[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6195 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6195
To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a special limitation
on pay for wildland fire responders, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 2, 2023
Ms. Lofgren (for herself, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Huffman, Mr.
Peters, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Porter, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Brownley,
Ms. Barragan, Mr. DeSaulnier, and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and
Accountability, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources,
Agriculture, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a special limitation
on pay for wildland fire responders, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act''.
SEC. 2. SPECIAL LIMITATIONS ON PAY FOR WILDLAND FIRE RESPONDERS.
(a) In General.--Subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 5541(2)(xi), by inserting ``, 5547a(h),''
after ``section 5544''; and
(2) by inserting after section 5547 the following:
``Sec. 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged
in wildland firefighting
``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
``(1) the term `covered employee' means an employee of the
Forest Service, the Department of the Interior, or the National
Weather Service who--
``(A) is a wildland firefighter;
``(B) is an incident meteorologist accompanying a
crew of wildland firefighters;
``(C) is serving on an incident management team or
at a wildland fire operations center; or
``(D) is otherwise certified by the applicable
agency to perform wildland fire incident related duties
during the period that employee is assigned to a
qualifying incident;
``(2) the term `covered services' means services performed
by an employee that are determined by the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, or the Secretary of
Commerce, as applicable, to primarily involve emergency
wildfire suppression activities;
``(3) the term `emergency wildland fire suppression
activities'--
``(A) means initial-response and extended-response
activities that directly relate to suppression of a
wildfire;
``(B) includes activities associated with a
severity incident; and
``(C) does not include activities associated with a
prescribed fire incident;
``(4) the term `firefighter' means an employee who--
``(A) is a firefighter within the meaning of
section 8331(21) or section 8401(14);
``(B) in the case of an employee who holds a
supervisory or administrative position and is subject
to subchapter III of chapter 83, but who does not
qualify to be considered a firefighter within the
meaning of section 8331(21), would otherwise qualify if
the employee had transferred directly to that position
after serving as a firefighter within the meaning of
that section;
``(C) in the case of an employee who holds a
supervisory or administrative position and is subject
to chapter 84, but who does not qualify to be
considered a firefighter within the meaning of section
8401(14), would otherwise qualify if the employee had
transferred directly to that position after performing
duties described in section 8401(14)(A) for at least 3
years; or
``(D) in the case of an employee who is not subject
to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84, holds a
position that the Office of Personnel Management
determines would satisfy subparagraph (A), (B), or (C)
if the employee were subject to subchapter III of
chapter 83 or chapter 84;
``(5) the term `prescribed fire incident' means a wildland
fire originating from a planned ignition in accordance with
applicable laws, policies, and regulations to meet specific
objectives;
``(6) the term `premium pay' means the premium pay paid
under the provisions of law cited in section 5547(a), except as
otherwise provided in subsection (g);
``(7) the term `qualifying incident'--
``(A) means a wildfire incident, a prescribed fire
incident, or a severity incident; and
``(B) does not include an initial response incident
involving a single operational period of less than 36
hours (unless a longer period is approved by an
authorized agency due to exceptional circumstances) if
the applicable employee is in continual work status
with no designated sleep and rest period established by
the agency;
``(8) the term `severity incident' means an incident in
which a covered employee is pre-positioned in an area where
conditions indicate there is a high risk of wildfires;
``(9) the term `wildfire incident'--
``(A) means a wildland fire originating from an
unplanned ignition, such as lightning, volcanos, or a
human-caused fire; and
``(B) includes a prescribed fire that is declared
to be a wildfire; and
``(10) the term `wildland firefighter' means a
firefighter--
``(A) who is employed by the Forest Service or the
Department of the Interior; and
``(B) the duties of the position of whom primarily
relate to fires occurring in forest lands, range lands,
or other wildlands, as opposed to structural fires.
``(b) Treatment of Premium Pay.--Any premium pay earned by a
covered employee for covered services shall be disregarded in
calculating the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay of the
covered employee for purposes of applying a limitation under section
5547.
``(c) Treatment of Disregarded Premium Pay.--Any premium pay that
is disregarded under subsection (b) shall be disregarded in calculating
the aggregate pay of the applicable covered employee for purposes of
applying the limitation in section 5307.
``(d) Limitation.--
``(1) In general.--Pay that is disregarded under subsection
(b) may not be paid to the extent that such pay would cause the
aggregate of the basic pay, premium pay, and hazard pay of the
applicable covered employee under section 5545(d) payable in
the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of basic pay
payable for a position at level II of the Executive Schedule
under section 5313, as in effect at the end of that calendar
year.
``(2) Biweekly limitation.--For the purposes of paragraph
(1), any premium pay that is subject to a biweekly limitation
under section 5547(c) shall be paid first before other premium
pay in applying the level II limitation.
``(e) Relationship to Lump-Sum Payment.--Any additional pay
resulting from application of this section may not be used in computing
a lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave under
section 5551 or 5552.
``(f) Records.--The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of
Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce shall each maintain records
that document uses of the authority provided under this section.
``(g) Limitation for Prevailing Rate Employees.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
``(A) the term `basic pay' means wages,
environmental differential pay, and night shift
differential pay; and
``(B) the term `premium pay' means overtime pay,
Sunday premium pay, and holiday premium pay.
``(2) Limitation.--For a prevailing rate employee described
in section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a covered employee, premium pay
may not be paid to the extent that payment would cause the
aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay of the covered
employee in the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of
basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive
Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at the end of that
calendar year.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 55 of
title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item for
section 5547 the following:
``5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged in
wildland firefighting.''.
(c) Disregarding of Premium Pay for Certain Purposes.--For the
purpose of applying section 5547 of title 5, United States Code, as
carried out pursuant to the requirements of section 1701 of division B
of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance
Act (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) (as amended by section 601 of title VI of
division HH of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 and section
440 of title IV of division G of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2023), in calendar year 2023, incident standby premium pay shall be
included in premium pay that is subject to the limits established
pursuant to those requirements, as so amended.
(d) Effective Dates.--
(1) In general.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and
(b) shall take effect on the first day of the first pay period
that has a payment date in January 2024.
(2) Disregarding of premium pay.--Subsection (c) shall take
effect on the first day of the first applicable pay period
beginning on or after October 1, 2023.
(e) Reports on Hiring Wildland Firefighters and Incident
Meterologists.--
(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) Relevant congressional committees defined.--The
term ``relevant congressional committees'' means--
(i) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
(ii) the Committee on Oversight and Reform
of the House of Representatives;
(iii) the Committee on Appropriations of
the Senate; and
(iv) the Committee on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives.
(B) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary
concerned'' means--
(i) the Secretary of Agriculture;
(ii) the Secretary of the Interior; and
(iii) the Secretary of Commerce.
(2) Reports required.--Not later than March 30, 2024, each
Secretary concerned, in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget and the Director of the Office
of Personnel Management, shall submit to the relevant
congressional committees a plan that addresses the needs of the
Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, or
the National Weather Service, as applicable, to hire and train
additional wildland firefighters or incident meteorologists (as
those terms are defined in section 5547a of title 5, United
States Code, as added by subsection (a)) such that sufficient
personnel resources are available throughout the year without
causing those wildland firefighters or incident meteorologists
to receive compensation, in a typical calendar year, in excess
of the annual rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule under
section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.
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