# 119-hr-9804: SAFE Rural Act

119-hr-9804, SAFE Rural Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] (R-NC); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-02).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9804
- As of: 2026-08-02
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-9804
- Congress: 119
- Title: SAFE Rural Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-21
- Sponsor: Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] (R-NC)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Emergency Management
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-02

## Summary

**Creates a mandatory, rural-focused pre-disaster mitigation program under the Stafford Act that delivers formula-based, pass-through grants to States and Indian tribal governments. It prioritizes nature-based and green infrastructure and builds sustained mitigation capacity in rural and tribal areas.** - States and Indian tribal governments get formula grants that split available funds with 50% distributed equally and 30% weighted toward larger populations and lower incomes; the remainder rewards stronger mitigation capacity. - Rural and tribal communities gain explicit support for nature-based solutions like wetland restoration, living shorelines, and riparian buffers, plus operations and maintenance planning and CAP-MIT grants to sustain local mitigation capacity at $1 million to $5 million annually. - Each State and tribe must reserve at least 15% of its allocation for small projects with a $500,000 maximum, and small-project grant rules are streamlined to speed decisions and funding.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Sorensen, Eric [D-IL-17] (D-IL), 2026-07-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gallagher, James [R-CA-1] (R-CA), 2026-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New rural disaster fund and BRIC: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create a new SAFE Rural Fund. The President would deposit 2% of each year’s Disaster Relief Fund appropriations into it. FEMA would also transfer a one-time amount equal to 2% of the Disaster Relief Fund balance on enactment. The bill would also require reserving 10% of l…
- How SAFE Rural funds would be split: mixed, high. If enacted, SAFE Rural funds would be split each year: 50% divided equally, 30% with extra preference for higher-population and lower-median-income areas, and the rest for entities that prove capacity to manage grants. Each State or Tribe would get at least the lesser of $5 million or 1% of the yea…
- Faster small projects and nature solutions: mixed, medium. If enacted, SAFE Rural grants could pay for nature-based fixes and traditional flood‑resilient public infrastructure. Each State or Tribe would reserve at least 15% of its allocation for small projects. Small projects would cost at most $500,000 and projects under $200,000 would use a short applica…
- Grant matches, audits, and repayment rules: mixed, medium. If enacted, planning subgrants would normally need at least a 10% non‑Federal match and project subgrants would normally need at least a 25% match. FEMA could reduce or waive the match for underserved or economically distressed rural, Tribal, or territorial communities. Recipients and subgrantees w…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
- 119-hr-6976: Duty Status Reform Act
- 119-hr-5106: Restore Trust in Congress Act
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-9804 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9804)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4206)
- [119-hr-6976: Duty Status Reform Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6976)
- [119-hr-5106: Restore Trust in Congress Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5106)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9804 (as of 2026-08-02).