To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide certain fire management assistance to Indian Tribal Governments, and for other purposes.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3957 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3957

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
   Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide certain fire 
   management assistance to Indian Tribal Governments, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2025

  Ms. Davids of Kansas (for herself and Mr. Johnson of South Dakota) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
   Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide certain fire 
   management assistance to Indian Tribal Governments, 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. 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) 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).
            (2) Contents.--In issuing the regulations required under 
        paragraph (1), 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.
            (3) 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.
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