I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4831 
To provide a special rate of basic pay for Federal wildland firefighters 
during fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 24, 2023 
Mr. LAMALFA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Commit-
tees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide a special rate of basic pay for Federal wildland 
firefighters during fiscal years 2024 and 2025, 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 ‘‘Fair Pay for Federal 
Firefighters Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. INCREASE IN RATE OF BASIC PAY FOR FEDERAL 
WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS DURING FISCAL 
YEARS 2024 AND 2025. 
(a) SPECIAL RATE OF BASIC PAY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, including section 5332 of title 5, 
United States Code, during fiscal years 2024 and 
2025, a wildland firefighter shall receive a special 
rate of basic pay, at grades 1 through 15, as pro-
vided under paragraph (2). Such rate of pay shall— 
(A) replace the otherwise applicable Gen-
eral Schedule basic rate of pay, and shall be 
considered basic pay for all purposes including 
computing locality-based comparability pay-
ments under section 5304 or 5304a of such 
title; 
(B) when expressed as an hourly, daily, 
weekly, or biweekly rate, be computed from the 
appropriate annual rate of basic pay provided 
under paragraph (2) in accordance with section 
5504(b) of such title; 
(C) be adjusted at the time of any adjust-
ments to the rates of pay under the General 
Schedule; and 
(D) begin to apply in the first pay period 
beginning on or after October 1, 2023. 
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(2) RATES OF PAY.—The special rate of basic 
pay for a wildland firefighter shall be derived by in-
creasing the otherwise applicable General Schedule 
rate of basic pay applicable to such wildland fire-
fighter by the following percentage amount, rounded 
to the nearest whole dollar: 
(A) GS–1, 42 percent. 
(B) GS–2, 39 percent. 
(C) GS–3, 36 percent. 
(D) GS–4, 33 percent. 
(E) GS–5, 30 percent. 
(F) GS–6, 27 percent. 
(G) GS–7, 24 percent. 
(H) GS–8, 21 percent. 
(I) GS–9, 18 percent. 
(J) GS–10, 15 percent. 
(K) GS–11, 12 percent. 
(L) GS–12, 9 percent. 
(M) GS–13, 6 percent. 
(N) GS–14, 3 percent. 
(O) GS–15, 1.5 percent. 
(b) PREVAILING RATE EMPLOYEES.—For any pre-
vailing rate employee described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) 
of title 5, United States Code, who is a wildland fire-
fighter, during fiscal year 2024 and 2025, the Secretary 
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of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior (as applica-
ble) shall increase the wage rates of such employees by 
amounts that are generally consistent with the percentage 
increases given to wildland firefighters in the General 
Schedule under subsection (a). Such an increased wage 
rate— 
(1) shall begin to apply in the first pay period 
beginning on or after October 1, 2023; 
(2) shall be determined at the sole discretion of 
the applicable Secretary, after consultation with the 
other Secretary; 
(3) shall be basic pay for the same purposes as 
the wage rate otherwise established under section 
5343 of such title; and 
(4) may not cause an employee’s wage rate to 
increase beyond a rate that would produce an 
annualized rate in excess of the annual rate of pay 
for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 
5315 of such title. 
(c) 
RESCISSION.—The 
unobligated 
balance 
of 
amounts available under each of sections 50221 through 
50224 of Public Law 117–169 (commonly referred to as 
the ‘‘Inflation Reduction Act’’) are hereby permanently re-
scinded. 
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(d) WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER DEFINED.—In this 
section, the term ‘‘wildland firefighter’’ means a fire-
fighter— 
(1) who is employed by the Forest Service or 
the Department of the Interior; and 
(2) the duties of the position of whom primarily 
relate to fires occurring in forests, range lands, or 
other wildlands, as opposed to structural fires. 
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; 
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‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate; 
‘‘(E) the Committee on Oversight and Ac-
countability of the House of Representatives; 
‘‘(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; 
‘‘(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; 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; 
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‘‘(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 
‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 
incident that is contained within 36 hours; 
‘‘(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; and 
‘‘(7) the term ‘wildland firefighter’ means a 
firefighter— 
‘‘(A) who is employed by the Forest Serv-
ice or the Department of the Interior; and 
‘‘(B) the duties of the position of whom 
primarily relate to fires occurring in forests, 
range lands, or other wildlands, as opposed to 
structural fires. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A covered employee is eligible for 
incident response premium pay under this section if— 
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‘‘(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-
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-
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