Sponsors (16)
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Adds a new section (5332a) to Subchapter III of title 5 establishing 'special base rates' of pay for wildland firefighters, including definitions, computation rules (grade-specific percentage increases over GS base rates), treatment as basic pay, and rules for conversion to hourly/daily/weekly/biweekly rates.
Adds a new subsection (g) to 5 U.S.C. 5343 requiring wage-rate increases for prevailing rate wildland firefighters that are generally consistent with the percentage increases for General Schedule wildland firefighters, makes such increased wage rates basic pay for the same purposes, and caps increases so they do not produce an annualized rate above level IV of the Executive Schedule.
Inserts a table-of-sections entry for the newly created 5 U.S.C. 5332a into the table of sections for Subchapter III of title 5.
Adds new section 6329e to chapter 63 (Subchapter II) of title 5, U.S. Code, establishing rest and recuperation leave for certain wildland firefighting employees and prescribing definitions and policy authorities.
Adds a new section 5545c establishing 'incident response premium pay' for covered employees (employees of the Forest Service or Department of the Interior who are wildland firefighters or certified to perform wildland fire incident-related duties). The new section defines terms, sets eligibility, entitlement, computation (including a daily rate formula and an annual cap), assessment and reporting requirements, administrative adjustment authority, congressional notification, and treatment of the premium pay for pay and leave calculations.
Adds a new subsection (d) to section 5544 to provide that a prevailing rate employee described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is employed by the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior and is a wildland firefighter or certified to perform wildland fire incident-related duties shall receive incident response premium pay under the same terms and conditions as covered employees under new section 5545c.
Inserts additional text into the matter preceding paragraph (1) of section 5547(a) (specific inserted text not shown in the section extract).
Updates the table of sections for subchapter V of title 5 to amend the item relating to section 5544 and to insert an item for the newly added section 5545c.
Raises pay, adds a new incident‑response premium, and creates paid rest-and‑recuperation leave for federal wildland firefighters who work for the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior. It replaces temporary pay boosts with permanent special base pay rates by grade that count as basic pay for benefits and retirement. When firefighters are deployed to qualifying incidents, they receive a daily premium tied to their hourly basic pay, with safeguards so the premium doesn’t inflate other pay calculations. The bill also sets uniform limits on deployment and work hours and guarantees paid R&R time to reduce burnout, with rules that also cover intermittent firefighters.
Defines the term “firefighter,” including ordinary firefighters and certain supervisory or administrative employees who meet specified service or duty conditions.
Defines “General Schedule base rate” as the annual rate of basic pay established under 5 U.S.C. 5332 before locality or special rate additions.
Defines “special base rate” as an annual rate of basic pay for a wildland firefighter that replaces the General Schedule base rate and is administered like a General Schedule base rate.
Defines “wildland firefighter” as a firefighter employed by the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior whose duties relate primarily to wildland (not structure) fires.
Entitles wildland firefighters at GS‑1 through GS‑15 to a special base rate that replaces their applicable General Schedule base rate, is basic pay for all purposes (including computing locality pay), and is adjusted when the General Schedule is adjusted.
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Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress March 6, 2025
Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House