I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 743 
To reform and enhance the pay and benefits of Federal wildland firefighters, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 28, 2025 
Mr. NEGUSE (for himself, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. 
PETTERSEN, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. HOYLE of Oregon, Ms. 
BROWNLEY, Mr. BACON, and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
form, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agri-
culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reform and enhance the pay and benefits of Federal 
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; DEFINITIONS; TABLE OF CON-
TENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay 
Parity Act’’ or ‘‘Tim’s Act’’. 
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(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 
(2) FEDERAL
WILDLAND
FIREFIGHTER.—The 
term ‘‘Federal wildland firefighter’’ means any tem-
porary, seasonal, or permanent position at the De-
partment of Agriculture or the Department of the 
Interior, and Tribal Firefighters, that maintains 
group, emergency incident management, or fire 
qualifications, as established annually by the Stand-
ards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications pub-
lished by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 
and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire 
management activities, including forestry and range-
land technicians and positions concerning aviation, 
engineering heavy equipment operations, dispatch, or 
fire and fuels management. 
(3) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 
means the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-
retary of the Interior. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; definitions; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters. 
Sec. 3. Wildland fire incident response premium pay. 
Sec. 4. Special limitations on pay for wildland firefighters. 
Sec. 5. Rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland fire-
fighting. 
Sec. 6. Health provisions. 
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Sec. 7. Retirement for firefighters. 
Sec. 8. Pay parity for Federal structural firefighters. 
Sec. 9. Pay adjustments and other matters. 
Sec. 10. Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program. 
Sec. 11. Continuing accrual of service for Firefighters. 
SEC. 2. SPECIAL BASE RATES OF PAY FOR WILDLAND FIRE-
FIGHTERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 53 of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
section 5332 the following: 
‘‘§ 5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland fire-
fighters 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘firefighter’ means an employee 
who— 
‘‘(A) is a firefighter within the meaning of 
section 8331(21) or section 8401(14); 
‘‘(B) in the case of an employee who holds 
a supervisory or administrative position and is 
subject to subchapter III of chapter 83, but 
who does not qualify to be considered a fire-
fighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), 
would otherwise qualify if the employee had 
transferred directly to that position after serv-
ing as a firefighter within the meaning of that 
section; 
‘‘(C) in the case of an employee who holds 
a supervisory or administrative position and is 
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subject to chapter 84, but who does not qualify 
to be considered a firefighter within the mean-
ing of section 8401(14), would otherwise qualify 
if the employee had transferred directly to that 
position after performing duties described in 
section 8401(14)(A) for at least 3 years; or 
‘‘(D) in the case of an employee who is not 
subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap-
ter 84, holds a position that the Office of Per-
sonnel Management determines would satisfy 
subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) if the employee 
were subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or 
chapter 84; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘General Schedule base rate’ 
means an annual rate of basic pay established under 
section 5332 before any additions, such as a locality- 
based comparability payment under section 5304 or 
5304a or a special rate supplement under section 
5305; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘special base rate’ means an an-
nual rate of basic pay payable to a wildland fire-
fighter, before any additions or reductions, that re-
places the General Schedule base rate otherwise ap-
plicable to the wildland firefighter and that is ad-
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ministered in the same manner as a General Sched-
ule base rate; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘wildland firefighter’ means any 
temporary, seasonal, or permanent position at the 
Department of Agriculture or the Department of the 
Interior, or Tribal Firefighters, that maintains 
group, emergency incident management, or fire 
qualifications, as established annually by the Stand-
ards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications pub-
lished by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 
and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire 
management activities, including forestry and range-
land technicians and positions concerning aviation, 
engineering heavy equipment operations, dispatch, 
training, development and technology, or fire and 
fuels management. 
‘‘(b) SPECIAL BASE RATES OF PAY.— 
‘‘(1) ENTITLEMENT TO SPECIAL RATE.—Not-
withstanding section 5332, a wildland firefighter is 
entitled to a special base rate at grades 1 through 
15, which shall— 
‘‘(A) replace the otherwise applicable Gen-
eral Schedule base rate for the wildland fire-
fighter; 
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‘‘(B) be basic pay for all purposes, includ-
ing the purpose of computing a locality-based 
comparability payment under section 5304 or 
5304a; and 
‘‘(C) be computed as described in para-
graph (2) and adjusted at the time of adjust-
ments in the General Schedule. 
‘‘(2) COMPUTATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The special base rate 
for a wildland firefighter shall be derived by in-
creasing 
the 
otherwise 
applicable 
General 
Schedule base rate for the wildland firefighter 
by the following applicable percentage for the 
grade of the wildland firefighter and rounding 
the result to the nearest whole dollar: 
‘‘(i) For GS–1, 42 percent. 
‘‘(ii) For GS–2, 39 percent. 
‘‘(iii) For GS–3, 36 percent. 
‘‘(iv) For GS–4, 33 percent. 
‘‘(v) For GS–5, 30 percent. 
‘‘(vi) For GS–6, 27 percent. 
‘‘(vii) For GS–7, 24 percent. 
‘‘(viii) For GS–8, 21 percent. 
‘‘(ix) For GS–9, 18 percent. 
‘‘(x) For GS–10, 15 percent. 
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‘‘(xi) For GS–11, 12 percent. 
‘‘(xii) For GS–12, 9 percent. 
‘‘(xiii) For GS–13, 6 percent. 
‘‘(xiv) For GS–14, 3 percent. 
‘‘(xv) For GS–15, 1.5 percent. 
‘‘(B) HOURLY, DAILY, WEEKLY, OR
BI-
WEEKLY RATES.—When the special base rate 
with respect to a wildland firefighter is ex-
pressed as an hourly, daily, weekly, or biweekly 
rate, the special base rate shall be computed 
from the appropriate annual rate of basic pay 
derived under subparagraph (A) in accordance 
with the rules under section 5504(b).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 5332 the following: 
‘‘5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters.’’. 
(c) PREVAILING RATE EMPLOYEES.—Section 5343 
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(g)(1) For a prevailing rate employee described in 
section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a wildland firefighter, as de-
fined in section 5332a(a), the Secretary of Agriculture or 
the Secretary of the Interior (as applicable) shall increase 
the wage rates of that employee by an amount (determined 
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at the sole and exclusive discretion of the applicable Sec-
retary after consultation with the other Secretary) that is 
generally consistent with the percentage increases given 
to wildland firefighters in the General Schedule under sec-
tion 5332a. 
‘‘(2) An increased wage rate under paragraph (1) 
shall be basic pay for the same purposes as the wage rate 
otherwise established under this section. 
‘‘(3) An increase under this subsection may not cause 
the wage rate of an employee to increase to a rate that 
would produce an annualized rate in excess of the annual 
rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 
applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 
last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-
porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-
ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 
as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 
83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-
priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 
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SEC. 3. WILDLAND FIRE INCIDENT RESPONSE PREMIUM 
PAY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter V of chapter 55 of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
section 5545b the following: 
‘‘§ 5545c. Incident response premium pay for employ-
ees engaged in wildland firefighting 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’ means— 
‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 
‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources of the Senate; 
‘‘(C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 
‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate; 
‘‘(E) the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform; 
‘‘(F) the Committee on Agriculture of the 
House of Representatives; 
‘‘(G) the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives; and 
‘‘(H) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives; 
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‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-
ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 
the Interior who is— 
‘‘(A) a wildland firefighter, as defined in 
section 5332a(a); or 
‘‘(B) certified by the applicable agency to 
perform wildland fire incident-related duties 
during the period that employee is deployed to 
respond to a qualifying incident; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘incident response premium pay’ 
means pay to which a covered employee is entitled 
under subsection (c); 
‘‘(4) the term ‘prescribed fire incident’ means a 
wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 
accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula-
tions to meet specific objectives; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘qualifying incident’— 
‘‘(A) means— 
‘‘(i) a wildfire incident, a prescribed 
fire incident, or a severity incident; or 
‘‘(ii) an incident that the Secretary of 
Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior 
determines is similar in nature to an inci-
dent described in clause (i); and 
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‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 
(including an initial attack fire) in which a 
wildfire is contained within 36 hours; and 
‘‘(6) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci-
dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 
in an area in which conditions indicate there is a 
high risk of wildfires. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A covered employee is eligible for 
incident response premium pay under this section if— 
‘‘(1) the covered employee is deployed to re-
spond to a qualifying incident; and 
‘‘(2) the deployment described in paragraph (1) 
is— 
‘‘(A) outside of the official duty station of 
the covered employee; or 
‘‘(B) within the official duty station of the 
covered employee and the covered employee is 
assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or 
other designated field location. 
‘‘(c) ENTITLEMENT TO INCIDENT RESPONSE PRE-
MIUM PAY.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A covered employee who 
satisfies the conditions under subsection (b) is enti-
tled to premium pay for the period in which the cov-
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ered employee is deployed to respond to the applica-
ble qualifying incident. 
‘‘(2) COMPUTATION.— 
‘‘(A) 
FORMULA.—Subject 
to 
subpara-
graphs (B) and (C), premium pay under para-
graph (1) shall be paid to a covered employee 
at a daily rate of 450 percent of the hourly rate 
of basic pay of the covered employee for each 
day that the covered employee satisfies the re-
quirements under subsection (b), rounded to 
the nearest whole cent. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Premium pay under 
this subsection— 
‘‘(i) with respect to a covered em-
ployee for whom the annual rate of basic 
pay is greater than that for step 10 of GS– 
10, shall be paid at the daily rate estab-
lished under subparagraph (A) for the ap-
plicable rate for step 10 of GS–10 (where 
the applicable rate is the rate in effect in 
the same locality that is the basis for a lo-
cality-based comparability payment payable 
to the covered employee under section 
5304); and 
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‘‘(ii) may not be paid to a covered em-
ployee in a total amount that exceeds 
$9,000 in any calendar year. 
‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENTS.— 
‘‘(i) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of 
Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-
rior shall assess the difference between the 
average total amount of compensation that 
was paid to covered employees, by grade, 
in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. 
‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 180 
days after the date that is 1 year after the 
effective date of this section, the Secretary 
of Agriculture and the Secretary of the In-
terior shall jointly publish a report on the 
results of the assessment conducted under 
clause (i). 
‘‘(iii) ADMINISTRATIVE
ACTIONS.— 
After publishing the report required under 
clause (ii), the Secretary of Agriculture 
and the Secretary of the Interior, in con-
sultation with the Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management, may, in the sole 
and exclusive discretion of the Secretaries 
acting jointly, administratively adjust the 
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amount of premium pay paid under this 
subsection (or take other administrative 
action) to ensure that the average annual 
amount of total compensation paid to cov-
ered employees, by grade, is more con-
sistent with such amount that was paid to 
those employees in fiscal year 2023. 
‘‘(iv) 
CONGRESSIONAL
NOTIFICA-
TION.—Not later than 3 days after an ad-
justment made, or other administrative ac-
tion taken, under clause (iii) becomes final, 
the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-
retary of the Interior shall jointly submit 
to the appropriate committees of Congress 
a notification regarding that adjustment or 
other administrative action, as applicable. 
‘‘(d) TREATMENT OF INCIDENT RESPONSE PREMIUM 
PAY.—Incident response premium pay under this sec-
tion— 
‘‘(1) is not considered part of the basic pay of 
a covered employee for any purpose; 
‘‘(2) may not be considered in determining the 
lump-sum payment of a covered employee for accu-
mulated and accrued annual leave under section 
5551 or section 5552; 
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‘‘(3) may not be used in determining pay under 
section 8114; 
‘‘(4) may not be considered in determining pay 
for hours of paid leave or other paid time off during 
which the premium pay is not payable; and 
‘‘(5) shall be disregarded in determining the 
minimum wage and overtime pay to which a covered 
employee is entitled under the Fair Labor Standards 
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).’’. 
(b) ADDITIONAL PREMIUM PAY AMENDMENTS.— 
Subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended— 
(1) in section 5544— 
(A) by amending the section heading to 
read as follows: ‘‘WAGE-BOARD OVERTIME, 
SUNDAY
RATES, AND
OTHER
PREMIUM 
PAY’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) A prevailing rate employee described in section 
5342(a)(2)(A) shall receive incident response premium 
pay under the same terms and conditions that apply to 
a covered employee under section 5545c if that em-
ployee— 
‘‘(1) is employed by the Forest Service or the 
Department of the Interior; and 
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‘‘(2)(A) is a wildland firefighter, as defined in 
section 5332a(a); or 
‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency to 
perform wildland fire incident-related duties during 
the period the employee is deployed to respond to a 
qualifying 
incident 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
5545c(a)).’’; and 
(2) in section 5547(a), in the matter preceding 
paragraph 
(1), 
by 
inserting 
‘‘5545c,’’ 
after 
‘‘5545a,’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of sections 
for subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(1) by amending the item relating to section 
5544 to read as follows: 
‘‘5544. Wage-board overtime, Sunday rates, and other premium pay.’’; 
and 
(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-
tion 5545b the following: 
‘‘5545c. Incident response premium pay for employees engaged in wildland fire-
fighting.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 
applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 
last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-
porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-
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ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 
as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 
83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-
priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 
SEC. 4. SPECIAL LIMITATIONS ON PAY FOR WILDLAND 
FIREFIGHTERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title 5, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by inserting after section 5547 the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for em-
ployees engaged in wildland firefighting 
‘‘(a) In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-
ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 
the Interior who— 
‘‘(A) qualifies as a wildland firefighter 
based on the definitions of ‘firefighter’ and 
‘wildland firefighter’ in section 5332a(a); or 
‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency 
to perform wildland fire incident related duties 
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during the period such employee is assigned to 
a qualifying incident; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered services’ means services 
performed by an employee that are determined by 
the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Ag-
riculture, as applicable, to primarily involve emer-
gency wildfire suppression activities, including any 
periods of duty when the employee is sleeping or 
resting during an extended period of deployment to 
engage in those activities; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘emergency wildland fire suppres-
sion activities’ means initial-response and extended- 
response activities that directly relate to suppression 
of a wildfire, including activities associated with a 
severity incident but excluding activities associated 
with a prescribed fire incident (as those terms are 
defined section 5545c); and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘premium pay’ means the pre-
mium pay paid under the provisions of law cited in 
section 5547(a), except as otherwise provided in sub-
section (h). 
‘‘(b) Any premium pay earned by a covered employee 
for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating the 
aggregate of such employee’s basic pay and premium pay 
for purposes of applying a limitation under section 5547. 
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‘‘(c) Any premium pay that is disregarded under sub-
section (b) shall be disregarded in calculating such em-
ployee’s aggregate pay for purposes of applying the limita-
tion in section 5307. 
‘‘(d) Pay that is disregarded under subsection (b) 
may not be paid to the extent it would cause the aggregate 
of the employee’s basic pay, premium pay, and hazard pay 
under section 5545(d) payable in the applicable calendar 
year to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position 
at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, 
as in effect at the end of such calendar year. Any premium 
pay that is subject to a biweekly limitation under section 
5547(c) must be paid first before other premium pay in 
applying the level II limitation. 
‘‘(e) Application of the limit in subsection (d) or sub-
section (h) to a covered employee may be waived at the 
sole and exclusive discretion of the Secretary of the Inte-
rior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as applicable. Before 
authorizing such a waiver for employees of their respective 
agencies, each Secretary, after consulting with the other 
Secretary, shall prescribe criteria that will be applied in 
making a determination to grant a waiver. 
‘‘(f) Any additional pay resulting from application of 
this section may not be used in computing a lump-sum 
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payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave under 
section 5551 or section 5552. 
‘‘(g) The Departments of the Interior and Agri-
culture shall maintain records that document uses of the 
authority provided by this section. 
‘‘(h)(1) For prevailing rate employees described in 
section 5342(a)(2)(A) who meet the requirements in sub-
section (a)(l) to qualify as a covered employee, premium 
pay may not be paid to the extent it would cause the ag-
gregate of the employee’s basic pay and premium pay in 
the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of basic 
pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive 
Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at the end of 
such calendar year. 
‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, the term 
‘basic pay’ means wages, environmental differential pay, 
and night shift differential pay, and the term ‘premium 
pay’ means overtime pay, Sunday premium pay, and holi-
day premium pay.’’; and 
(2) in section 5541(2)(xi), by inserting ‘‘, sec-
tion 5547a(h),’’ after ‘‘section 5544’’. 
(b) CALENDAR YEAR 2025.—For the purpose of ap-
plying section 5547 and section 1701 of division B of Pub-
lic Law 117–43 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) in calendar year 
2025, incident standby premium pay shall be included in 
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‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-
ployment opportunities should be limited to 
young and physically vigorous individuals, 
as determined by the Director considering 
the recommendations of the employing 
agency; 
‘‘(B) an employee, the duties of whose po-
sition— 
‘‘(i) are primarily to perform work di-
rectly connected with the control and extin-
guishment of wildland fires; and 
‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-
ployment opportunities should be limited to 
young and physically vigorous individuals, 
as determined by the Director considering 
the recommendations of the employing 
agency; 
‘‘(C) an employee who— 
‘‘(i) is transferred directly to a super-
visory or administrative position after per-
forming duties described in subparagraph 
(A) for at least 3 years; and 
‘‘(ii) while serving in such supervisory 
or administrative position, has no break in 
service; or 
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ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS