I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2963

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal 

compensation for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2003

Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 

DEFAZIO, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. OSE, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. 

GIBBONS, Mr. FARR, Mr. OTTER, Mr. SIMPSON, and Mr. MCINNIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

A BILL

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portalto-portal compensation for wildland firefighters, and for 

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Wildland Fire5 fighter Emergency Response Compensation Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION. 

7 (a) WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER DEFINED.—For pur8 poses of this section, the term ‘‘wildland firefighter’’ 
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1 means an employee of the Department of the Interior or 

2 the United States Forest Service in the Department of 

3 Agriculture, the duties of whose position are primarily to 

4 perform work directly connected with the control, extin5 guishment, prevention, and management of wildland fires 

6 (including an employee engaged in this activity who is 

7 transferred to a supervisory or administrative position), 

8 but does not include an employee or group of employees 

9 excluded by the Office of Personnel Management under 

10 the second sentence of subsection (c). 

11 (b) PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of any deter13 mination of pay, a wildland firefighter is entitled to 

14 be paid for the entire period of time during which 

15 such firefighter is engaged in officially ordered or 

16 approved duties in connection with responding to a 

17 wildland fire or other emergency, subject to para18 graph (2). 

19 (2) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

20 provision of law, for any 24-hour period, the total 

21 amount in basic pay and premium pay payable to a 

22 wildland firefighter as a result of the application of 

23 this subsection may not exceed the amount equal to 

24 the sum of—
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1 (A) 16 times the firefighter’s hourly rate 

2 of basic pay; and 

3 (B) 8 times the firefighter’s overtime hour4 ly rate of pay. 

5 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Man6 agement shall prescribe any regulations necessary to carry 

7 out the purposes of this section. The Office may by regula8 tion exclude from the operation of this section an employee 

9 or group of employees appointed on a casual emergency 

10 basis. 

11 SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS DUTY DIFFERENTIAL TO BE TREATED 

12 AS PART OF A FIREFIGHTER’S BASIC PAY FOR 

13 RETIREMENT PURPOSES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8331(3) of title 5, United 

15 States Code, is amended—

16 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara17 graph (G); 

18 (2) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara19 graph (H); and 

20 (3) by adding after subparagraph (H) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(I) with respect to a firefighter, any pay 

23 differential under section 5545(d);’’. 
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 8331(3) of 

2 such title 5 is further amended by striking ‘‘(B) through 

3 (H)’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) through (I)’’. 

4 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

6 respect to compensation for service performed in any pay 

7 period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act.

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