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 consider-
ation 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Smoke Emer-
gency Declaration Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY DECLARA-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President may declare a 
smoke emergency in any State in which the President de-
termines there is, or anticipates there will be, a significant 
decrease in air quality due to wildland fire smoke in one 
or more States. 
(b) REQUEST FROM GOVERNOR.—The Governor, or 
other appropriate agency, of a State that is or will be af-
fected by a significant decrease in air quality due to 
wildland fire smoke may request a declaration under sub-
section (a). 
(c) ASSISTANCE.—If the President declares a smoke 
emergency under subsection (a), the President, acting 
through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 
other appropriate Federal agencies, may provide smoke 
emergency assistance to States and local communities that 
are or will be affected by the smoke emergency, including 
grants, equipment, supplies, and personnel and resources 
for establishing smoke shelters, air purifiers, and addi-
tional air monitoring sites. 
(d) SBA GRANTS.—The Administrator of the Small 
Business Administration may provide grants to any small 
business concern, as defined in section 3 of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), that loses a significant 
amount of revenue due to wildland fire smoke in an area 
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in which the President has declared a smoke emergency 
under subsection (a). 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act. 
SEC. 3. BUDGET ADJUSTMENT FOR SMOKE EMERGENCY AS-
SISTANCE. 
Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer-
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(H) SMOKE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.— 
‘‘(i) If, for any fiscal year, appropria-
tions for discretionary accounts are en-
acted that Congress designates as being 
for smoke emergency assistance in statute, 
the adjustment for a fiscal year shall be 
the total of such appropriations for the fis-
cal year in discretionary accounts des-
ignated as being for smoke emergency as-
sistance. 
‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subpara-
graph, the term ‘smoke emergency assist-
ance’ means assistance provided under a 
determination under section 2 of the Wild-
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fire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act of 
2023. 
‘‘(iii) Appropriations considered smoke 
emergency assistance under this subpara-
graph in a fiscal year shall not be eligible 
for adjustments under subparagraph (A) 
for the fiscal year.’’. 
Æ 
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