I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5329 

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

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023 

Mr. HARDER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition 

to the Committees on Small Business, and the Budget, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

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 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY DECLARA2 TION. 

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

4 smoke emergency in any State in which the President de5 termines there is, or anticipates there will be, a significant 

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

7 or more States. 

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

9 other appropriate agency, of a State that is or will be af10 fected by a significant decrease in air quality due to 

11 wildland fire smoke may request a declaration under sub12 section (a). 

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

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

15 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 

16 other appropriate Federal agencies, may provide smoke 

17 emergency assistance to States and local communities that 

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

19 grants, equipment, supplies, and personnel and resources 

20 for establishing smoke shelters, air purifiers, and addi21 tional air monitoring sites. 

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

23 Business Administration may provide grants to any small 

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

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

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


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1 in which the President has declared a smoke emergency 

2 under subsection (a). 

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

5 necessary to carry out this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. BUDGET ADJUSTMENT FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY AS7 SISTANCE. 

8 Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer9 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(H) SMOKE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.— 

12 ‘‘(i) If, for any fiscal year, appropria13 tions for discretionary accounts are en14 acted that Congress designates as being 

15 for smoke emergency assistance in statute, 

16 the adjustment for a fiscal year shall be 

17 the total of such appropriations for the fis18 cal year in discretionary accounts des19 ignated as being for smoke emergency as20 sistance. 

21 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subpara22 graph, the term ‘smoke emergency assist23 ance’ means assistance provided under a 

24 determination under section 2 of the WildVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Sep 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5329.IH H5329

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1 fire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 

2 2023. 

3 ‘‘(iii) Appropriations considered smoke 

4 emergency assistance under this subpara5 graph in a fiscal year shall not be eligible 

6 for adjustments under subparagraph (A) 

7 for the fiscal year.’’. 

Æ 


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