Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act
Makes permanent the tax deduction for personal losses in federally declared disasters and keeps wildfire relief payments tax-free.
What this law changes
From a secondary sourceMakes permanent the tax deduction for personal losses in federally declared disasters and keeps wildfire relief payments tax-free.
This account is written from the official description of the bill. We have saved the law's official text and have not finished checking the account against it.
Transparency Score
The Transparency Score is the share of this law’s dollars that goes to what the law says it is for.
Transparency Score
Share of the text within the stated purpose:Not checked yetThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount. The score is the share of its text within the stated intent. That share is "Not checked yet": no reading of this law is approved by a person yet. 4 dollar figures in the text are caps, thresholds, penalties or figures in other laws, and are not spending.
How this is counted
- Transparency Score: dollars in sections a person approved as within the stated intent, divided by total dollars in the law. Shown as a percentage. Higher means more of the money goes to what the law says it is for.
- Beside it, the same two numbers the other way round: total dollars divided by dollars within the stated intent. 1.00 means every dollar is within the stated intent. When no dollar is within the stated intent this ratio cannot be computed, and the answer says so.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars, read from the law's text by the rules below. Dollars in a section whose reading is unclear or was not read count in the total and are shown apart as unclear.
- A law whose text provides and authorizes no dollar amount reads "No money in this law". Its score is the share of its words that are in sections within the stated intent.
- The score reads "Not checked yet" until a person approves the law's reading of which sections are within the stated intent. The dollar totals need no reading and are shown before that.
- The dollar totals read "Not checked yet" when more than 10 percent of the dollars read could not be sorted by the rules.
- Every dollar amount in our saved text of the law is read: "$1,234,567", "$5 billion", "$2.5 million". Margin notes, page marks and the table of contents are left out. Each amount is kept with the words printed around it.
- Appropriated: the sentence says "there is appropriated", "is hereby appropriated" or "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated"; or the amount is the one an appropriations paragraph ("For ..., $X") provides under an account heading of an appropriations act.
- Authorized: the sentence says "authorized to be appropriated". An authorization lets a later law provide the money. It provides none itself.
- A list under such a sentence ("there is appropriated the following: (1) ...; (2) ..."): an amount that begins an item is counted the same way as the sentence says, unless the sentence gives a total first. Then the items are parts of that total.
- "$X for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030" is counted as X times the number of years named (here 5). The yearly figure, the years and the product are all kept. "For each fiscal year" with no years named is counted once, and the answer says so.
- Open-ended: "such sums as may be necessary" names no amount. It is counted as an item and adds no dollars.
- Rescinded: "is hereby rescinded", "permanently cancelled", or an item of a list headed "the following funds are hereby rescinded". Shown apart. Not subtracted from the total.
- Not spending, and left out of the total: an amount after "not to exceed", "not more than", "up to", "less than", "in excess of" and like words; a fine or penalty; a limit the law raises ("the limitation is increased by $X"); a figure the law strikes from another law; and a figure inside words it writes into another law ("striking $X and inserting $Y"), unless the same sentence says the figure is authorized or appropriated.
- Counted once: an amount after "of which", after "Provided, That", or after "of the amounts made available" is a part of a total already counted. Where a paragraph ends "in all, $X", that total is counted and the amounts before it are its parts.
- An amount the rules cannot sort is "not classified". It is listed with its words and left out of the total. Nothing is guessed.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars. The two are also shown apart.
What the law says it is for
Confirmed from the official recordThese are the law’s own words, and the words of Congress’s records, about what the law is for.
Official title
“To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to codify and extend the rules for personal casualty losses arising from major disasters and the rules for the exclusion from gross income of compensation for losses or damages resulting from certain wildfires.”
The words under "An Act", Public Law 119-108, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint cf485bb457ee3cb4
Short title
“Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-108, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint cf485bb457ee3cb4
Congress's summary · Congressional Research Service
“Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act This act extends the federal tax deduction for qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses and the exclusion from gross income of qualified wildfire relief payments. Under current law, unreimbursed personal casualty losses arising in a qualified disaster area (qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses) are deductible (as an itemized tax deduction or as part of the standard tax deduction) if such losses exceed $500 per casualty. A qualified disaster area is an area with respect to which a major disaster has been declared during the period beginning in 2020 and ending 60 days after July 4, 2025, if the incident period begins on or after December 28, 2019, and on or before July 4, 2025.”
The quote stops here. The source has the full text.
Summary of the version: Public Law, Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 6cb4f87657b765e0
Committee report, purpose · House committee
“H.R. 5366 was introduced on September 15, 2025, and was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. Committee Hearings On January 22, 2025, the Committee held a Full Committee Member Day Hearing on matters within the Committee's jurisdiction.”
"Background", House Report 119-605: DOUG LAMALFA FEDERAL DISASTER TAX RELIEF CERTAINTY ACT · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 34ec7d6b959b4dae
The law has no findings or purpose section.
Dollars in this law
Confirmed from the official recordThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount.
Left out of the total
- 2 figures are written into another law. What such a figure does is set by the other law.
- 2 figures are removed from another law.
Sentences with dollar figures in Congress’s summary
These sentences come from the summary of this law by the Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress.
“Under current law, unreimbursed personal casualty losses arising in a qualified disaster area (qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses) are deductible (as an itemized tax deduction or as part of the standard tax deduction) if such losses exceed $500 per casualty.”
Source: Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 6cb4f87657b765e0
Source: Public Law 119-108, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint cf485bb457ee3cb4
Other measures
Each measure has its own status. None is added into the score.
- Dollars in sections added along the way
- No money in this law
- Member-requested dollars as a share of appropriated dollars
- $0Confirmed from the official record
House Report 119-605: DOUG LAMALFA FEDERAL DISASTER TAX RELIEF CERTAINTY ACT says the bill carries none. The sentence is quoted.
- Open-ended amounts (“such sums as may be necessary”)
- 0 passagesConfirmed from the official record
- Other bills whose text this law contains
- 1 billConfirmed from the official record
- How the House passed it
- Voice vote, April 27, 2026Confirmed from the official record
- How the Senate passed it
- Unanimous consent, August 7, 2026Confirmed from the official record
- Committee report saved
- 1 reportConfirmed from the official record
- Hearing saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no hearing.
A voice vote or unanimous consent leaves no record of how each member voted.
How these are counted
- Added along the way, sections: sections of the final law marked "added later", divided by the sections compared.
- Added along the way, words: words in those sections, divided by the words in the sections compared.
- Each text is read as a list of words. A run is 5 words in a row. For each section of the final law we count the share of its runs that appear anywhere in the first published text of the bill. 90 percent or more: in the first text. From 20 to 90 percent: changed. Under 20 percent: added later. A section with fewer than 20 words is not compared.
- Sections outside the stated intent: sections a person approved as outside the stated intent, divided by the sections read. The same count is given in words.
- Member-requested spending: the number of items in the lists Congress printed for the law, and the sum of their dollar amounts.
- A part that is not checked yet is shown as "Not checked yet". It is never counted as zero. No single blended number is given.
Added along the way
Confirmed from the official record0 of the 2 sections compared are added after the first published text of the bill. 1 is changed. 1 is in the first text. 1 heading or short section is too short to compare.
A section counts as added later when under 20 percent of its wording appears in the first published text.
The first published text (Introduced in House, September 15, 2025): H.R. 5366, Introduced in House · Saved October 7, 2026 · Fingerprint 18e79d85af980a8b
Published texts of this bill, in order: Introduced in House (September 15, 2025), Reported in House (April 9, 2026), Engrossed in House (April 27, 2026), Referred in Senate (April 28, 2026), Enrolled Bill.
Sections added later
No section compared is added later.
Amendments adopted
The record lists no adopted amendment to this bill.
Other bills whose text this law contains
The Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress, marks 1 other bill with the words “Public law contains the text”. That means this law includes text from that bill. This page does not compare its text with the law.
- S. 3372 Protect Innocent Victims of Taxation After Fire Extension Act
Member-requested spending
Confirmed from the official recordA committee report on this bill says the bill, as the committee reported it, carries no spending item requested by a member.
“With respect to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee has carefully reviewed the provisions of the bill, and states that the provisions of the bill do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits within the meaning of the rule.”
House Report 119-605: DOUG LAMALFA FEDERAL DISASTER TAX RELIEF CERTAINTY ACT · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 34ec7d6b959b4dae
Sections outside the stated intent
Not checked yetA person reviews each reading before it appears here.
On the record
On the record: Not started.
Press releases by members of Congress
From a secondary sourceThese are press releases from members' official websites that name this law. We save a copy of each one.
6 press releases
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President Signs Bill Into Law Including Fong Legislation Supporting Wildfire Victims
“WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier this month, President Trump signed into law The Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (Public Law 119-108), which included Congressman Vince Fong's (CA-20) Doug LaMalfa Protect Innocent Victims of Taxation After Fire Extension Act (H.R. 7825). Re-introduced in memorial to the late Rep. LaMalfa, Rep. Fong's bill, as included in Public Law 119-108, exempts”
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SENATE PASSES THOMPSON’S BILL EXTENDING TAX RELIEF FOR WILDFIRE SURVIVORS
“Washington, D.C. – On Friday, the Senate unanimously passed Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA-04), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL-17), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Senator Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (H.R. 5366) to ensure wildfire survivors are not taxed on compensation they receive for losses and damages suffered during a federally declared”
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THOMPSON, STEUBE’S BIPARTISAN DISASTER TAX RELIEF BILL PASSES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
“Washington – Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Rep. Greg Steube’s (R-FL) Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (H.R. 5366) passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a voice vote. This bill extends Thompson and Steube’s landmark 2024 law providing tax relief for individuals impacted by federally declared disasters.”
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“WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Rick Scott’s bipartisan Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (H.R. 5366) unanimously passed the House of Representatives by voice vote.”
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Rep. Chu Commends Passage of Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2025
“WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 5366, the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act. This bill would ensure that survivors of the Eaton Fire can receive their settlements from Southern California Edison tax free, regardless of when those payments are received.”
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Steube Bipartisan Disaster Tax Relief Bill Advances Out of Ways and Means Committee
“WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) announced that the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (H.R. 5366), introduced with Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Representatives Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), has advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee. The bipartisan legislation passed unanimously by a vote of 43-0.”
Our reader could not tell the article apart from the rest of the page with confidence. The sentence shown may come from another part of the page.
Read from 539 of 539 members' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
Press releases by organizations
No saved press release from these organizations names this law.
Read from 510 of 510 organizations' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
What it touches
Kind of law: New or changed rules. Budget effect: Changes money the government collects.
Government
- Revenue and taxation
- Emergencies, defense and external affairs
The economy
- Taxes
Daily life
- Disaster recovery
- Household budget
Agencies it funds or directs
Dollar amounts:Not checked yetHow it passed
The House passed it by voice vote on April 27, 2026. A voice vote records no individual votes.
The Senate passed it without objection on August 7, 2026. No individual votes are recorded.
How each member votes
Both chambers passed this law without a recorded vote, so no individual votes exist. The House: passed by voice vote (no individual votes recorded). The Senate: passed without objection (no individual votes recorded).
Lobbying reports that name this bill
Confirmed from the official record2 saved lobbying reports name H.R. 5366. The amount is what the report gives for the whole quarter: everything the registrant did for that client, all issues together. A linked name opens that organization’s page on this site.
| Registrant | Client | Amount for the whole quarter | Quarter | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE WASHINGTON TAX & PUBLIC POLICY GROUP | BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY ENERGY | $40,000.00reported as income | April to June 2026 | Open the report |
| NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES | $540,000.00reported as expenses | April to June 2026 | Open the report |
See the lobbying page for H.R. 5366
Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.
Lobbying Disclosure Act reports, LDA.gov. This copy was read October 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM Eastern.
Where this comes from
The links below open the official files for this law. A code beside a file is its fingerprint, a short code that changes if the file's contents change.