In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

As we mark the anniversaries of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to again mention a bill which would create a ‘tax holiday’ for preparedness supplies and “Go-Bags,” introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing. Under the legislation, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th and purchase pre-made “Go-Bags” tax free [...]

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With a new survey reporting that residents of coastal states are unprepared for hurricane season, Virginia held its annual hurricane preparedness tax holiday last week to try to boost civilian readiness in that state. Virginia made a significant effort to promote the week and enlist the private sector with its marketing capacity and expertise behind citizen [...]

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The State of Virginia’s “Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday” week will run from May 25th-May 31th. Louisiana’s preparedness tax holiday weekend will take place on the 30th and 31st. 

During those periods, sales tax will be lifted on purchases of preparedness-related supplies and equipment including batteries and flashlights; bottled water and coolers; tarps, plastic sheeting and duct tape; smoke detectors [...]

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I have written before about the importance of offering the public some kind of incentive when it comes to trying to spur preparedness. One example is that New York City Fire Department regularly gives away batteries at public events to encourage New Yorkers to keep their smoke alarms working. Recently, I took this photo of [...]

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With all the focus on the environment on Earth Day, I wanted to reiterate a point about the connection I think should be made between the public service campaigns on global warming and emergency preparedness. 
It is my contention that the two efforts are complementary and should be more linked closer together in the public’s mind — and [...]

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On Tax Day, I thought I would highlight Virginia’s second annual Hurricane Preparedness Tax Holiday which will run from May 25-31. During that week, sales tax will be lifted on purchases of preparedness-related supplies and equipment. Though the state’s Department of  Emergency Management considered last year’s week successful, I wanted to see if the agency was making any changes [...]

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One of the most impressive public-private citizen emergency preparedness partnerships in the U.S. is Oklahoma’s McReady campaign now in its sixth year statewide. As part of McReady, Oklahomans can enter a contest to win a safe room and emergency radios.
The campaign includes displays in McDonald’s restaurants throughout the state with information focusing on floods, tornadoes, lightning, emergency [...]

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Amanda Ripley has an interesting article in the current issue of Governing, “Run for Your Lives, Please”. Amanda examines the issue of how best to alert people in advance of a disasters. She points out that before Hurricane Ike made landfall the National Weather Service put out a rare “certain death” warning which got the attention [...]

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Over this Valentine’s Day weekend, the City of New York gave away hundreds of thousands of condoms as part of its NYC Condom ’safe sex’ social marketing campaign. Since it launched the program on Valentine’s Day in 2007, the City’s Department of Health has distributed a total of 70 million free samples. 
Now, obviously there are [...]

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I am excited to report that a bill which would create a ‘tax holiday’ for preparedness supplies and “Go-Bags” was just re-introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing as Bill A00783.  
Under the legislation, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th and purchase pre-made “Go-Bags” tax free throughout the month. The bill would [...]

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