I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2996 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to establish wildfire on Federal lands as a major disaster. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mr. HARDY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to establish wildfire on Federal 

lands as a major disaster. 

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

3 SECTION 1. WILDFIRE ON FEDERAL LANDS. 

4 Section 102(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

5 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122(2)) 

6 is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘(2)’’ and all that follows 

8 through ‘‘means’’ and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) MAJOR DISASTER.— 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

2 

•HR 2996 IH

1 ‘‘(A) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘major 

2 disaster’ means’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(B) MAJOR DISASTER FOR WILDFIRE ON

5 FEDERAL LANDS.—The term ‘major disaster 

6 for wildfire on Federal lands’ means any wild7 fire or wildfires, which in the determination of 

8 the President under section 802 warrants as9 sistance under section 803 to supplement the 

10 efforts and resources of the Department of the 

11 Interior or the Department of Agriculture— 

12 ‘‘(i) on Federal lands; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) on non-Federal lands pursuant 

14 to a fire protection agreement or coopera15 tive agreement.’’. 

16 SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF A MAJOR DISASTER FOR WILD17 FIRE ON FEDERAL LANDS. 

18 The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer19 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is amended 

20 by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘TITLE VIII—MAJOR DISASTER 

22 FOR WILDFIRE ON FEDERAL 

23 LAND 

24 ‘‘SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS. 

25 ‘‘As used in this title— 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

3 

•HR 2996 IH

1 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘Federal land’ 

2 means— 

3 ‘‘(A) any land under the jurisdiction of the 

4 Department of the Interior; and 

5 ‘‘(B) any land under the jurisdiction of the 

6 United States Forest Service. 

7 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGEN8 CIES.—The term ‘Federal land management agen9 cies’ means— 

10 ‘‘(A) the Bureau of Land Management; 

11 ‘‘(B) the National Park Service; 

12 ‘‘(C) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 

13 ‘‘(D) the United States Fish and Wildlife 

14 Service; and 

15 ‘‘(E) the United States Forest Service. 

16 ‘‘(3) WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION OPERATIONS.— 

17 The term ‘wildfire suppression operations’ means the 

18 emergency and unpredictable aspects of wildland 

19 firefighting, including support, response, emergency 

20 stabilization activities, and other emergency manage21 ment activities of wildland firefighting on Federal 

22 lands (or on non-Federal lands pursuant to a fire 

23 protection agreement or cooperative agreement) by 

24 the Federal land management agencies covered by 

25 the wildfire suppression subactivity of the Wildland 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

4 

•HR 2996 IH

1 Fire Management account or the FLAME Wildfire 

2 Suppression Reserve Fund account of the Federal 

3 land management agencies. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 802. PROCEDURE FOR DECLARATION OF A MAJOR 

5 DISASTER FOR WILDFIRE ON FEDERAL 

6 LANDS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior or 

8 the Secretary of Agriculture may submit a request to the 

9 President consistent with the requirements of this title for 

10 a declaration by the President that a major disaster for 

11 wildfire on Federal lands exists. 

12 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A request for a declaration 

13 by the President that a major disaster for wildfire on Fed14 eral lands exists shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) be made in writing by the respective Sec16 retary; 

17 ‘‘(2) certify that the amount appropriated in 

18 the current fiscal year for wildfire suppression oper19 ations of the Federal land management agencies 

20 under the jurisdiction of the respective Secretary, 

21 net of any concurrently enacted rescissions of wild22 fire suppression funds, increases the total unobli23 gated balance of amounts available for wildfire sup24 pression by an amount equal to or greater than the 

25 average total costs incurred by the Federal land 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

5 

•HR 2996 IH

1 management agencies per year for wildfire suppres2 sion operations, including the suppression costs in 

3 excess of appropriated amounts, over the previous 

4 ten fiscal years; 

5 ‘‘(3) certify that the amount available for wild6 fire suppression operations of the Federal land man7 agement agencies under the jurisdiction of the re8 spective Secretary will be obligated not later than 30 

9 days after such Secretary notifies the President that 

10 wildfire suppression funds will be exhausted to fund 

11 ongoing and anticipated wildfire suppression oper12 ations related to the wildfire on which the request 

13 for the declaration of a major disaster for wildfire 

14 on Federal lands pursuant to this title is based; and 

15 ‘‘(4) specify the amount required in the current 

16 fiscal year to fund wildfire suppression operations 

17 related to the wildfire on which the request for the 

18 declaration of a major disaster for wildfire on Fed19 eral lands pursuant to this title is based. 

20 ‘‘(c) DECLARATION.—Based on the request of the re21 spective Secretary under this title, the President may de22 clare that a major disaster for wildfire on Federal lands 

23 exists. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

6 

•HR 2996 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 803. WILDFIRE ON FEDERAL LANDS ASSISTANCE. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In a major disaster for wildfire 

3 on Federal lands, the President may transfer funds, only 

4 from the account established pursuant to subsection (b), 

5 to the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agri6 culture to conduct wildfire suppression operations on Fed7 eral lands (and non-Federal lands pursuant to a fire pro8 tection agreement or cooperative agreement). 

9 ‘‘(b) WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION OPERATIONS AC10 COUNT.—The President shall establish a specific account 

11 for the assistance available pursuant to a declaration 

12 under section 802. Such account may only be used to fund 

13 assistance pursuant to this title. 

14 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION OF TRANSFER.—The assist16 ance available pursuant to a declaration under sec17 tion 802 is limited to the transfer of the amount re18 quested pursuant to section 802(b)(4). The assist19 ance available for transfer shall not exceed the 

20 amount contained in the wildfire suppression oper21 ations account established pursuant to subsection 

22 (b). 

23 ‘‘(2) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—Funds under this 

24 section shall be transferred from the wildfire sup25 pression operations account to the wildfire suppresmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

7 

•HR 2996 IH

1 sion subactivity of the Wildland Fire Management 

2 Account. 

3 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION OF OTHER TRANSFERS.—Except 

4 as provided in this section, no funds may be transferred 

5 to or from the account established pursuant to subsection 

6 (b) to or from any other fund or account. 

7 ‘‘(e) REIMBURSEMENT FOR WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION

8 OPERATIONS ON NON-FEDERAL LAND.—If amounts 

9 transferred under subsection (c) are used to conduct wild10 fire suppression operations on non-Federal land, the re11 spective Secretary shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) secure reimbursement for the cost of such 

13 wildfire suppression operations conducted on the 

14 non-Federal land; and 

15 ‘‘(2) transfer the amounts received as reim16 bursement to the wildfire suppression operations ac17 count established pursuant to subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING RE19 QUIREMENTS.—Not later than 90 days after the end of 

20 each fiscal year for which assistance is received pursuant 

21 to this section, the respective Secretary shall submit to 

22 the Committees on Agriculture, Appropriations, the Budg23 et, Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastruc24 ture of the House of Representatives and the Committees 

25 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Appropriations, 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

8 

•HR 2996 IH

1 the Budget, Energy and Natural Resources, Homeland 

2 Security and Governmental Affairs, and Indian Affairs of 

3 the Senate, and make available to the public, a report that 

4 includes the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) The risk-based factors that influenced 

6 management decisions regarding wildfire suppression 

7 operations of the Federal land management agencies 

8 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned. 

9 ‘‘(2) Specific discussion of a statistically signifi10 cant sample of large fires, in which each fire is ana11 lyzed for cost drivers, effectiveness of risk manage12 ment techniques, resulting positive or negative im13 pacts of fire on the landscape, impact of investments 

14 in preparedness, suggested corrective actions, and 

15 such other factors as the respective Secretary con16 siders appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(3) Total expenditures for wildfire suppression 

18 operations of the Federal land management agencies 

19 under the jurisdiction of the respective Secretary, 

20 broken out by fire sizes, cost, regional location, and 

21 such other factors as the such Secretary considers 

22 appropriate. 

23 ‘‘(4) Lessons learned. 

24 ‘‘(5) Such other matters as the respective Sec25 retary considers appropriate. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

9 

•HR 2996 IH

1 ‘‘(g) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this title shall 

2 limit the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agri3 culture, Indian tribe, or a State from receiving assistance 

4 through a declaration made by the President under this 

5 Act when the criteria for such declaration have been 

6 met.’’. 

Æ 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS