Tim’s Act

Last progress January 28, 2025 (11 months ago)

Introduced on January 28, 2025 by Joseph Neguse

This bill raises pay and expands benefits for federal wildland firefighters. It creates a new pay scale with bigger boosts at lower grades and adds extra daily pay when firefighters are sent to major fires away from home or based at fire camps. It also ties yearly pay bumps to inflation and guarantees hazard pay for dangerous work.

It invests in health, safety, and family support. Firefighters get paid rest‑and‑recovery time after big incidents, seven paid days each year for mental health, and a new mental health program. A new database will track cancer and heart risks from job exposure, and workers’ comp must cover PTSD and similar stress injuries. Families get help after a line‑of‑duty death or critical injury, including notifications, travel help, and case management. The bill also offers housing allowances during far‑from‑home deployments, tuition help, and bonuses to recruit and keep people. Some past service can count toward retirement, and overtime will count in retirement pay.

• Who is affected
  • Federal wildland firefighters employed by the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, and tribal wildland firefighters; families of firefighters; and federal structural firefighters (for pay parity).
• What changes
  • Base pay increases across GS grades, with larger boosts at lower grades (for example, about 42% at GS‑1 down to 3% at GS‑14).
  • Extra incident‑response premium pay when deployed, capped at $9,000 per year.
  • Paid rest‑and‑recovery leave after major wildfire deployments.
  • Mental health program and 7 paid days each year for mental health.
  • Housing allowance for deployments more than 50 miles from home; tuition help of at least $4,000 per year; and at least a $1,000 annual recruitment/retention bonus.
  • Annual cost‑of‑living raises tied to the Consumer Price Index.
  • Guaranteed hazardous‑duty pay for dangerous tasks like prescribed fire work and hazard tree removal.
  • Some pay caps are lifted during emergency wildfire work so firefighters can be fully paid for long deployments.
  • Pay parity for federal structural firefighters within one year.
  • Credit for some past firefighting service toward retirement and recognition of certain exposure‑related diseases for disability; overtime counts toward retirement pay.
• When
  • New base pay starts once the current temporary wildfire pay boosts end.
  • Rest‑and‑recovery leave begins with pay periods on or after October 1, 2025.
  • Incident‑response premium pay starts in January 2026.
  • Mental health program must be in place by January 1, 2026; the health database within one year of enactment.
  • A casualty‑assistance program for next‑of‑kin must be set up within six months of enactment.