II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4654 

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 

JULY 10, 2024 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Management As5 sistance Grants for Tribal Governments Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ELIGIBILITY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 420 of the Robert T. 

3 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 5187) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 

6 tribal government,’’ before ‘‘or local government’’; 

7 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 

8 as subsections (c) through (f), respectively; 

9 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(b) PROCEDURE FOR REQUEST.—The Governor of 

12 a State or the Chief Executive of an Indian tribal govern13 ment affected by a fire described in subsection (a) may 

14 directly submit a request to authorize assistance under 

15 this section.’’; and 

16 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(g) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this section 

18 shall prohibit an Indian tribal government from receiving 

19 assistance under this section pursuant to an authorization 

20 made at the request of a State under subsection (b) if 

21 assistance is not authorized under this section for the 

22 same incident based on a request by the Indian tribal gov23 ernment under subsection (b).’’. 

24 (b) REGULATIONS.— 

25 (1) FIRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE DECLARA26 TION DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘fire 


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1 management assistance declaration’’ means a dec2 laration approved under section 204.21(a) of title 

3 44, Code of Federal Regulations. 

4 (2) UPDATE.—Not later than 360 days after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, the President 

6 shall issue regulations updating part 204 of title 44, 

7 Code of Federal Regulations, to carry out the 

8 amendments made by subsection (a). 

9 (3) CONTENTS.—In issuing the regulations re10 quired under paragraph (2), the President shall— 

11 (A) authorize the Federal Emergency Man12 agement Agency to directly receive a request for 

13 a fire management assistance declaration from 

14 an Indian tribal government and directly pro15 vide related grants and resources to Indian trib16 al governments; 

17 (B) clarify that Indian tribal governments 

18 for which the President does not grant a re19 quest described in subparagraph (A) remain eli20 gible to receive assistance under section 420 of 

21 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

22 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187) 

23 through assistance granted under a fire man24 agement assistance declaration made at the re25 quest of a State; 


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1 (C) consider the unique conditions that af2 fect the general welfare of Indian tribal govern3 ments; and 

4 (D) enter into government-to-government 

5 consultation with Indian tribal governments re6 garding the regulations. 

Æ 


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