YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyCivil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityOne form for all federal disaster aid — with your personal data shared across agencies.
Your Money
Each program takes its own form today — FEMA, the Small Business Administration, food aid. FEMA would have to run one intake system for all of them within 360 days.
The system would have to show you where your claim stands and let you update your details as your recovery goes on. It would also point you to other aid in your area.
Civil Liberties
Three things must come first. FEMA must show the system meets federal rules for data safety. Homeland Security must put out a privacy review. FEMA must set conduct rules for staff who see your file.
Say an agency's staff or vendor leaks your file. That agency must cover any court award or deal that follows. It may have to pay for credit monitoring. Leaks must be flagged within 24 hours.
Filing the joint form counts as your written consent under the Privacy Act. Agencies could share your details after that, with no new ask.
FEMA could pass your disaster file to any agency it approves for this work. The file can hold your money details, your address, and how your claim was judged.
When agencies cross-check people's records, the Privacy Act normally adds steps like written agreements and review boards. This sharing would not count as that kind of cross-check, so those steps would not apply.
The Privacy Act normally calls for a fresh public notice before records get used in a new way. Here one website post would count for the whole life of the disaster aid.
Transparency & Accountability
If FEMA sets those comment rules aside, it must post a short reason and name the offices covered. The waiver only starts once that post goes up.
FEMA can only bring in another agency after posting their agreement, with its full terms, on a public website. That post shows who gets to see your file.
The Government Accountability Office is the watchdog that checks federal programs for Congress. It must report in three years. The report covers how the change worked for survivors.
The system must be built to help spot waste, fraud and abuse. It must also help spot discrimination in how aid is handed out.
A law called the Paperwork Reduction Act normally makes agencies ask the public first. They must seek comment before asking people for new facts. FEMA could set that step aside once a disaster is declared. It could stay aside as long as the aid runs.
More about this bill
After a flood or fire, you may have to apply to each federal aid program on its own. FEMA would instead build one form that covers all of them. That one form could reach FEMA housing help, Small Business Administration disaster loans, and food aid. Businesses and nonprofits could use it too. You could check where your claim stands and get copies of your own files. You could fix your details in one place, not many. FEMA would have 360 days after the bill becomes law to build it. No new aid program would be created. Your personal details would also move between agencies. Applying would count as your consent to share them. Shared data can cover your money, your address, and how your claim was judged. Rules that normally apply when agencies cross-check data would not apply here. FEMA could also skip public comment on new disaster forms once a disaster is declared. Before any data goes in, the government must publish a privacy review and data safety rules. If an agency leaks your data, it would owe you any court award. It would also pay for credit monitoring.
Congressional Summary
Disaster Assistance Simplification Act This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop and establish a unified intake process and system for applicants for assistance provided by a disaster assistance agency. The system must facilitate a consolidated application for any form of disaster assistance provided by a disaster assistance agency when appropriate to support the nature and purposes of the assistance; carry out the purposes of disaster assistance programs swiftly, efficiently, equitably, and in accordance with specified laws and privacy and data protections; and support the detection, prevention, and investigation of waste, fraud, abuse, or discrimination in the administration of disaster assistance programs. Further, the system must, among other things accept applications for disaster assistance programs; permit applicants to receive status updates on such applications; allow applicants to update disaster assistance information throughout their recovery journeys; permit the distribution of information on additional recovery resources to disaster survivors that may be available in a disaster-stricken jurisdiction in coordination with appropriate federal, state, local, and tribal partners; and permit disaster assistance agencies to communicate directly with disaster survivors. Not later than 30 days after receiving a request from a disaster assistance agency to update questions in the consolidated application needed to administer the disaster assistance programs of the agency, FEMA must make those updates. The bill requires reports and congressional briefings from FEMA, and a report from the Government Accountability Office, relating to the bill's implementation.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Passed Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-12-16
- Date Added
- 2026-06-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.