119-s443

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 443 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 443

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 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.
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