II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3268 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide direct hire authority to 

appoint individuals to Federal wildland firefighting and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 

Mr. DAINES (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) 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 provide direct 

hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland 

firefighting and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, 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 ‘‘Direct Hire to Fight 

5 Fires Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY TO APPOINT INDIVID2 UALS TO FEDERAL WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING 

3 AND FIREFIGHTING SUPPORT POSITIONS IN 

4 THE FOREST SERVICE OR THE DEPARTMENT 

5 OF THE INTERIOR. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 96 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals 

10 to Federal wildland firefighting and fire11 fighting support positions in Forest Serv12 ice and Department of the Interior 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture or 

14 the Secretary of the Interior may appoint, without regard 

15 to the provisions of sections 3309 through 3318 and part 

16 211 and subpart A of part 337 of title 5, Code of Federal 

17 Regulations, or any successor regulations, a qualified can18 didate to any position described in subsection (b) in the 

19 Forest Service or the Department of the Interior, respec20 tively. 

21 ‘‘(b) POSITIONS.—A position described in this sub22 section is any Federal wildland firefighting position, or 

23 any position in support of such a firefighting position, that 

24 is described as follows: 

25 ‘‘(1) Such a position within the Forestry Tech26 nician Series, GS–0462, or any successor series. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Such a position within the Aircraft Oper2 ation Series, GS–2181, or any successor series. 

3 ‘‘(3) Such a position within the Miscellaneous 

4 Administration and Program Series, GS–0301, or 

5 any successor series, if the position supports fire6 fighting and is eligible for primary or secondary fire7 fighter retirement coverage. 

8 ‘‘(4) Such a position within the General Nat9 ural Resources Management and Biological Sciences 

10 Series, GS–0401, or any successor series, if the posi11 tion supports firefighting and is eligible for primary 

12 or secondary firefighter retirement coverage. 

13 ‘‘(5) Such a position within the Aviation Man14 agement Specialist Series, GS–2101, or any suc15 cessor series. 

16 ‘‘(6) Such a position as an Engineering Equip17 ment Operator, WG, WL, or WS–5716, or any suc18 cessor series, if the position supports firefighting 

19 and is eligible for primary or secondary firefighter 

20 retirement coverage. 

21 ‘‘(7) Such a position within the Dispatching Se22 ries, GS–2151, if the position supports firefighting 

23 and is eligible for primary or secondary firefighter 

24 retirement coverage. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Such a position as an Equipment Spe2 cialist, GS–1670, or any successor series. 

3 ‘‘(9) Such a position within any additional occu4 pational series developed specifically for wildland 

5 firefighting.’’. 

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

7 for chapter 96 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

8 by adding after the item relating to section 9602 the fol9 lowing: 

‘‘9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland firefighting and firefighting support positions in Forest Service 

and Department of the Interior.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. STREAMLINING AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL 

11 WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING HIRING AT THE 

12 FOREST SERVICE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF 

13 THE INTERIOR. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means— 

16 (A) the Forest Service, with respect to Na17 tional Forest System land; and 

18 (B) the Department of the Interior, with 

19 respect to land under the jurisdiction of the 

20 Secretary of the Interior. 

21 (2) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT22 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit23 tees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

2 and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on 

3 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the 

4 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

5 the Senate; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac7 countability, the Committee on Agriculture, and 

8 the Committee on Natural Resources of the 

9 House of Representatives. 

10 (3) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

11 means the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec12 retary of the Interior. 

13 (b) STREAMLINED HIRING.—Not later than 1 year 

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, 

15 in consultation with the Director of the Office of Per16 sonnel Management, shall implement policies to recruit 

17 and retain wildland firefighters that— 

18 (1) reduce the amount of time required to hire 

19 wildland firefighters and wildland firefighting sup20 port personnel; 

21 (2) address and eliminate redundancies in the 

22 Federal hiring process for wildland firefighters and 

23 wildland firefighting support personnel; 

24 (3) streamline the process for hiring wildland 

25 firefighters and wildland firefighting support perVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Nov 14, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3268.IS S3268

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1 sonnel who were employed by the agencies in prior 

2 years; and 

3 (4) reduce barriers for wildland firefighters 

4 transferring between the agencies. 

5 (c) TRANSPARENCY.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 1 

7 of the first calendar year that begins after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, and not later than Feb9 ruary 1 of each calendar year thereafter, the Secre10 taries shall each submit to the relevant congressional 

11 committees a report that contains the following in12 formation: 

13 (A) The number of wildland firefighters 

14 and wildland firefighting support personnel the 

15 agency anticipates it will need for that calendar 

16 year, delineated by position. 

17 (B) The number of hiring events the agen18 cy is planning to hold that calendar year. 

19 (C) The number of wildland firefighters 

20 and wildland firefighting support personnel cur21 rently employed by the agency, delineated by 

22 position. 

23 (D) The number of wildland firefighter 

24 and wildland firefighting support personnel va25 cancies by State. 


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1 (E) The implementation of the direct hir2 ing authority under section 9603 of title 5, 

3 United States Code. 

4 (F) The implementation of the streamlined 

5 hiring policies developed under subsection (b). 

6 (G) Recommendations to Congress to fur7 ther improve the recruitment and retention of 

8 wildland firefighters and wildland firefighting 

9 support personnel. 

10 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretaries 

11 shall each annually publish the report submitted 

12 under paragraph (1) on a publicly available website. 

Æ 


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