Sponsors
The bill speeds and simplifies access to exempted engines and equipment for emergency responders and manufacturers, at the cost of reduced transparency, potential local air‑quality harms, and greater enforcement burdens on regulators and taxpayers.
Firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, and disaster‑relief agencies can obtain and field exempted engines/equipment faster, improving emergency response and operational readiness during crises.
Manufacturers and secondary engine makers gain clearer, streamlined procedures to request exemptions, reducing compliance delays and lowering regulatory uncertainty and costs for affected businesses.
Local and state governments can procure specialized vehicles/equipment without disclosing exact quantities, improving procurement speed and operational flexibility for sensitive public‑safety programs.
Nearby residents and communities could face worse local air quality if broader exemptions allow more polluting engines/equipment into service.
Removing or loosening quantity‑disclosure requirements reduces transparency and oversight, making it harder for communities and officials to track how many exempted engines are deployed.
Broader exemption authority could shift monitoring and enforcement costs to EPA and other regulators (and ultimately taxpayers), increasing administrative burdens on federal agencies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA to allow manufacturers to request national-security exemptions from engine/equipment regulations for first-responder agencies, with defense/DHS endorsements and no quantity requirement.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Kat Cammack · Last progress March 19, 2026
Requires the EPA Administrator to change a federal emissions regulation within 90 days so manufacturers and secondary engine makers can request national-security exemptions for engines or equipment intended for use by federal, state, or local agencies that perform law enforcement, disaster relief, search and rescue, fire response, or emergency medical services. The change also allows defense and Department of Homeland Security entities (including FEMA) to endorse those exemption requests and removes any requirement to state a specific quantity of engines or equipment in the request.