Governor Andy Beshear has signed Senate Bill 11 into law. This establishes a residential safe room rebate program and fund to protect eligible Kentuckians from severe weather.
The residential safe room rebate program and fund will begin in January 2027. The program aims to help save lives during natural disasters and will be administered by Kentucky Emergency Management.
Homeowners will be eligible for a rebate of 50% of the costs to construct or install a safe room in their primary residence. Those are not to exceed $5,000.
Kentucky Emergency Management has managed FEMA-funded community safe room projects over the last 15 years. These have built 97 safe rooms in 32 counties with a $46.7 million value. These have the capacity to protect more than 44,000 Kentuckians.
FEMA has provided $35 million for these projects, the commonwealth has provided $5.6 million, and applicants have provided $6 million.
While the Governor supported this bill, he also urged legislators to designate funding for its implementation, as Emergency Management currently does not have funds available from its own budget or from FEMA.
