II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2419 

To authorize the President to declare a smoke emergency, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. PADILLA, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the President to declare a smoke emergency, 

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 ‘‘Wildfire Smoke Emer5 gency Declaration Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY DECLARA7 TION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President may declare a 

9 smoke emergency in any State in which the President de10 termines there is, or anticipates there will be, a significant 


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1 decrease in air quality due to wildland fire smoke in one 

2 or more States. 

3 (b) REQUEST FROM GOVERNOR.—The Governor, or 

4 other appropriate agency, of a State that is or will be af5 fected by a significant decrease in air quality due to 

6 wildland fire smoke may request a declaration under sub7 section (a). 

8 (c) ASSISTANCE.—If the President declares a smoke 

9 emergency under subsection (a), the President, acting 

10 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 

11 other appropriate Federal agencies, may provide smoke 

12 emergency assistance to States and local communities that 

13 are or will be affected by the smoke emergency, including 

14 grants, equipment, supplies, and personnel and resources 

15 for establishing smoke shelters, air purifiers, and addi16 tional air monitoring sites. 

17 (d) SBA GRANTS.—The Administrator of the Small 

18 Business Administration may provide grants to any small 

19 business concern, as defined in section 3 of the Small 

20 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), that loses a significant 

21 amount of revenue due to wildland fire smoke in an area 

22 in which the President has declared a smoke emergency 

23 under subsection (a). 


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1 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

3 necessary to carry out this Act. 

4 SEC. 3. BUDGET ADJUSTMENT FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY AS5 SISTANCE. 

6 Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer7 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(H) SMOKE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.— 

10 ‘‘(i) If, for any fiscal year, appropria11 tions for discretionary accounts are en12 acted that Congress designates as being 

13 for smoke emergency assistance in statute, 

14 the adjustment for a fiscal year shall be 

15 the total of such appropriations for the fis16 cal year in discretionary accounts des17 ignated as being for smoke emergency as18 sistance. 

19 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subpara20 graph, the term ‘smoke emergency assist21 ance’ means assistance provided under a 

22 determination under section 2 of the Wild23 fire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 

24 2021. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Appropriations considered smoke 

2 emergency assistance under this subpara3 graph in a fiscal year shall not be eligible 

4 for adjustments under subparagraph (A) 

5 for the fiscal year.’’. 

Æ 


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