S 443 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Fire Management Assistance Grants for Tribal Governments Act
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to allow Indian tribal governments to directly request fire management assistance declarations and grants, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to allow Indian tribal governments to directly request fire management assistance declarations and grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Currently, tribal governments must request such assistance through their State; this bill allows tribal chief executives to submit requests directly to the federal government. The President must issue updated regulations within one year to establish the procedures for FEMA to receive and process requests from tribal governments and distribute grants directly to them. Tribal governments remain eligible to receive assistance through their State's request if a direct tribal request is not approved.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI] (D-MI)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] (R-SD)
Actions (2)
- Feb 6, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
- Feb 6, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 6 (legislative day, February 5), 2025
Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Rounds) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to allow Indian tribal governments to directly request fire management assistance declarations and grants, 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 “Fire Management Assistance Grants for Tribal Governments Act”.
SEC. 2. INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ELIGIBILITY.
(a) In General.—Section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “, Indian tribal government,” before “or local government”;
(2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) as subsections (c) through (f), respectively;
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
“(b) Procedure for Request.—The Governor of a State or the Chief Executive of an Indian tribal government affected by a fire described in subsection (a) may directly submit a request to authorize assistance under this section.”; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
“(g) Savings Provision.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit an Indian tribal government from receiving assistance under this section pursuant to an authorization made at the request of a State under subsection (b) if assistance is not authorized under this section for the same incident based on a request by the Indian tribal government under subsection (b).”.
(b) Regulations.—
(1) Fire management assistance declaration defined.—In this subsection, the term “fire management assistance declaration” means a declaration approved under section 204.21(a) of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) Update.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall issue regulations updating part 204 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, to carry out the amendments made by subsection (a).
(3) Contents.—In issuing the regulations required under paragraph (2), the President shall—
(A) authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to directly receive a request for a fire management assistance declaration from an Indian tribal government and directly provide related grants and resources to Indian tribal governments;
(B) clarify that Indian tribal governments for which the President does not grant a request described in subparagraph (A) remain eligible to receive assistance under section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187) through assistance granted under a fire management assistance declaration made at the request of a State;
(C) consider the unique conditions that affect the general welfare of Indian tribal governments; and
(D) enter into government-to-government consultation with Indian tribal governments regarding the regulations. <all>
Comments