Sponsor
Thomas P. TIFFANY
Representative · R-WI
The bill increases public transparency and produces standardized wildfire treatment and effectiveness data to help communities and governments target work and oversight, but it creates administrative burdens and requires agencies to meet new demands with existing resources—risking diverted staff time from actual treatments and possible misleading use of raw cost-effectiveness figures.
Homeowners, local governments, and state governments near federal lands will receive annual, standardized public data on acres treated and treatment effectiveness, increasing transparency about hazardous fuels reduction work.
Homeowners and nearby communities will have clearer, disaggregated information (including WUI status and wildfire risk level) to better assess and prepare for local wildfire risk.
State and local governments will benefit from standardized tracking and verification of acres and costs, improving the accuracy of reported spending and helping budget decisions and oversight of fuel-reduction programs.
The Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior must absorb new reporting and tracking requirements with no new funding, likely diverting staff time from on-the-ground fuel-reduction treatments and potentially slowing operations that protect rural communities.
Mandating data collection and verification within 90 days may be administratively burdensome for agencies and could cause initial reporting errors or incomplete data.
Publishing cost-per-acre and effectiveness metrics without sufficient contextual information could be misinterpreted, leading to misleading comparisons across regions and poor policy or funding decisions for state and local governments and homeowners.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to include annual, standardized reports in the President’s budget materials documenting acres of hazardous fuels reduction completed on Federal lands and key, disaggregated data on location, risk, activity type, cost, and effectiveness. It also directs the Departments to post reports publicly, implement standardized data-tracking procedures within 90 days, produce a procedures-and-recommendations report to Congress, and have GAO review implementation within two years. No new funding is authorized; activities remain subject to appropriations.
Requires standardized annual reporting on acres and outcomes of hazardous fuels reduction on Federal lands, public posting, and GAO review; no new funds authorized.
Representative · R-WI
Official title: To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior submit accurate reports regarding hazardous fuels reduction activities, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Thomas P. TIFFANY · Last progress March 4, 2026