118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4654 

AN ACT 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Management As3 sistance Grants for Tribal Governments Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ELIGIBILITY. 

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

6 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 5187) is amended— 

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

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

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

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

12 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol13 lowing: 

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

15 a State or the Chief Executive of an Indian tribal govern16 ment affected by a fire described in subsection (a) may 

17 directly submit a request to authorize assistance under 

18 this section.’’; and 

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

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

21 shall prohibit an Indian tribal government from receiving 

22 assistance under this section pursuant to an authorization 

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

24 assistance is not authorized under this section for the 

25 same incident based on a request by the Indian tribal gov26 ernment under subsection (b).’’. 
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1 (b) REGULATIONS.— 

2 (1) FIRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE DECLARA3 TION DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘fire 

4 management assistance declaration’’ means a dec5 laration approved under section 204.21(a) of title 

6 44, Code of Federal Regulations. 

7 (2) UPDATE.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the President shall 

9 issue regulations updating part 204 of title 44, Code 

10 of Federal Regulations, to carry out the amend11 ments made by subsection (a). 

12 (3) CONTENTS.—In issuing the regulations re13 quired under paragraph (2), the President shall— 

14 (A) authorize the Federal Emergency Man15 agement Agency to directly receive a request for 

16 a fire management assistance declaration from 

17 an Indian tribal government and directly pro18 vide related grants and resources to Indian trib19 al governments; 

20 (B) clarify that Indian tribal governments 

21 for which the President does not grant a re22 quest described in subparagraph (A) remain eli23 gible to receive assistance under section 420 of 

24 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

25 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187) 
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1 through assistance granted under a fire man2 agement assistance declaration made at the re3 quest of a State; 

4 (C) consider the unique conditions that af5 fect the general welfare of Indian tribal govern6 ments; and 

7 (D) enter into government-to-government 

8 consultation with Indian tribal governments re9 garding the regulations. 

Passed the Senate December 17 (legislative day, December 16), 2024. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4654 

AN ACT 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

for other purposes. agement assistance declarations and grants, and tribal governments to directly request fire manand Emergency Assistance Act to allow Indian