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S 4732
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Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2026

To authorize the President to declare a smoke emergency, and for other purposes.

Introduced Jun 10, 2026

Latest action (Jun 10, 2026) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Referred to
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Policy area
Emergency Management

Summary
  • Authorizes the President to declare a smoke emergency when states experience or anticipate a significant decrease in air quality from wildfire smoke.
  • Allows the President to provide federal assistance through FEMA and other agencies, including grants, equipment, and personnel to establish smoke shelters, air purifiers, and air monitoring sites.
  • Permits the Small Business Administration to provide grants to small businesses that experience significant revenue losses due to wildfire smoke in declared emergency areas.
  • Exempts smoke emergency assistance appropriations from certain federal budget sequestration requirements.
  • Authorizes necessary appropriations to carry out the provisions of the act.

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)
3 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Jun 10, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
  2. Jun 10, 2026 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.

  • HR 9243 — Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2026 · Introduced Jun 10, 2026 · Cong. 119 92%
  • S 5045 — Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act of 2026 · Introduced Jul 21, 2026 · Cong. 119 77%
  • S 2856 — Wildfire Smoke Relief Act · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Cong. 119 77%
  • S 4532 — Small Business Wildfire Smoke Recovery Act · Introduced May 14, 2026 · Cong. 119 74%
  • S 3506 — Post-Wildfire Environmental Emergency Assistance Act · Introduced Dec 16, 2025 · Cong. 119 74%
  • HR 5481 — Wildfire Smoke Relief Act · Introduced Sep 19, 2025 · Cong. 119 73%

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 10, 2026

Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Schiff, and Mr. Padilla) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To authorize the President to declare a smoke emergency, 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 “Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2026”.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY DECLARATION.

(a) In General.—The President may declare a smoke emergency in any State in which the President determines there is, or anticipates there will be, a significant decrease in air quality due to wildland fire smoke in one or more States.

(b) Request From Governor.—The Governor, or other appropriate agency, of a State that is or will be affected by a significant decrease in air quality due to wildland fire smoke may request a declaration under subsection (a).

(c) Assistance.—If the President declares a smoke emergency under subsection (a), the President, acting through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other appropriate Federal agencies, may provide smoke emergency assistance to States and local communities that are or will be affected by the smoke emergency, including grants, equipment, supplies, and personnel and resources for establishing smoke shelters, air purifiers, and additional air monitoring sites.

(d) SBA Grants.—The Administrator of the Small Business Administration may provide grants to any small business concern, as defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), that loses a significant amount of revenue due to wildland fire smoke in an area in which the President has declared a smoke emergency under subsection (a).

(e) Authorization of Appropriations.—There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

SEC. 3. BUDGET ADJUSTMENT FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.

Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(H) Smoke emergency assistance.—

“(i) If, for any fiscal year, appropriations for discretionary accounts are enacted that Congress designates as being for smoke emergency assistance in statute, the adjustment for a fiscal year shall be the total of such appropriations for the fiscal year in discretionary accounts designated as being for smoke emergency assistance.

“(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘smoke emergency assistance’ means assistance provided under a determination under section 2 of the Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 2026.

“(iii) Appropriations considered smoke emergency assistance under this subparagraph in a fiscal year shall not be eligible for adjustments under subparagraph (A) for the fiscal year.”. <all>

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