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Wildfire Victim Tax Relief and Recovery Act
To exclude certain amounts relating to compensating victims of the Texas Panhandle fires, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill provides tax relief to victims of five specific wildfires in the Texas Panhandle that occurred in February and March 2024. It treats compensation payments from federal, state, local governments, or Xcel Energy (the utility company) as tax-free qualified disaster relief, covering losses, damages, property value declines, closing costs, and inconvenience. The bill also amends tax code to allow farmers and ranchers who sold livestock due to fire to defer taxes on the income and have up to four years to replace the livestock, similar to existing provisions for flood-related livestock sales.
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. Cruz, Ted [R-TX] (R-TX)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Ted Cruz’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $4,424,745
- ENTREPRENEUR $458,096
- RDV CORPORATION $39,600
- AMERICAN AIRLINES $29,632
- BLACKSTONE $27,400
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Ted Cruz → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 10, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- Feb 10, 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 10, 2025
Mr. Cruz introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To exclude certain amounts relating to compensating victims of the Texas Panhandle fires, 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 Victim Tax Relief and Recovery Act”.
SEC. 2. TEXAS PANHANDLE FIRE DISASTER RELIEF PAYMENTS.
(a) In General.—Texas Panhandle fire payments shall be treated as qualified disaster relief payments for purposes of section 139(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(b) Texas Panhandle Fire Payments.—For purposes of this section, the term “Texas Panhandle fire payment” means any amount received by or on behalf of an individual as compensation for loss, damages, expenses, loss in real property value, closing costs with respect to real property (including realtor commissions), or inconvenience (including access to real property) resulting from any Texas Panhandle fire if such amount was provided by—
(1) a Federal, State, or local government agency,
(2) Xcel Energy, or
(3) any subsidiary, insurer, or agent of Xcel Energy or any related person.
(c) Texas Panhandle Fire.—For purposes of this section, the term “Texas Panhandle fire” means any of the following wildfires:
(1) The Smokehouse Creek Fire that ignited in Hutchinson County, Texas, on February 26, 2024.
(2) The Windy Deuce Fire that ignited in Moore County, Texas, on February 26, 2024.
(3) The Grape Vine Creek Fire that ignited in Gray County, Texas, on February 26, 2024.
(4) The 687 Reamer Fire that ignited in Hutchinson County, Texas, on February 27, 2024.
(5) The Roughneck Fire that ignited in Hutchinson County, Texas, on March 3, 2024.
(d) Effective Date.—This section shall apply to amounts received on or after February 26, 2024.
SEC. 3. INVOLUNTARY CONVERSIONS OF LIVESTOCK.
(a) Livestock Sold on Account of Fire.—
(1) In general.—Section 1033(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting “fire,” after “flood,”.
(2) Extension of replacement period.—Section 1033(e)(2) of such Code is amended by inserting “fire,” after “flood,”.
(3) Conforming amendment.—The heading for section 1033(e) of such Code is amended by inserting “Fire,” after “Flood,”.
(b) Replacement of Livestock With Other Property.—Section 1033(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting “fire,” after “flood,”.
(c) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023.
SEC. 4. PROCEEDS FROM LIVESTOCK SOLD ON ACCOUNT OF FIRE.
(a) In General.—Section 451(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting “fire,” after “flood”.
(b) Conforming Amendment.—The heading for section 451(g) of such Code is amended by inserting “Fire,” after “Flood,”.
(c) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023. <all>
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