actment of this Act, the guidelines may recognize and in-
corporate those plans.
SEC. 123. FEDERAL PLANS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, the Secretary of
Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary
of the Army, and other appropriate Federal agency heads
shall develop and implement Federal drought prepared-
ness plans for agencies under the jurisdiction of the appro-
priate Federal agency head.
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Federal plans—
(1) shall be integrated with each other;
(2) may be included as components of other
Federal planning requirements;
(3) shall be integrated with drought prepared-
ness plans of State, tribal, and local governments
that are affected by Federal projects and programs;
and
(4) shall be completed not later than 2 years
after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 124. STATE AND TRIBAL PLANS.
States and Indian tribes may develop and implement
State and tribal drought preparedness plans that—
(1) address monitoring of resource conditions
that are related to drought;
(2) identify areas that are at a high risk for
drought;
(3) describes mitigation strategies to address
and reduce the vulnerability of an area to drought;
and
(4) are integrated with State, tribal, and local
water plans in existence on the date of enactment of
this Act.
SEC. 125. REGIONAL AND LOCAL PLANS.
Local governments and regional water providers may
develop and implement drought preparedness plans that—
(1) address monitoring of resource conditions
that are related to drought;
(2) identify areas that are at a high risk for
drought;
(3) describe mitigation strategies to address
and reduce the vulnerability of an area to drought;
and
(4) are integrated with corresponding State
plans.
SEC. 126. PLAN ELEMENTS.
The drought preparedness plans developed under sec-
tions 123 through 125—
(1) shall be consistent with Federal and State
laws, contracts, and policies;
(2) shall allow each State to continue to man-
age water and wildlife in the State;
(3) shall address the health, safety, and eco-
nomic interests of those persons directly affected by
drought;
(4) may include—
(A) provisions for water management
strategies to be used during various drought or
water shortage thresholds, consistent with State
water law;
(B) provisions to address key issues relat-
ing to drought (including public health, safety,
economic factors, and environmental issues such
as water quality, water quantity, protection of
threatened and endangered species, and fire
management);
(C) provisions that allow for public partici-
pation in the development, adoption, and imple-
mentation of drought plans;
(D) provisions for periodic drought exer-
cises, revisions, and updates;
(E) a hydrologic characterization study to
determine how water is being used during times
of normal water supply availability to anticipate
the types of drought mitigation actions that
would most effectively improve water manage-
ment during a drought;
(F) drought triggers;
(G) specific implementation actions for
droughts;
(H) a water shortage allocation plan, con-
sistent with State water law; and
(I) comprehensive insurance and financial
strategies to manage the risks and financial im-
pacts of droughts; and
(5) shall take into consideration—
(A) the financial impact of the plan on the
ability of the utilities to ensure rate stability
and revenue stream; and
(B) economic impacts from water short-
ages.
TITLE II—WILDFIRE
SUPPRESSION
SEC. 201. GRANTS FOR PREPOSITIONING WILDFIRE SUP-
PRESSION RESOURCES.
Title II of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 205. GRANTS FOR PREPOSITIONING WILDFIRE SUP-
PRESSION RESOURCES.
‘‘(a) FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.—
‘‘(1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
‘‘(A) droughts increase the risk of cata-
strophic wildfires that—
‘‘(i) drastically alter and otherwise ad-
versely affect the landscape for commu-
nities and the environment;
‘‘(ii) because of the potential of such
wildfires to overwhelm State wildfire sup-
pression resources, require a coordinated
response among States, Federal agencies,
and neighboring countries; and
‘‘(iii) result in billions of dollars in
losses each year;
‘‘(B) the Federal Government must, to the
maximum extent practicable, prevent and sup-
press such catastrophic wildfires to protect
human life and property;
‘‘(C) not taking into account State, local,
and private wildfire suppression costs, during
the period of 1996 through 2000, the Federal
Government expended over $630,000,000 per
year for wildfire suppression costs;
‘‘(D) it is more cost-effective to prevent
wildfires by prepositioning wildfire fighting re-
sources to catch flare-ups than to commit mil-
lions of dollars to respond to large uncontrol-
lable fires; and
‘‘(E) it is in the best interest of the United
States to invest in catastrophic wildfire preven-
tion and mitigation by easing the financial bur-
den of prepositioning wildfire suppression re-
sources.
‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is
to encourage the mitigation and prevention of
wildfires by providing financial assistance to States
for prepositioning of wildfire suppression resources.
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (referred to in this sec-
tion as the ‘Director’) may reimburse a State for the cost
of prepositioning wildfire suppression resources on poten-
tial multiple and large fire complexes when the Director
determines, in accordance with national and regional se-
verity indices of the Forest Service, that a wildfire event
poses a threat to life and property in the area.
‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—Wildfire suppression resources of
the Federal Government, neighboring countries, and any
State other than the State requesting assistance are eligi-
ble for reimbursement under this section.
‘‘(d) REIMBURSEMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Director may reim-
burse a State for the costs of prepositioning of wild-
fire suppression resources of the entities specified in
subsection (c), including mobilization to, and demo-
bilization from, the staging or prepositioning area.
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—For a State to receive
reimbursement under paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) any resource provided by an entity
specified in subsection (c) shall have been spe-
cifically requested by the State seeking reim-
bursement; and
‘‘(B) staging or prepositioning costs—
‘‘(i) shall be expended during the ap-
proved prepositioning period; and
‘‘(ii) shall be reasonable.’’.
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