I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 435 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide direct hire authority to 
appoint individuals to Federal wildland firefighting and firefighting sup-
port positions in the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2025 
Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. KILEY of California, and Mr. OBERNOLTE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on 
Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined 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 provide direct 
hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland 
firefighting and firefighting support positions in the For-
est Service or the Department of the Interior, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Direct Hire To Fight 
Fires’’. 
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SEC. 2. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY TO APPOINT INDIVID-
UALS TO FEDERAL WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING 
AND FIREFIGHTING SUPPORT POSITIONS IN 
THE FOREST SERVICE OR THE DEPARTMENT 
OF THE INTERIOR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 96 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals 
to Federal wildland firefighting and fire-
fighting support positions in the Forest 
Service and Department of the Interior 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 
and the Secretary of the Interior may appoint, without 
regard to the provisions of sections 3309 through 3318 
of this title, and part 211 and part 337 of subpart A of 
title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, qualified candidates 
to any position described in subsection (b) in the Forest 
Service or the Department of the Interior, respectively. 
‘‘(b) POSITIONS.—A position described in this sub-
section is any Federal wildland firefighting position, or 
any position in support of such firefighting position, with-
in any of the following occupational series (or any suc-
cessor series): 
‘‘(1) Forestry Technician Series, GS–0462. 
‘‘(2) Aircraft Operation Series, GS–2181. 
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‘‘(3) Miscellaneous Administration and Pro-
gram Series, GS–0301, that supports firefighting 
and is eligible for primary or secondary firefighter 
retirement coverage. 
‘‘(4) General Natural Resources Management 
and Biological Sciences Series, GS–0401, that sup-
ports firefighting and is eligible for primary or sec-
ondary firefighter retirement coverage. 
‘‘(5) Aviation Management Specialist Series, 
GS–2101. 
‘‘(6) Engineering Equipment Operator, WG, 
WL, or WS–5716, that supports firefighting and is 
eligible for primary or secondary firefighter retire-
ment coverage. 
‘‘(7) Dispatching Series, GS–2151, that sup-
ports firefighting and is eligible for primary or sec-
ondary firefighter retirement coverage. 
‘‘(8) Equipment Specialist, GS–1670. 
‘‘(9) Any additional occupational series devel-
oped specifically for wildland firefighting.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for such chapter is amended by adding after the item re-
lating to section 9602 the following: 
‘‘9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland fire-
fighting and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service 
and Department of the Interior.’’. 
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SEC. 3. STREAMLINING AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL 
WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING HIRING AT THE 
FOREST SERVICE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF 
THE INTERIOR. 
(a) STREAMLINED HIRING.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secre-
taries, in consultation with the Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management, shall implement policies to recruit 
and retain wildland firefighters that— 
(1) reduce the amount of time required to hire 
wildland firefighters and wildland firefighting sup-
port personnel; 
(2) address and eliminate redundancies in the 
Federal hiring process for wildland firefighters and 
wildland firefighting support personnel; 
(3) streamline the process for hiring wildland 
firefighters and wildland firefighting support per-
sonnel who were employed by the agencies in prior 
years; and 
(4) reduce barriers for wildland firefighters 
transferring between agencies. 
(b) TRANSPARENCY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act and annually 
thereafter, the Secretaries shall each submit a report 
to the relevant Congressional Committees that in-
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cludes the information described in paragraph (2) 
not later than February 1st of each calendar year. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—As part of the report 
submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretaries shall 
include information regarding— 
(A) the number of wildland firefighters 
and wildland firefighting support personnel the 
agency anticipates it will need for that calendar 
year, delineated by position; 
(B) the number of hiring events the agency 
is planning to hold that calendar year; 
(C) the number of wildland firefighters and 
wildland firefighting support personnel cur-
rently employed by the agency, delineated by 
position; 
(D) the number of wildland firefighting va-
cancies by State; 
(E) any barriers the agency is facing to 
meet the hiring goal outlined in subsection (a); 
(F) the implementation of the direct hiring 
authority provided in section 2; 
(G) the implementation of the streamlined 
hiring policies developed under subsection (a); 
and 
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(H) recommendations to Congress to fur-
ther improve the recruitment and retention of 
wildland firefighters and wildland firefighting 
support personnel. 
(3) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The Secretaries 
shall each annually publish the report submitted 
under paragraph (1) on a publicly available website. 
(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(A) 
AGENCY.—The 
term 
‘‘agency’’ 
means— 
(i) the Forest Service, with respect to 
National Forest System lands; and 
(ii) the Department of the Interior, 
with respect to lands under the jurisdiction 
of the Secretary of the Interior. 
(B) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Com-
mittees’’ means— 
(i) the Committees on Oversight and 
Government Reform, Agriculture, and Nat-
ural Resources of the House of Represent-
atives; and 
(ii) the Committees on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs, Agri-
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culture, Nutrition, and Forestry and En-
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate. 
(C) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secre-
taries’’ means the Secretary of Agriculture and 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
Æ 
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