IB 

Union Calendar No. 149 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1567 

[Report No. 118–186, Part I] 

To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior 

submit accurate reports regarding hazardous fuels reduction activities, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2023 

Mr. TIFFANY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Additional sponsor: Mr. NEWHOUSE

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the 

Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 10, 2023] 


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A BILL 

To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior submit accurate reports regarding 

hazardous fuels reduction activities, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Accurately Counting 

5 Risk Elimination Solutions Act’’ or the ‘‘ACRES Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION RE7 PORTS. 

8 (a) INCLUSION OF HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION

9 REPORT IN MATERIALS SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF THE

10 PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with the first fiscal 

12 year that begins after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary con14 cerned shall include in the materials submitted in 

15 support of the President’s budget pursuant to section 

16 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a report on the 

17 number of acres of Federal land on which the Sec18 retary concerned carried out hazardous fuels reduc19 tion activities during the preceding fiscal year. 

20 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—For purposes of the report 

21 required under paragraph (1), the Secretary con22 cerned shall— 

23 (A) in determining the number of acres of 

24 Federal land on which the Secretary concerned 


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1 carried out hazardous fuels reduction activities 

2 during the period covered by the report— 

3 (i) record acres of Federal land on 

4 which hazardous fuels reduction activities 

5 were completed during such period; and 

6 (ii) record each acre described in 

7 clause (i) once in the report, regardless of 

8 whether multiple hazardous fuels reduction 

9 activities were carried out on such acre dur10 ing such period; and 

11 (B) with respect to the acres of Federal land 

12 recorded in the report, include information on— 

13 (i) which such acres are located in the 

14 wildland-urban interface; 

15 (ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, 

16 moderate, or low) on the first and last day 

17 of the period covered by the report; 

18 (iii) the types of hazardous fuels ac19 tivities completed for such acres, delineating 

20 between whether such activities were con21 ducted— 

22 (I) in a wildfire managed for re23 source benefits; or 

24 (II) through a planned project; 


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1 (iv) the cost per acre of hazardous fuels 

2 activities carried out during the period cov3 ered by the report; 

4 (v) the region or system unit in which 

5 the acres are located; and 

6 (vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous 

7 fuels reduction activities on reducing the 

8 risk of wildfire. 

9 (3) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary concerned 

10 shall make each report submitted under paragraph 

11 (1) publicly available on the website of the Depart12 ment of Agriculture and the Department of the Inte13 rior, as applicable. 

14 (b) ACCURATE DATA COLLECTION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

17 concerned shall implement standardized procedures 

18 for tracking data related to hazardous fuels reduction 

19 activities carried out by the Secretary concerned. 

20 (2) ELEMENTS.—The standardized procedures 

21 required under paragraph (1) shall include— 

22 (A) regular, standardized data reviews of 

23 the accuracy and timely input of data used to 

24 track hazardous fuels reduction activities; 


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1 (B) verification methods that validate 

2 whether such data accurately correlates to the 

3 hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out 

4 by the Secretary concerned; 

5 (C) an analysis of the short- and long-term 

6 effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction ac7 tivities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and 

8 (D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities 

9 that occur partially within the wildland-urban 

10 interface, methods to distinguish which acres are 

11 located within the wildland-urban interface and 

12 which acres are located outside the wildland13 urban interface. 

14 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 2 weeks after im15 plementing the standardized procedures required 

16 under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall 

17 submit to Congress a report that describes— 

18 (A) such standardized procedures; and 

19 (B) program and policy recommendations 

20 to Congress to address any limitations in track21 ing data related to hazardous fuels reduction ac22 tivities under this subsection. 

23 (c) GAO STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

24 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

25 United States shall— 


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1 (1) conduct a study on the implementation of 

2 this Act, including any limitations with respect to— 

3 (A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction ac4 tivities under subsection (a); or 

5 (B) tracking data related to hazardous fuels 

6 reduction activities under subsection (b); and 

7 (2) submit to Congress a report that describes the 

8 results of the study under paragraph (1). 

9 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

10 (1) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION ACTIVITY.— 

11 The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction activity’’— 

12 (A) means any vegetation management ac13 tivity to reduce the risk of wildfire, including 

14 mechanical treatments and prescribed burning; 

15 and 

16 (B) does not include the awarding of con17 tracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction ac18 tivities. 

19 (2) FEDERAL LANDS.—The term ‘‘Federal lands’’ 

20 means lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

21 the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture. 

22 (3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec23 retary concerned’’ means— 

24 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re25 spect to National Forest System lands; and 


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1 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re2 spect to public lands and units of the National 

3 Park System. 

4 (4) WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term 

5 ‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ has the meaning given the 

6 term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restora7 tion Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 


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Union Calendar No. 149 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1567 

[Report No. 118–186, Part I] 

A BILL 

To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and 

ties, and for other purposes. ports regarding hazardous fuels reduction activithe Secretary of the Interior submit accurate reSEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with 

an amendment 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the 

Union and ordered to be printed Committee of the Whole House on the State of the 


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