[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4671 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4671

  To direct the Secretary of the Interior to develop a Wildland Fire 
    Management Casualty Assistance Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2025

    Mr. Harder of California (for himself and Mr. Scott Franklin of 
   Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of the Interior to develop a Wildland Fire 
    Management Casualty Assistance Program, 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 ``Ensuring Casualty Assistance for our 
Firefighters Act''.

SEC. 2. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

    (a) Development of Program.--Not later than 6 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
develop a Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program 
(referred to in this section as the ``Program'') to provide assistance 
to the next-of-kin of--
            (1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, suffer 
        illness or are critically injured or killed; and
            (2) wildland fire support personnel critically injured or 
        killed in the line of duty.
    (b) Aspects of Program.--The Program shall address the following:
            (1) The initial and any subsequent notifications to the 
        next-of-kin of a firefighter or wildland fire support personnel 
        who--
                    (A) is killed in the line of duty; or
                    (B) requires hospitalization or treatment at a 
                medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 
                illness.
            (2) The reimbursement of next-of-kin for expenses 
        associated with travel to visit a firefighter or wildland fire 
        support personnel who--
                    (A) is killed in the line of duty; or
                    (B) requires hospitalization or treatment at a 
                medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 
                illness.
            (3) The qualifications, assignment, training, duties, 
        supervision, and accountability for the performance of casualty 
        assistance responsibilities.
            (4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance officers, 
        including notification to survivors of critical injury or 
        illness in the line of duty and next-of-kin of the reassignment 
        of such officers to other duties.
            (5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case management 
        procedures for casualty assistance, including rapid access by 
        survivors of firefighters or wildland fire support personnel 
        and casualty assistance officers to expert case managers and 
        counselors.
            (6) The provision, through a computer accessible website 
        and other means and at no cost to survivors and next-of-kin of 
        firefighters or wildland fire support personnel, of 
        personalized, integrated information on the benefits and 
        financial assistance available to such survivors from the 
        Federal Government.
            (7) The provision of information to survivors and next-of-
        kin of firefighters or wildland fire support personnel on 
        mechanisms for registering complaints about, or requests for, 
        additional assistance related to casualty assistance.
            (8) Liaison with the Department of the Interior, the 
        Department of Justice, and the Social Security Administration 
        to ensure prompt and accurate resolution of issues relating to 
        benefits administered by those agencies for survivors of 
        firefighters or wildland fire support personnel.
            (9) Data collection, in consultation with the United States 
        Fire Administration and the National Institute for Occupational 
        Safety and Health, regarding the incidence and quality of 
        casualty assistance provided to survivors of firefighters or 
        wildland fire support personnel.
    (c) Line of Duty Death Benefits.--The Program shall not affect 
existing authorities for Line of Duty Death benefits for Federal 
firefighters and wildland fire support personnel.
    (d) Next-of-Kin Defined.--In this section, the term ``next-of-kin'' 
means person or persons in the highest category of priority as 
determined by the following list (categories appear in descending order 
of priority):
            (1) Surviving legal spouse.
            (2) Children (whether by current or prior marriage) age 18 
        years or older in descending precedence by age.
            (3) Father or mother, unless by court order custody has 
        been vested in another (adoptive parent takes precedence over 
        natural parent).
            (4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or older in 
        descending precedence by age.
            (5) Grandfather or grandmother.
            (6) Any other relative (precedence to be determined in 
        accordance with the civil law of descent of the deceased former 
        member's State of domicile at time of death).
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