quirements under subsection (b), rounded to 
the nearest whole cent. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Premium pay under 
this subsection may not be paid— 
‘‘(i) with respect to a covered em-
ployee for whom the annual rate of basic 
pay is greater than that for step 10 of level 
10 of the General Schedule, at a daily rate 
that exceeds the daily rate established 
under subparagraph (A) for step 10 of 
level 10 of the General Schedule; or 
‘‘(ii) to a covered employee in a total 
amount that exceeds $9,000 in any cal-
endar year. 
‘‘(C) WAIVER.—The Secretaries of Agri-
culture and Interior may implement a waiver on 
the total limitation in subparagraph (B)(ii) if 
the National Wildland Fire Preparedness Level 
reaches or exceeds level three. 
‘‘(D) 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 
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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 
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. 
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‘‘(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 a 
covered employee’s lump-sum payment for accumu-
lated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 
or section 5552; 
‘‘(3) may not be used in determining pay under 
section 8114 (relating to compensation for work in-
juries); 
‘‘(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 
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‘‘(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 
‘‘(2)(A) is a wildland firefighter (as that term 
is defined in section 5545c); 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 
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qualifying incident (as that term is defined in sec-
tion 5545c).’’; 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 on or after October 1, 
2023. 
SEC. 4. CONDITIONS IN FOREST MANAGEMENT. 
(a) MANDATORY USE OF EXISTING AUTHORITIES.— 
Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and annually after, with respect to each unit of 
public lands and within each unit of covered National For-
est System lands, the Secretary concerned shall use not 
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fewer than 1 of the following streamlined authorities in-
cluding the authorities for environmental review: 
(1) Section 603(a) of the Healthy Forests Res-
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591b(a)). 
(2) Section 605(a) of the Healthy Forests Res-
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591d(a)). 
(3) Section 606(b) of the Healthy Forests Res-
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591e(b)). 
(4) Section 40806(b) of the Infrastructure In-
vestment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592b(b)). 
(5) Section 40807 of the Infrastructure Invest-
ment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592c). 
(6) Section 207 of the Wildfire Suppression 
Funding and Forest Management Activities Act (16 
U.S.C. 6591c). 
(b) COVERED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS 
DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered National 
Forest System lands’’ means any area— 
(1) located within National Forest System 
lands; 
(2) that the Forest Service has identified as 
being located in a fireshed ranked in the top 25 per-
cent of wildfire exposure (as determined using the 
most recently published models of fireshed risk expo-
sure published by the Forest Service); or 
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