Sponsor
Josh Harder
Representative · D-CA
Representative · D-CA
The bill improves and clarifies federal support for communities and small businesses harmed by wildland fire smoke, but does so with open-ended spending authority and eligibility/coordination rules that could delay aid for some and increase budgetary and administrative risks.
Residents and community members in declared smoke emergency areas will receive direct federal assistance — grants, equipment, air purifiers, and temporary smoke shelters — to reduce smoke exposure and health harms.
State and local governments get a Congress-designated 'smoke emergency assistance' funding path and separate accounting so smoke-response funds are budgeted and tracked distinctly, improving transparency and reliability of funding.
Small businesses in declared smoke emergency areas can access SBA grants to help offset significant revenue losses caused by wildland fire smoke.
Taxpayers face a risk of higher federal spending or increased on-budget totals because the law authorizes open-ended sums and creates a new discretionary funding bucket that could be used to route additional spending, with potential deficit implications.
Individuals, communities, and small businesses may be left without timely aid if a Presidential smoke emergency declaration or a Governor's request is not made, creating gaps in eligibility or delays in assistance.
Creating and expanding a federal smoke-response pathway risks duplication or overlap with existing disaster authorities, which could cause coordination challenges and administrative inefficiencies.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Presidential smoke-emergency declarations, enables FEMA/SBA assistance for smoke impacts, and creates a separate budget adjustment category for designated smoke emergency appropriations.
Authorizes the President to declare a federal "smoke emergency" for any State facing or anticipating substantial air-quality degradation from wildland fire smoke at the request of the Governor or state agency. Once declared, FEMA and other federal agencies may provide grants, equipment, personnel, temporary smoke shelters, air purifiers, and expanded monitoring; the SBA may make grants to small businesses that suffer substantial revenue loss due to smoke. The bill also creates a new budgetary adjustment category for congressional discretionary appropriations explicitly labeled "for smoke emergency assistance." The law authorizes "such sums as may be necessary" without specific dollar amounts or fiscal-year limits. It both authorizes federal response tools for smoke-related public-health and economic harms and changes budget rules so Congress can designate and account for smoke emergency discretionary funding separately from an existing adjustment mechanism.
Official title: To authorize the President to declare a smoke emergency, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 10, 2026 by Josh Harder · Last progress June 10, 2026