Senate advances disaster-relief bill shielding wildfire victims from certain tax burdens

A lawmaker from Oregon told the Senate the chamber had approved a bipartisan disaster-relief bill intended to prevent wildfire victims who lose their homes from facing large tax bills. "When you lose your home in a wildfire, the last thing you ought to be worried about is being hit by a massive tax bill," the lawmaker said.

The lawmaker said the bill "would give Oregonians and Westerners affected by these blazes some real peace of mind," describing the measure as relief that would "get rid of totally unfair taxes on settlement payments" and "ensure disaster victims can deduct losses after disasters." The lawmaker also attributed the underlying tax problem to changes enacted in 2017: "That's an issue the Republicans created under Donald Trump in 2017," the lawmaker said.

The floor action began with the presiding officer announcing that the committee had been discharged and the Senate would proceed to the measure. A lawmaker asked unanimous consent that the bill "be considered, read 0.333 time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table." The presiding officer responded, "Without objection," effectively clearing the measure for immediate passage by unanimous consent.

The sponsor urged colleagues to publicize the relief for constituents in Oregon and the broader West before yielding the floor. The transcript does not provide bill numbers, further legislative text, or roll-call vote tallies; the motion was resolved by unanimous consent on the floor.