Disaster Relief Fairness Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5018 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5018

 To approve certain requests for a major disaster declaration, and for
                            other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 16, 2026

  Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland
                   Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To approve certain requests for a major disaster declaration, and for
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Disaster Relief Fairness Act of
2026''.

SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATION REQUESTS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Covered period.--The term ``covered period'' means the
        period beginning on January 20, 2025, and ending on January 20,
        2029.
            (2) Covered request.--The term ``covered request'' means a
        request for a declaration by the President that a major
        disaster exists that is submitted by the Governor of a State or
        a Chief Executive of an Indian tribal government under section
        401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the covered period.
            (3) Governor; indian tribal government; major disaster;
        state.--The terms ``Governor'', ``Indian tribal government'',
        ``major disaster'', and ``State'' have the meanings given those
        terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
        and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).
    (b) Declaration of Major Disasters During Covered Period.--
Notwithstanding the last sentence of subsection (a) and subsection
(b)(1) of section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), for purposes of assistance
provided under that Act--
            (1) any covered request shall be deemed to have been
        approved by the President; and
            (2) the President shall provide the assistance requested in
        the covered request--
                    (A) if the incident in the covered request, based
                on the joint preliminary damage assessment of the
                Federal Emergency Management Agency, meets or exceeds
                the per capita indicators or cost of assistance
                estimates for public assistance under section 206.48(a)
                of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect
                on the date of enactment of this Act; or
                    (B) if the Regional Administrator of the Federal
                Emergency Management Agency for the region in which the
                incident in the covered request occurred determines
                that individual assistance is warranted, according to
                the factors outlined in section 206.48(b) of title 44,
                Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date
                of enactment of this Act.
    (c) No Denial of Assistance.--Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, the President may not withhold or deny assistance provided
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) with respect to a covered request solely
due to a missed deadline relating to that assistance.
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