Sponsors (10)
The bill raises pay and adds mandated rest for federal wildland firefighters—improving safety, recruitment, and short‑term earnings—at the cost of higher ongoing federal personnel spending, implementation complexity, and limits on pay/benefit parity for some higher‑paid or frequently deployed staff.
Federal wildland firefighters (Forest Service and Interior) receive higher base pay that replaces current GS base pay and is treated as basic pay for retirement and other pay-based benefits, preserving and boosting long‑term earnings and benefit calculations.
Federal wildland firefighters and certified incident personnel receive a large daily deployment premium (450% of hourly basic pay per day), substantially increasing take‑home pay while deployed.
Prevailing‑rate (wage) Forest Service and Interior firefighting employees gain pay parity — comparable wage increases and extension of the same premium‑pay terms to prevailing‑rate staff — reducing pay disparities across pay systems.
Taxpayers and federal budgets face higher ongoing personnel costs because of increased base pay, paid R&R leave, and expanded premium pay, creating sustained budgetary pressure and potential need for increased appropriations or reallocation of funds.
Caps on pay increases (capping prevailing‑rate increases at Executive Schedule IV and using a GS‑10 Step 10 locality rate cap for premium pay) can leave higher‑grade or more experienced employees undercompensated relative to intended parity.
The $9,000 annual cap on premium pay limits additional earnings for firefighters who deploy frequently or for extended incidents, reducing expected pay for high‑tempo responders.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates permanent higher base pay, a daily incident-response premium, and paid rest leave for federal wildland firefighters in the Forest Service and Department of the Interior, and allows a small transfer of unobligated IIJA funds to keep prior temporary pay increases in place without interruption. It replaces General Schedule base pay for covered wildland firefighter positions with new higher special base rates, establishes entitlement and formulas for incident-response premium pay and rest-and-recuperation leave for qualifying deployments, and directs agencies to issue implementing policies and reports.
Establishes higher special base pay, a daily incident-response premium, and paid rest leave for federal wildland firefighters, and permits a $5M IIJA fund transfer to avoid pay interruptions.
Official title: Amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Alejandro Padilla · Last progress January 16, 2025