# 119-s-5018: Disaster Relief Fairness Act of 2026

119-s-5018, Disaster Relief Fairness Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI] (D-RI); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-07).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5018
- As of: 2026-10-07
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-5018
- Congress: 119
- Title: Disaster Relief Fairness Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-16
- Sponsor: Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI] (D-RI)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Emergency Management
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-07

## Summary

**This bill would create a temporary framework that makes automatic approval for qualifying major disaster declarations and provides the requested Stafford Act assistance from January 20, 2025 to January 20, 2029.** - State and Tribal leaders would have a covered request deemed approved if FEMA's joint preliminary damage assessment meets the per-capita indicators or cost estimates for public assistance. - Households could receive individual assistance when a FEMA Regional Administrator determines it is warranted under FEMA's current factors even if public assistance thresholds are not met. - Assistance for covered requests could not be withheld or denied solely because a relevant deadline was missed.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI), 2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- FEMA disaster aid automatically approved: benefit, high. If enacted, this would set a "covered period" from January 20, 2025 through January 20, 2029. During that time, a Governor's or tribal chief's request for a Presidential major disaster declaration would be treated as approved if either: FEMA's joint preliminary damage assessment meets the per‑capit…

## Related bills

- 119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act
- 119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act
- 119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act
- 119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act

## Sources
- [119-s-5018 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5018)

## Related
- [119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4949)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2763)
- [119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3869)
- [119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-51)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5018 (as of 2026-10-07).