Tax breaks for people hit by storms and wildfires through 2027.
H.R. 5366 — Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act · Filed by W. Steube (R-FL) · 14 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 15, 2025 · Signed
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What it does
The bill lets people in declared storm areas deduct personal losses more easily. It lowers the loss threshold from $500 to $100 per item. It also excludes wildfire money from taxable income. These rules apply to storms from 2019 to 2027. Wildfire rules apply from 2015 to 2027. The tax breaks work for 2025 and 2026 tax years too.
Who it affects
People who lost homes, property, or wages in declared storm areas get tax relief. People hit by wildfires also get tax relief. This reduces their taxes during recovery.
One thing to notice
The tax breaks end on January 1, 2027. After that, Congress must pass a new law to keep the relief.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
14 cosponsors: 8 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
- Sep 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 15, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 43 - 0”
- Apr 27, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3107-3108)”
- Apr 27, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
- Aug 7, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent”
- Sep 3, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Sep 11, 2026 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Signed by President”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $40,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 5 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
W. Steube, who sponsored the bill, received $663,000 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Berkshire Hathaway Energy — $40,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- declared — officially recognized by the government as a storm or emergency
- deduct — subtract an amount from income to lower the taxes owed
- taxable income — the money a person earns that the government counts for tax purposes
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,804 characters) on Jul 6, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 8, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-01.
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