# Stafford Act The **Stafford Act** (Pub. L. 100-707, 1988, amending the Disaster Relief Act of 1974; codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121–5207) is the statutory basis for federal disaster response. It authorizes two distinct presidential declarations — an **emergency declaration** and the broader **major disaster declaration** — each unlocking a different tier of federal assistance administered by the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]. Its defining structural feature is **consent**: with narrow exceptions for federal-primary-responsibility incidents, the process begins with a governor's request based on a finding that the situation exceeds state and local capacity. The federal government supplements rather than supplants, which is why the Act sits on the cooperative side of American federalism while the force statutes sit on the coercive side. The Act also carries the individual and public assistance programs, hazard mitigation grants, and the cost-share formulas that determine what a state pays. Stub — expand with the declaration process, the assistance categories, and the 2025–26 record of denials, delays, and cost-share changes. ## See also - [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] - [[Emergency Powers Crosswalk]]