Tax credits for disaster-proofing homes and small businesses in disaster zones
H.R. 6763 — Shelter Act · Filed by Maria Salazar (R-FL) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 16, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates two new tax credits for homeowners and businesses that spend money on disaster-mitigation improvements—reinforcing roofs, installing flood barriers, elevating homes, clearing vegetation, and similar hardening measures. Homeowners get a 25% credit up to $3,750/year ($7,500 joint) with a lifetime cap of $15,000 per home; businesses get 25% up to $5,000/year. Both credits phase out at higher incomes and apply only to properties in federally declared disaster areas or adjacent zones. The credits are available starting in 2026.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a direct tax credit for private disaster-mitigation spending, structured to incentivize property hardening in federally declared disaster zones. It is a public-policy tool (resilience investment) delivered through the tax code rather than direct appropriation.
What the text implies
- Credits are available only in federally declared disaster areas or adjacent zones, creating a geographic incentive that may accelerate migration to or investment in high-risk coastal and wildfire-prone regions, potentially increasing long-term federal disaster-relief exposure.
- The bill allows labor and inspection costs to count toward the credit, which may incentivize hiring of contractors and inspectors but also creates audit complexity and potential for inflated cost claims.
- Businesses can claim the credit only if average gross receipts are below $5M, effectively limiting the benefit to small and mid-sized enterprises; larger corporations are phased out entirely.
- The credit is non-refundable for individuals and subject to carryforward rules, meaning low-income households with minimal tax liability may not fully benefit even if they undertake qualifying improvements.
- The bill references FEMA publications and ICC/NSSA standards but does not require pre-approval; taxpayers self-certify compliance, creating audit risk and potential for disallowance after spending.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Homeowners and small businesses in disaster-prone areas gain a direct financial incentive to invest in resilience measures that reduce future damage and insurance costs. The income phaseout ensures benefits flow primarily to middle-income households; the geographic targeting focuses aid on communities with demonstrated disaster risk. The public benefit—reduced future disaster losses, lower recovery costs, fewer displaced families—outweighs the tax revenue cost.
Who stands to gain
- homeowners in disaster-prone areas
- small and mid-sized businesses in federally declared disaster zones
- construction and contracting firms (labor costs are creditable)
- building inspection and certification services
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), International Code Council (ICC), National Storm Shelter Association, Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, U.S. Forest Service
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Dec 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 16, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,100,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 68 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Maria Salazar, the sponsor, reported $541,848 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Reinsurance Assn of America — $1,100,000 on 3 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (17,449 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 Dec 2025 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 23, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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