I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6195 

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

pay for wildland fire responders, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2023 

Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. 

PETERS, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. PORTER, Mr. LIEU, Ms. 

BROWNLEY, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. DESAULNIER, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Committees on Natural 

Resources, Agriculture, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

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’’. 


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

2 RESPONDERS. 

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

4 title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

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

6 5547a(h),’’ after ‘‘section 5544’’; and 

7 (2) by inserting after section 5547 the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for em10 ployees engaged in wildland firefighting 

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

12 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em13 ployee of the Forest Service, the Department of the 

14 Interior, or the National Weather Service who— 

15 ‘‘(A) is a wildland firefighter; 

16 ‘‘(B) is an incident meteorologist accom17 panying a crew of wildland firefighters; 

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

19 team or at a wildland fire operations center; or 

20 ‘‘(D) is otherwise certified by the applica21 ble agency to perform wildland fire incident re22 lated duties during the period that employee is 

23 assigned to a qualifying incident; 

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

25 performed by an employee that are determined by 

26 the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of AgriVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Nov 15, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6195.IH H6195

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1 culture, or the Secretary of Commerce, as applicable, 

2 to primarily involve emergency wildfire suppression 

3 activities; 

4 ‘‘(3) the term ‘emergency wildland fire suppres5 sion activities’— 

6 ‘‘(A) means initial-response and extended7 response activities that directly relate to sup8 pression of a wildfire; 

9 ‘‘(B) includes activities associated with a 

10 severity incident; and 

11 ‘‘(C) does not include activities associated 

12 with a prescribed fire incident; 

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

14 who— 

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

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

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

18 a supervisory or administrative position and is 

19 subject to subchapter III of chapter 83, but 

20 who does not qualify to be considered a fire21 fighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), 

22 would otherwise qualify if the employee had 

23 transferred directly to that position after serv24 ing as a firefighter within the meaning of that 

25 section; 


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

2 a supervisory or administrative position and is 

3 subject to chapter 84, but who does not qualify 

4 to be considered a firefighter within the mean5 ing of section 8401(14), would otherwise qualify 

6 if the employee had transferred directly to that 

7 position after performing duties described in 

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

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

10 subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap11 ter 84, holds a position that the Office of Per12 sonnel Management determines would satisfy 

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

14 were subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or 

15 chapter 84; 

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

17 wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 

18 accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula19 tions to meet specific objectives; 

20 ‘‘(6) the term ‘premium pay’ means the pre21 mium pay paid under the provisions of law cited in 

22 section 5547(a), except as otherwise provided in sub23 section (g); 

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


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1 ‘‘(A) means a wildfire incident, a pre2 scribed fire incident, or a severity incident; and 

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

4 incident involving a single operational period of 

5 less than 36 hours (unless a longer period is 

6 approved by an authorized agency due to excep7 tional circumstances) if the applicable employee 

8 is in continual work status with no designated 

9 sleep and rest period established by the agency; 

10 ‘‘(8) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci11 dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 

12 in an area where conditions indicate there is a high 

13 risk of wildfires; 

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

15 ‘‘(A) means a wildland fire originating 

16 from an unplanned ignition, such as lightning, 

17 volcanos, or a human-caused fire; and 

18 ‘‘(B) includes a prescribed fire that is de19 clared to be a wildfire; and 

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

21 firefighter— 

22 ‘‘(A) who is employed by the Forest Serv23 ice or the Department of the Interior; and 

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

25 primarily relate to fires occurring in forest 


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1 lands, range lands, or other wildlands, as op2 posed to structural fires. 

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

4 pay earned by a covered employee for covered services 

5 shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate of the 

6 basic pay and premium pay of the covered employee for 

7 purposes of applying a limitation under section 5547. 

8 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF DISREGARDED PREMIUM

9 PAY.—Any premium pay that is disregarded under sub10 section (b) shall be disregarded in calculating the aggre11 gate pay of the applicable covered employee for purposes 

12 of applying the limitation in section 5307. 

13 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.— 

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

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

16 that such pay would cause the aggregate of the basic 

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

18 covered employee under section 5545(d) payable in 

19 the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of 

20 basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Ex21 ecutive Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at 

22 the end of that calendar year. 

23 ‘‘(2) BIWEEKLY LIMITATION.—For the pur24 poses of paragraph (1), any premium pay that is 

25 subject to a biweekly limitation under section 


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1 5547(c) shall be paid first before other premium pay 

2 in applying the level II limitation. 

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

4 additional pay resulting from application of this section 

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

6 accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 

7 or 5552. 

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

9 Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce 

10 shall each maintain records that document uses of the au11 thority provided under this section. 

12 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION FOR PREVAILING RATE EMPLOY13 EES.— 

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

15 ‘‘(A) the term ‘basic pay’ means wages, en16 vironmental differential pay, and night shift dif17 ferential pay; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the term ‘premium pay’ means over19 time pay, Sunday premium pay, and holiday 

20 premium pay. 

21 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—For a prevailing rate em22 ployee described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a 

23 covered employee, premium pay may not be paid to 

24 the extent that payment would cause the aggregate 

25 of the basic pay and premium pay of the covered 


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1 employee in the applicable calendar year to exceed 

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

3 II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, as 

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

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

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

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

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

firefighting.’’. 

8 (c) DISREGARDING OF PREMIUM PAY FOR CERTAIN

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

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

11 the requirements of section 1701 of division B of the Ex12 tending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency 

13 Assistance Act (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) (as amended by sec14 tion 601 of title VI of division HH of the Consolidated 

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

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

17 in calendar year 2023, incident standby premium pay shall 

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

19 established pursuant to those requirements, as so amend20 ed. 

21 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

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

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


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

2 in January 2024. 

3 (2) DISREGARDING OF PREMIUM PAY.—Sub4 section (c) shall take effect on the first day of the 

5 first applicable pay period beginning on or after Oc6 tober 1, 2023. 

7 (e) REPORTS ON HIRING WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS

8 AND INCIDENT METEROLOGISTS.— 

9 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

10 (A) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT11 TEES DEFINED.—The term ‘‘relevant congres12 sional committees’’ means— 

13 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu14 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Sen15 ate; 

16 (ii) the Committee on Oversight and 

17 Reform of the House of Representatives; 

18 (iii) the Committee on Appropriations 

19 of the Senate; and 

20 (iv) the Committee on Appropriations 

21 of the House of Representatives. 

22 (B) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 

23 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 

24 (i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 

25 (ii) the Secretary of the Interior; and 


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1 (iii) the Secretary of Commerce. 

2 (2) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

3 March 30, 2024, each Secretary concerned, in con4 sultation with the Director of the Office of Manage5 ment and Budget and the Director of the Office of 

6 Personnel Management, shall submit to the relevant 

7 congressional committees a plan that addresses the 

8 needs of the Department of Agriculture, the Depart9 ment of the Interior, or the National Weather Serv10 ice, as applicable, to hire and train additional 

11 wildland firefighters or incident meteorologists (as 

12 those terms are defined in section 5547a of title 5, 

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

14 such that sufficient personnel resources are available 

15 throughout the year without causing those wildland 

16 firefighters or incident meteorologists to receive com17 pensation, in a typical calendar year, in excess of the 

18 annual rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule 

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

Æ 


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