ACRES Act

Subjects: Public Lands and Natural Resources, Congressional oversight, Fires, Forests, forestry, trees, Government studies and investigations, Hazardous wastes and toxic substances


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1567 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1567

 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accurately Counting Risk Elimination 
Solutions Act'' or the ``ACRES Act''.

SEC. 2. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION REPORTS.

    (a) Inclusion of Hazardous Fuels Reduction Report in Materials 
Submitted in Support of the President's Budget.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning with the first fiscal year that 
        begins after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each 
        fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary concerned shall include 
        in the materials submitted in support of the President's budget 
        pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a 
        report on the number of acres on which the Secretary concerned 
        carried out hazardous fuels reduction activities during the 
        preceding fiscal year.
            (2) Requirements.--For purposes of the report required 
        under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall--
                    (A) in determining the number of acres on which the 
                Secretary concerned carried out hazardous fuels 
                reduction activities during the period covered by the 
                report--
                            (i) record acres on which hazardous fuels 
                        reduction activities were completed during such 
                        period; and
                            (ii) record each acre described in clause 
                        (i) once in the report, regardless of whether 
                        multiple hazardous fuels reduction activities 
                        were carried out on such acre during such 
                        period; and
                    (B) with respect to the acres recorded in the 
                report, include information on--
                            (i) which such acres are located in the 
                        wildland-urban interface;
                            (ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, 
                        moderate, or low) on the first and last day of 
                        the period covered by the report;
                            (iii) the types of hazardous fuels 
                        activities completed for such acres;
                            (iv) the cost per acre of hazardous fuels 
                        activities carried out during the period 
                        covered by the report;
                            (v) the region or system unit in which the 
                        acres are located; and
                            (vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous 
                        fuels reduction activities on reducing the risk 
                        of wildfire.
            (3) Transparency.--The Secretary concerned shall make each 
        report submitted under paragraph (1) publicly available on the 
        website of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of 
        the Interior, as applicable.
    (b) Accurate Data Collection.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned shall 
        implement standardized procedures for tracking data related to 
        hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out by the 
        Secretary concerned.
            (2) Elements.--The standardized procedures required under 
        paragraph (1) shall include--
                    (A) regular, standardized data reviews of the 
                accuracy and timely input of data used to track 
                hazardous fuels reduction activities;
                    (B) verification methods that validate whether such 
                data accurately correlates to the hazardous fuels 
                reduction activities carried out by the Secretary 
                concerned;
                    (C) an analysis of the short- and long-term 
                effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction 
                activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and
                    (D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities that 
                occur partially within the wildland-urban interface, 
                methods to distinguish which acres are located within 
                the wildland-urban interface and which acres are 
                located outside the wildland-urban interface.
            (3) Report.--Not later than 2 weeks after implementing the 
        standardized procedures required under paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary concerned shall submit to Congress a report that 
        describes--
                    (A) such standardized procedures; and
                    (B) program and policy recommendations to Congress 
                to address any limitations in tracking data related to 
                hazardous fuels reduction activities under this 
                subsection.
    (c) GAO Study.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall--
            (1) conduct a study on the implementation of this Act, 
        including any limitations with respect to--
                    (A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction activities 
                under subsection (a); or
                    (B) tracking data related to hazardous fuels 
                reduction activities under subsection (b); and
            (2) submit to Congress a report that describes the results 
        of the study under paragraph (1).
    (d) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Hazardous fuels reduction activity.--The term 
        ``hazardous fuels reduction activity''--
                    (A) means any vegetation management activity to 
                reduce the risk of wildfire, including mechanical 
                treatments and prescribed burning; and
                    (B) does not include--
                            (i) a wildland fire managed for resource 
                        benefits; and
                            (ii) the awarding of contracts to conduct 
                        hazardous fuels reduction activities.
            (2) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
                National Forest System lands; and
                    (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to 
                public lands and units of the National Park System.
            (3) Wildland-urban interface.--The term ``wildland-urban 
        interface'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of 
        the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).
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