I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2963
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal 
compensation for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003
Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. OSE, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. 
GIBBONS, Mr. FARR, Mr. OTTER, Mr. SIMPSON, and Mr. MCINNIS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Govern-
ment Reform 
A BILL 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-
to-portal compensation for wildland firefighters, 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 ‘‘Federal Wildland Fire-
fighter Emergency Response Compensation Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION. 
(a) WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘‘wildland firefighter’’
means an employee of the Department of the Interior or 
the United States Forest Service in the Department of 
Agriculture, the duties of whose position are primarily to 
perform work directly connected with the control, extin-
guishment, prevention, and management of wildland fires 
(including an employee engaged in this activity who is 
transferred to a supervisory or administrative position), 
but does not include an employee or group of employees 
excluded by the Office of Personnel Management under 
the second sentence of subsection (c). 
(b) PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of any deter-
mination of pay, a wildland firefighter is entitled to 
be paid for the entire period of time during which 
such firefighter is engaged in officially ordered or 
approved duties in connection with responding to a 
wildland fire or other emergency, subject to para-
graph (2). 
(2) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, for any 24-hour period, the total 
amount in basic pay and premium pay payable to a 
wildland firefighter as a result of the application of 
this subsection may not exceed the amount equal to 
the sum of—
(A) 16 times the firefighter’s hourly rate 
of basic pay; and 
(B) 8 times the firefighter’s overtime hour-
ly rate of pay. 
(c) REGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Man-
agement shall prescribe any regulations necessary to carry 
out the purposes of this section. The Office may by regula-
tion exclude from the operation of this section an employee 
or group of employees appointed on a casual emergency 
basis. 
SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS DUTY DIFFERENTIAL TO BE TREATED 
AS PART OF A FIREFIGHTER’S BASIC PAY FOR 
RETIREMENT PURPOSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8331(3) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (G); 
(2) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (H); and 
(3) by adding after subparagraph (H) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(I) with respect to a firefighter, any pay 
differential under section 5545(d);’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 8331(3) of 
such title 5 is further amended by striking ‘‘(B) through 
(H)’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) through (I)’’. 
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to compensation for service performed in any pay 
period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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