an indispensable resource to the State of California. As a result, state agencies in charge of administering inmate firefighters’ services must give renewed attention to expanding efforts to protect the inmates’ livelihood both before and after a participating inmate’s release. This Comment provides an overview of California inmates undertaking prison labor as volunteer firefighters under the Conservation Camp Program. The Comment further critiques the nonreciprocal approach taken towards inmate firefighting resources, while advocating for a more intentional rehabilitationist approach that implores the California Department …

Great (Soft) Power Competition: Us And Chinese Efforts In Global Health Engagement, Michael W. Wissemann

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Global health engagement, an underutilized strategy rooted in the strengths of soft power persuasion, can lead to more military-to-military cooperation training, help establish relationships that can be relied on when crises develop, stabilize fragile states, and deny violent extremist organizations space for recruiting and operations. Examining Chinese efforts worldwide to curry favor and influence and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this article shows health as a medium is a very compelling and advantageous whole-of-government approach to national security policy concerns.

Managing Hurricane (And Other Natural Disaster) Risk, Robert Jerry Ii

Texas A&M Law Review

With the data showing that hurricanes are the most likely and serious of all of these disasters, we return to Hurricane Harvey. No one living in Texas—especially in the cities of Houston, Port Arthur, Bridge City, Rockport, Wharton, Conroe, Port Aransas, and Victoria, or more generally in the counties of Harris, Aransas, Nueces, Jefferson, Orange, Victoria, Calhoun, Matagorda, Brazoria, Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Wharton—needs to be told that the U.S. needs a better approach to managing hurricane and other natural disaster risk, both in terms of pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery. Texans are not alone, as survivors of Hurricanes …

An Inflection Point For Disaster Relief: Superstorm Sandy, Danshera Wetherington Cords

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Donor Intent, Disaster Relief, Education, And Policy, Marian Conway Ph.D.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Calm After The Storm: 45 Years Of The Aba Young Lawyers Division’S Disaster Legal Services Program, Andrew Jack Vansingel

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Es Fema El Problema? Hurricane Maria And The Slow Road To Recovery In Puerto Rico, Clifford J. Villa

Faculty Scholarship

A critical and sympathetic look at FEMA's work in post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico.

Saving Grace: The Role Of Religious Organizations In Disaster Recovery And The Constitutionality Of Federal Funding To Rebuild Them, Cheslea Till

SMU Law Review

Natural disasters are on the rise and religious organizations, the same organizations that came to victims’ rescue in the wake of the last natural disaster, are often left in the path of destruction. Under President Trump’s administration, FEMA recently amended its disaster assistance program to provide funding for religious organizations. Opponents argue this amendment is a violation of the Establishment Clause, while proponents argue the amended plan finally gives religious organizations the fair treatment they deserve. This new aid program needs to be modified and restricted. Though there is clear precedent to support providing some Public Assistance funding to religious …

Attribution Of Conduct And Liability Issues Arising From International Disaster Relief Missions: Theoretical And Pragmatic Approaches To Guaranteeing Accountability, Giulio Bartolini

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article analyzes legal issues related to harmful activities of international disaster relief personnel, focusing on two distinct issues. On the one hand, the analysis centers on internationally wrongful acts carried out by relief personnel and uncertainties related to the attribution of conduct, due to the array of actors involved in such missions. Such an examination will be carried out through the lens of draft articles adopted by the International Law Commission on the responsibility of states and international organizations where some non-exhaustive references are made to such scenarios. On the other hand, the Article focuses on liability issues that …

Droughts, Floods, And Wildfires: Paleo Perspectives On Disaster Law In The Anthropocene, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Humanity’s impact on the earth has become so pronounced that momentum is building toward adopting a new term for the modern geological age — the “Anthropocene.” The term signifies that human activity has reached a scale that it is now a planetary force capable of shaping ecosystems and natural processes. And yet, anthropocentric natural resources management and environmental lawmaking in the United States reveals a lack of control in managing natural systems and fostering resilience to extreme events. These systems do not easily conform to the whims of reactionary environmental policies. Droughts, floods, and wildfires, in particular, are often conceptualized …

Sharing Public Safety Helicopters, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sharing Public Safety Helicopters, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

No abstract provided.

The Private-Public Partnership: How Lessons Learned From Disaster Relief And Reconstruction Efforts In Post-Katrina New Orleans Can Be Applied To Post-Sandy New York And New Jersey, Daniel Abramson

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

No abstract provided.

Advancing Culturally And Linguistically Appropriate Services At All Phases Of A Disaster, C. Godfrey Jacobs, Darci L. Graves, Jennifer Kenyon, Guadalupe Pacheco

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Post-Disaster Mental Health: Examining The Evidence Through A Lens Of Social Justice, Jonathan Purtle

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Rising To The Surface: Disasters And Racial Health Disparities In American History, Marian Moser Jones

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Disasters, Relief, And Neglect: The Duty To Accept Humanitarian Assistance And The Work Of The International Law Commission, J.Benton Heath

J.Benton Heath

In the wake of several large-scale natural disasters, such as the 2008 cyclone in Myanmar, some scholars and diplomats have argued that states should be under a duty to accept humanitarian assistance. This paper discusses the circumstances under which states should be required to admit foreign or international aid. I first develop a principled framework based in existing human rights law, while arguing against efforts to expand the "responsibility to protect" to cover natural and technological disasters. Then the paper surveys previous efforts to articulate the duty of states to accept humanitarian aid, and analyzes these provisions in terms of …

Helping Haiti In The Wake Of Disaster: Law Students As First Responders, Melissa Gibson Swain, Jonel Newman

Articles

No abstract provided.

Healthcare In Cuba, Carmen M. Cusack

Carmen M Cusack

Poor Americans who lack health-insurance or have little opportunity to access specialized or non-emergency medical treatment in the U.S. should be permitted by the U.S. State Department to spend money in Cuba in order to receive inexpensive medical treatment, and should be allowed to stay (and spend) in Cuba as long as necessary in order to receive inexpensive medical treatment. If Americans were permitted by an exception in the Helms-Burton Act to spend money in Cuba and visit for medical purposes, then Cuba would likely treat these Americans for a very low cost. This can be argued because 1) Cuba …

Love Thy Neighbor: The Tampere Convention As Global Legislation, Allison Rahrig

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The Internet, 24-hour news sources, and a host of other telecommunications advances have allowed global citizens to become instantaneously informed. With the privilege of real-time updates and acute awareness of the world's events comes the responsibility of being more than a passive observer. Specifically, this Note focuses on the technological improvements in communication during natural disasters-improvements that can be used to assist and aid the victims of catastrophes. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the country affected is rarely able to provide for its citizens; tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes can (and often do) cripple an entire nation. This …

Improving The Odds Of Government Accountability In The Disaster-Prone Era: Using The 9/11 Fund Factors To Remedy The Problem Of Toxic Katrina Trailers, Olympia Duhart

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the dangers surrounding the toxicity levels in the trailers issued to Katrina survivors by FEMA, and identifies serious medical complications stemming from the temporary homes. Lack of government oversight in the process led to the distribution of formaldehyde-laced trailers that cost the government more than $2 billion and continue to poison residents years after the storm. Furthermore, the failures connected to disaster relief are even more disturbing in this disaster-prone era. More importantly, this paper also proposes the creation of a Toxic Trailer Fund to compensate residents of toxic FEMA trailers. Using the factors implicitly established by …

The Shadows Of Future Generations, Matthew W. Wolfe

Duke Law Journal

This Note addresses the twin problems of political short-termism and intergenerational equity. Although scholars have discussed these concerns extensively, few scholars have developed proposals to modify democratic institutions-particularly legislatures-to better consider posterity's interests. This Note critiques one such set of proposals by several environmental ethicists for including posterity-oriented legislators in present-generation legislatures. It then proposes a system that ties the long-term outcomes of legislators' policy preferences to their pension plans by creating a new commodities market that values the decisions legislators make and their effect on posterity.

Mississippi River Stories: Lessons From A Century Of Floods And Hurricanes, Sandra Zellmer, Christine Klein

Sandi Zellmer

n the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the nation pondered how a relatively weak Category 3 storm could have destroyed an entire region. Few appreciated the extent to which a flawed federal water development policy transformed this apparently natural disaster into a “manmade” disaster; fewer still appreciated how the disaster was the predictable, and indeed predicted, sequel to almost a century of similar disasters. This article focuses upon three such stories: the Great Flood of 1927, the Midwest Flood of 1993, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. Taken together, the stories reveal important lessons, including the inadequacy of engineered flood …

Austrialian Defense Experience With Non-Government Organizations In Humanitarian Assistance And Disaster Relief Operations, Evan Carlin

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

How Do We Deal With This Mess? A Primer For State And Local Governments On Navigating The Legal Complexities Of Debris Issues Following Mass Disasters, Ryan M. Seidemann, Megan K. Terrell, Christopher D. Matchett

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.