Wildfire Smoke Relief Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2856 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2856

  To authorize transitional sheltering assistance for individuals who 
 live in areas with unhealthy air quality caused by wildfires, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 18 (legislative day, September 16), 2025

Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Merkley) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize transitional sheltering assistance for individuals who 
 live in areas with unhealthy air quality caused by wildfires, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wildfire Smoke Relief Act''.

SEC. 2. TRANSITIONAL SHELTERING ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Individual at risk of wildfire smoke related illness.--
        The term ``individual at risk of wildfire smoke related 
        illness'' means an individual, living in an area where the air 
        quality index is determined to be unhealthy for not less than 3 
        consecutive days as a result of a wildfire, who is--
                    (A) a low-income individual;
                    (B) a parent or guardian with a child who has not 
                attained 19 years of age;
                    (C) a pregnant woman;
                    (D) an individual who is 65 years of age or older;
                    (E) an individual with chronic respiratory or 
                cardiovascular illness; or
                    (F) an individual with a chronic disease that is 
                exacerbated by smoke inhalation.
            (2) Low-income individual.--The term ``low-income 
        individual'' means an individual from a family whose taxable 
        income (as defined in section 63 of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986) for the preceding year did not exceed 200 percent of 
        an amount equal to the poverty level, as determined by using 
        criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of Census.
            (3) Qualified entity.--The term ``qualified entity'' 
        means--
                    (A) a State or unit of local government;
                    (B) a local public health authority; and
                    (C) a coordinated care organization.
    (b) Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program.--In carrying out 
the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency under section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b), the President 
shall--
            (1) provide assistance to a qualified entity to purchase 
        and provide, to an individual at risk of wildfire smoke related 
        illness, smoke-inhalation prevention equipment, including--
                    (A) a portable air filtration unit;
                    (B) an air filter;
                    (C) a face mask or respirator, such as--
                            (i) an N95 respirator;
                            (ii) a P100 respirator; or
                            (iii) other equipment certified by the 
                        National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
                        Health to protect from airborne particle 
                        exposure;
                    (D) low-cost equipment to keep smoke out of a 
                house, such as:
                            (i) a weather strip;
                            (ii) not more than 1 portable air-
                        conditioning unit per household;
                            (iii) ventilation equipment;
                            (iv) a screening and shading device; or
                            (v) a window covering; or
                    (E) other similarly effective devices; and
            (2) in any case in which smoke-inhalation prevention 
        equipment is not sufficient to mitigate the risk of illness, 
        provide cost-efficient transitional shelter assistance to an 
        individual at risk of wildfire smoke related illness.
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