Rebuilding After Hurricane Katrina

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on September 28, on “Hurricane Katrina: Community Rebuilding Needs and Effectiveness of Past Proposals.” The witnesses included governors from three Gulf Coast states and representatives from organizations involved in rebuilding efforts. Diana Aviv, President and CEO of Independent Sector testified about recommendations put together by the nonprofit sector following discussions among organizations that are contributing to the Katrina recovery effort or that have experience in previous disaster relief efforts. Witnesses included:

Panel I
Haley Barbour, via videoconference, Governor, State of Mississippi

Kathleen Blanco, Governor, State of Louisiana

Bob Riley, via videoconference, Governor, State of Alabama


Panel II
George K. Yin, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation

Diana Aviv, President and CEO, Independent Sector

Daniel L. Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding for the City of New York

Gary P. LaGrange, President and CEO, Port of New Orleans, and Chairman, American Association of Port Authorities

Jean-Mari Peltier, President and CEO, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives

Related Legislation
The House and Senate passed the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3768), on September 21, 2005, and President Bush signed it into law on September 23. The House passed the measure by a vote of 422 to 0 and the Senate passed it by unanimous consent.

The package contains several items of importance to the charitable sector listed below, though it does not contain the IRA Charitable Rollover. There may be additional Katrina relief tax packages assembled in the coming weeks. More

Last Updated: September 28, 2005

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