II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3221 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a special limitation on 

pay for wildland fire responders, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2023 

Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. DAINES, Mr. TESTER, Ms. ROSEN, 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a special 

limitation on pay for wildland fire responders, 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 ‘‘Wildland Firefighter 

5 Fair Pay Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPECIAL LIMITATIONS ON PAY FOR WILDLAND FIRE 

7 RESPONDERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter V of chapter 55 of 

9 title 5, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 5541(2)(xi), by inserting ‘‘, 

2 5547a(h),’’ after ‘‘section 5544’’; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 5547 the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘§ 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for em6 ployees engaged in wildland firefighting 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em9 ployee of the Forest Service, the Department of the 

10 Interior, or the National Weather Service who— 

11 ‘‘(A) is a wildland firefighter; 

12 ‘‘(B) is an incident meteorologist accom13 panying a crew of wildland firefighters; 

14 ‘‘(C) is serving on an incident management 

15 team or at a wildland fire operations center; or 

16 ‘‘(D) is otherwise certified by the applica17 ble agency to perform wildland fire incident re18 lated duties during the period that employee is 

19 assigned to a qualifying incident; 

20 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered services’ means services 

21 performed by an employee that are determined by 

22 the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agri23 culture, or the Secretary of Commerce, as applicable, 

24 to primarily involve emergency wildfire suppression 

25 activities; 


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1 ‘‘(3) the term ‘emergency wildland fire suppres2 sion activities’— 

3 ‘‘(A) means initial-response and extended4 response activities that directly relate to sup5 pression of a wildfire; 

6 ‘‘(B) includes activities associated with a 

7 severity incident; and 

8 ‘‘(C) does not include activities associated 

9 with a prescribed fire incident; 

10 ‘‘(4) the term ‘firefighter’ means an employee 

11 who— 

12 ‘‘(A) is a firefighter within the meaning of 

13 section 8331(21) or section 8401(14); 

14 ‘‘(B) in the case of an employee who holds 

15 a supervisory or administrative position and is 

16 subject to subchapter III of chapter 83, but 

17 who does not qualify to be considered a fire18 fighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), 

19 would otherwise qualify if the employee had 

20 transferred directly to that position after serv21 ing as a firefighter within the meaning of that 

22 section; 

23 ‘‘(C) in the case of an employee who holds 

24 a supervisory or administrative position and is 

25 subject to chapter 84, but who does not qualify 


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1 to be considered a firefighter within the mean2 ing of section 8401(14), would otherwise qualify 

3 if the employee had transferred directly to that 

4 position after performing duties described in 

5 section 8401(14)(A) for at least 3 years; or 

6 ‘‘(D) in the case of an employee who is not 

7 subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap8 ter 84, holds a position that the Office of Per9 sonnel Management determines would satisfy 

10 subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) if the employee 

11 were subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or 

12 chapter 84; 

13 ‘‘(5) the term ‘prescribed fire incident’ means a 

14 wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 

15 accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula16 tions to meet specific objectives; 

17 ‘‘(6) the term ‘premium pay’ means the pre18 mium pay paid under the provisions of law cited in 

19 section 5547(a), except as otherwise provided in sub20 section (g); 

21 ‘‘(7) the term ‘qualifying incident’— 

22 ‘‘(A) means a wildfire incident, a pre23 scribed fire incident, or a severity incident; and 

24 ‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 

25 incident involving a single operational period of 


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1 less than 36 hours (unless a longer period is 

2 approved by an authorized agency due to excep3 tional circumstances) if the applicable employee 

4 is in continual work status with no designated 

5 sleep and rest period established by the agency; 

6 ‘‘(8) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci7 dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 

8 in an area where conditions indicate there is a high 

9 risk of wildfires; 

10 ‘‘(9) the term ‘wildfire incident’— 

11 ‘‘(A) means a wildland fire originating 

12 from an unplanned ignition, such as lightning, 

13 volcanos, or a human-caused fire; and 

14 ‘‘(B) includes a prescribed fire that is de15 clared to be a wildfire; and 

16 ‘‘(10) the term ‘wildland firefighter’ means a 

17 firefighter— 

18 ‘‘(A) who is employed by the Forest Serv19 ice or the Department of the Interior; and 

20 ‘‘(B) the duties of the position of whom 

21 primarily relate to fires occurring in forest 

22 lands, range lands, or other wildlands, as op23 posed to structural fires. 

24 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF PREMIUM PAY.—Any premium 

25 pay earned by a covered employee for covered services 


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1 shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate of the 

2 basic pay and premium pay of the covered employee for 

3 purposes of applying a limitation under section 5547. 

4 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF DISREGARDED PREMIUM

5 PAY.—Any premium pay that is disregarded under sub6 section (b) shall be disregarded in calculating the aggre7 gate pay of the applicable covered employee for purposes 

8 of applying the limitation in section 5307. 

9 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Pay that is disregarded 

11 under subsection (b) may not be paid to the extent 

12 that such pay would cause the aggregate of the basic 

13 pay, premium pay, and hazard pay of the applicable 

14 covered employee under section 5545(d) payable in 

15 the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of 

16 basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Ex17 ecutive Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at 

18 the end of that calendar year. 

19 ‘‘(2) BIWEEKLY LIMITATION.—For the pur20 poses of paragraph (1), any premium pay that is 

21 subject to a biweekly limitation under section 

22 5547(c) shall be paid first before other premium pay 

23 in applying the level II limitation. 

24 ‘‘(e) RELATIONSHIP TO LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.—Any 

25 additional pay resulting from application of this section 


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1 may not be used in computing a lump-sum payment for 

2 accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 

3 or 5552. 

4 ‘‘(f) RECORDS.—The Secretary of the Interior, the 

5 Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce 

6 shall each maintain records that document uses of the au7 thority provided under this section. 

8 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION FOR PREVAILING RATE EMPLOY9 EES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(A) the term ‘basic pay’ means wages, en12 vironmental differential pay, and night shift dif13 ferential pay; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the term ‘premium pay’ means over15 time pay, Sunday premium pay, and holiday 

16 premium pay. 

17 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—For a prevailing rate em18 ployee described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a 

19 covered employee, premium pay may not be paid to 

20 the extent that payment would cause the aggregate 

21 of the basic pay and premium pay of the covered 

22 employee in the applicable calendar year to exceed 

23 the rate of basic pay payable for a position at level 

24 II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, as 

25 in effect at the end of that calendar year.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 for chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

3 by inserting after the item for section 5547 the following: 

‘‘5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged in wildland 

firefighting.’’. 

4 (c) DISREGARDING OF PREMIUM PAY FOR CERTAIN

5 PURPOSES.—For the purpose of applying section 5547 of 

6 title 5, United States Code, as carried out pursuant to 

7 the requirements of section 1701 of division B of the Ex8 tending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency 

9 Assistance Act (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) (as amended by sec10 tion 601 of title VI of division HH of the Consolidated 

11 Appropriations Act, 2022 and section 440 of title IV of 

12 division G of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023), 

13 in calendar year 2023, incident standby premium pay shall 

14 be included in premium pay that is subject to the limits 

15 established pursuant to those requirements, as so amend16 ed. 

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

19 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the first 

20 day of the first pay period that has a payment date 

21 in January 2024. 

22 (2) DISREGARDING OF PREMIUM PAY.—Sub23 section (c) shall take effect on the first day of the 


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1 first applicable pay period beginning on or after Oc2 tober 1, 2023. 

3 (e) REPORTS ON HIRING WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS

4 AND INCIDENT METEROLOGISTS.— 

5 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

6 (A) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES DEFINED.—The term ‘‘relevant congres8 sional committees’’ means— 

9 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu10 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Sen11 ate; 

12 (ii) the Committee on Oversight and 

13 Accountability of the House of Representa14 tives; 

15 (iii) the Committee on Appropriations 

16 of the Senate; and 

17 (iv) the Committee on Appropriations 

18 of the House of Representatives. 

19 (B) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 

20 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 

21 (i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 

22 (ii) the Secretary of the Interior; and 

23 (iii) the Secretary of Commerce. 

24 (2) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

25 March 30, 2024, each Secretary concerned, in conVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Nov 07, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3221.IS S3221

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1 sultation with the Director of the Office of Manage2 ment and Budget and the Director of the Office of 

3 Personnel Management, shall submit to the relevant 

4 congressional committees a plan that addresses the 

5 needs of the Department of Agriculture, the Depart6 ment of the Interior, or the National Weather Serv7 ice, as applicable, to hire and train additional 

8 wildland firefighters or incident meteorologists (as 

9 those terms are defined in section 5447a of title 5, 

10 United States Code, as added by subsection (a)) 

11 such that sufficient personnel resources are available 

12 throughout the year without causing those wildland 

13 firefighters or incident meteorologists to receive com14 pensation, in a typical calendar year, in excess of the 

15 annual rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule 

16 under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code. 

Æ 


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