Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act
Latest action (Sep 11, 2026) — Signed by President.
What it does
Congressional Research Service, Sep 11, 2026This 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 act extends the federal tax deduction for qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses by defining a qualified disaster area as an area with respect to which a major disaster has been declared if the incident period begins on or after December 28, 2019, and before January 1, 2027.
The act provides that the exclusion from gross income of qualified wildfire relief payments applies to such payments attributable to forest or range fires declared a federal disaster after 2014 and before 2027, regardless of when such payments are received. (Currently, qualified wildfire relief payments attributable to forest or range fires declared a federal disaster after 2014 and received after 2019 and before 2026 may be excluded from gross income.)
The act also provides statutory authority for several related tax rules.
Face Value
as enrolledHow much of this bill its name accounts for.
- Every bill starts at100
- Nothing counted against it: one area of law, and short enough that length doesn't register.
Face Value measures reach, not honesty. A big bill can be accurately named, and a low score is not an accusation — it means the contents reach further than any short title could describe. Count it yourself ↗ How this is worked out
Who lobbied on this
1 organizationThese organizations told Congress, in their own quarterly disclosures, that they were lobbying on this bill.
- National Association of Mutual Insurance Companiesno position stated
“…the understanding of how the public receives, interprets, and responds to and values hurricane forecasts and warnings, and for other purposes. H.R.5366 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to codify and extend the rules for personal casualty losses arising from major disasters and the…” filing ↗
Most filings say only that an organization lobbied on a bill, not which side it took — where that's the case we say so rather than guessing. Quotes are verbatim from the filing. How this is built.
Discussion
8 commentsSign in to join the discussion and put your vote on the record.