Sponsors (2)
The bill expands federal support to protect low-income and medically vulnerable people from wildfire smoke by funding protective equipment and temporary sheltering, but it increases public spending, adds administrative burdens for local agencies, and may exclude some needy people due to a tax-based eligibility definition.
Low-income and medically vulnerable people: become eligible to receive HEPA air filters, N95/P100 respirators, and home-sealing supplies when local air quality (AQI) is unhealthy for three or more consecutive days.
Low-income and medically vulnerable people: become eligible for cost-efficient transitional sheltering when in-home mitigation is insufficient to avoid dangerous smoke exposure.
State and local qualified entities: can receive federal assistance to purchase and distribute protective equipment and provide sheltering, reducing local fiscal burden during smoke events.
Taxpayers: may face increased federal (FEMA) spending to supply equipment and transitional shelter during wildfire smoke events.
State and local agencies: will incur administrative burdens to identify eligible individuals quickly and distribute equipment/shelter, which could strain local capacity.
People who are functionally low-income but have nonstandard taxable situations: may be excluded because eligibility relies on Internal Revenue Code taxable income.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance to provide smoke-prevention equipment or cost-effective temporary shelter to qualified entities when wildfire smoke causes unhealthy AQI for 3+ consecutive days for at-risk individuals.
Requires the President, acting through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, to provide qualified state or local entities with smoke-inhalation prevention equipment or, if that is not sufficient, arrange cost-efficient temporary shelter when wildfire smoke causes the Air Quality Index (AQI) to be unhealthy for at least three straight days. Assistance targets people at higher health risk from smoke: low-income households, parents/guardians of children under 19, pregnant people, people 65 and older, and people with chronic respiratory, cardiovascular, or other chronic conditions worsened by smoke. The law defines who counts as an at-risk person and what counts as a low-income household (family taxable income at or below 200% of the Census poverty level), and limits recipients of assistance to qualified entities such as state or local governments, local public health authorities, and coordinated care organizations. The text does not appropriate new funds or specify an effective date.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Ronald Lee Wyden · Last progress September 18, 2025