Govwatch

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9292 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9292

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act to prohibit determinations of Federal disaster 
 assistance, funding, or relief on the basis of political affiliation 
 and to establish a response timeline for requests for major disaster 
                 declarations, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 11, 2026

Mr. Neguse (for himself and Ms. Schrier) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act to prohibit determinations of Federal disaster 
 assistance, funding, or relief on the basis of political affiliation 
 and to establish a response timeline for requests for major disaster 
                 declarations, 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 ``Disaster Relief Integrity and 
Independence Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL DISASTER 
              ASSISTANCE.

    Section 308 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5151) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) The President may not make determinations of Federal disaster 
assistance, including declarations of emergencies or major disasters, 
Federal funding, and other relief and assistance under this Act on the 
basis of political affiliation within a State, territory, or 
locality.''.

SEC. 3. TIMELINESS IN DISASTER RESPONSE.

    Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(d) Timeliness in Disaster Response.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 45 days after receipt of 
        a request for a major disaster declaration under this section 
        from a State, Tribal, or territorial government, the President 
        shall respond to each such request.
            ``(2) Automatic approval.--Any request made under paragraph 
        (1) to which the President does not respond not later than 45 
        days after receipt of such request shall be deemed approved.
            ``(3) Limitation.--The deadline under paragraph (1) shall 
        not prevent submission and approval of disaster declaration 
        amendment requests by a State, Tribal, or territorial 
        government.''.
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Disaster Relief Integrity and Independence Act

Full Text
