I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1923
To provide for the implementation of certain recommendations from the
Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. H
ARDERof California (for himself, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida, Mr.
N
EGUSE, and Mr. STANTON) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the
Committees on Agriculture, Education and Workforce, Oversight and
Government Reform, Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Science,
Space, and Technology, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Small
Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for the implementation of certain recommenda-
tions from the Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation
and Management Commission.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Wildfire 4
Safety and Prevention Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 1923 IH
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
The table of contents for this Act is the following: 2
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of Contents.
Sec. 3. Definition of Report.
TITLE I—WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Sec. 101. Middle Fire Leaders Academy (Report Recommendation 55).
Sec. 102. Wildfire workforce grant program (Report Recommendation 88).
TITLE II—WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER SUPPORT
Sec. 201. Fire Service Retention and Retirement Portability (Report Rec-
ommendation 86).
Sec. 202. Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program (Report
Recommendation 87).
TITLE III—WILDFIRE SMOKE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Sec. 301. National Smoke Monitoring and Alert System (Report Recommenda-
tion 44).
Sec. 302. Health risk assessment for Wildfire Smoke Exposure (Report Rec-
ommendation 100).
TITLE IV—FIRE MITIGATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Sec. 401. Improvements to wildfire forage loss programs (Report Recommenda-
tion 59).
Sec. 402. Improvements to FEMA Programs (Report Recommendations 66 and
64).
Sec. 403. The Wildland Dynamic Risk Mapping Program (Report Rec-
ommendation 118).
Sec. 404. Improvements to grant programs for community wildfire risk reduc-
tion and postfire recovery efforts (Report Recommendation
142).
Sec. 405. Joint Office of the Fire Environment Center (Report Recommenda-
tions 104, 105, 106).
Sec. 406. Interagency Data Collaboration Environment (Report Recommenda-
tion 107).
Sec. 407. Requirements related to payment timing for certain programs ad-
dressing wildfire damages (Report Recommendation 61).
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF REPORT.
3
In this Act, the term ‘‘Report’’ means the Report of 4
the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commis-5
sion, dated September 2023. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 1923 IH
TITLE I—WORKFORCE 1
DEVELOPMENT 2
SEC. 101. MIDDLE FIRE LEADERS ACADEMY (REPORT REC-3
OMMENDATION 55). 4
(a) M
IDDLEFIRELEADERSACADEMY.—Not later 5
than a 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 6
the Chief of the Forest Service, in coordination with Na-7
tional Wildfire Coordinating Group, shall create a Middle 8
Fire Leaders Academy which shall be open to Federal and 9
non-Federal wildland fire response workforce employees. 10
The Middle Fire Leaders Academy shall provide— 11
(1) rapid training and certification for emerging 12
wildfire and beneficial fire leaders; and 13
(2) additional and expanded training of suffi-14
cient quality to enable managers and decision mak-15
ers responsible for addressing wildfire incidents and 16
prescribed burns to make informed decisions regard-17
ing the beneficial application and management of 18
fire, including managing local fire regimes and other 19
forms of beneficial fire use. 20
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 22
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 1923 IH
SEC. 102. WILDFIRE WORKFORCE GRANT PROGRAM (RE-1
PORT RECOMMENDATION 88). 2
(a) G
RANTSAUTHORIZED.—Not later than 6 months 3
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 4
Education shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to 5
eligible entities to carry out a program described in sub-6
section (c). 7
(b) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 8
under this Act, an eligible entity shall submit to the Sec-9
retary an application in such manner, at such time, and 10
containing such information as the Secretary may require. 11
(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 12
a grant under this Act shall carry out an educational or 13
vocational program that leads to a degree, certificate, or 14
other recognized credential in wildfire emergency manage-15
ment, including— 16
(1) agricultural landscape planning relating to 17
wildfire resilience; 18
(2) natural resource management relating to 19
wildfire resilience; 20
(3) emergency management; 21
(4) emergency medical technician services; 22
(5) paramedic services; 23
(6) fire science; 24
(7) firefighting; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 1923 IH
(8) community planning relating to wildfire re-1
silience; 2
(9) short- and long-term post fire recovery safe-3
ty and operations training for structural firefighters 4
assigned to wildfire incidents; or 5
(10) any other program that trains individuals 6
in the wildfire mitigation, response, or recovery 7
workforce. 8
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) A
CCREDITED LOCAL ACADEMY .—The term 10
‘‘accredited local academy’’ means a partnership, be-11
tween a local fire suppression organization and the 12
office of the Fire Marshall of a State, that delivers 13
a State Fire Training program. 14
(2) A
CCREDITED REGIONAL TRAINING PRO -15
GRAM.—The term ‘‘accredited regional training pro-16
gram’’ means a partnership, between a junior or 17
community college or institution of higher education 18
and the office of the Fire Marshall of a State, or the 19
State Wildland Firefighting Agency or in combina-20
tion of Federal Land Management Agencies, that 21
delivers an approved State Fire Training program 22
within a given region. 23
(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-24
ty’’ means— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 1923 IH
(A) a junior or community college; 1
(B) an institution of higher education; 2
(C) an accredited regional training pro-3
gram; 4
(D) an accredited local academy; or 5
(E) a nonprofit entity with experience ad-6
ministering education and training programs 7
for fire service personnel. 8
(4) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 9
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 10
meaning given such term in section 102 of the High-11
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 12
(5) J
UNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE .—The 13
term ‘‘junior or community college’’ has the meaning 14
given such term in section 312 of the Higher Edu-15
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 16
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 17
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 18
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035. 19
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 1923 IH
TITLE II—WILDLAND 1
FIREFIGHTER SUPPORT 2
SEC. 201. FIRE SERVICE RETENTION AND RETIREMENT 3
PORTABILITY (REPORT RECOMMENDATION 4
86). 5
(a) C
ONTINUINGACCRUAL OFSERVICE FORFIRE-6
FIGHTERS.— 7
(1) F
EDERAL EMPLOYEES ’ RETIREMENT SYS-8
TEM.—Section 8401(14) of title 5, United States 9
Code, is amended to read as follows: 10
‘‘(14) the term ‘firefighter’ means— 11
‘‘(A) an employee, the duties of whose po-12
sition— 13
‘‘(i) are primarily to perform work di-14
rectly connected with the control and extin-15
guishment of nonwildland fires; and 16
‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-17
ployment opportunities should be limited to 18
young and physically vigorous individuals, 19
as determined by the Director considering 20
the recommendations of the employing 21
agency; 22
‘‘(B) an employee, the duties of whose po-23
sition— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 1923 IH
‘‘(i) are primarily to perform work di-1
rectly connected with the control and extin-2
guishment of wildland fires; and 3
‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-4
ployment opportunities should be limited to 5
young and physically vigorous individuals, 6
as determined by the Director considering 7
the recommendations of the employing 8
agency; 9
‘‘(C) an employee who— 10
‘‘(i) is transferred directly to a super-11
visory or administrative position after per-12
forming duties described in subparagraph 13
(A) for at least 3 years; and 14
‘‘(ii) while serving in such supervisory 15
or administrative position, has no break in 16
service; or 17
‘‘(D) an employee who— 18
‘‘(i) occupies a supervisory or admin-19
istrative position after performing duties 20
described in subparagraph (B) for not less 21
than 3 years; and 22
‘‘(ii) has not more than 24 months in 23
total time of breaks in service;’’. 24
(2) S
ERVICE BEFORE DATE OF ENACTMENT .— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 1923 IH
(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the require-1
ments under subparagraph (B), service per-2
formed before the date of enactment of this Act 3
by an individual who, on the date of enactment 4
of this Act, is an employee (as defined in sec-5
tion 8401(11) of title 5, United States Code) 6
shall, for the purposes of chapter 84 of title 5, 7
United States Code, be treated as service per-8
formed by a firefighter if— 9
(i) such service was performed during 10
the period beginning on October 1, 2003, 11
and ending on the day before the date of 12
enactment of this Act; 13
(ii) at the time of performing such 14
service— 15
(I) the individual did not meet 16
the requirements to be a firefighter 17
under section 8401(14) of title 5, 18
United States Code, because of a 19
break in service; and 20
(II) would have met the require-21
ments to be a firefighter under section 22
8401(14)(D) of title 5, United States 23
Code, as amended by this Act; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 1923 IH
(iii) appropriate deductions and 1
withholdings under sections 8422 and 2
8423 of title 5, United States Code, were 3
made during such service. 4
(B) C
REDIT FOR SERVICE .—To receive 5
credit for eligible service under subparagraph 6
(A), the applicable individual shall— 7
(i) before the date on which the indi-8
vidual separates from service in the agency 9
in which the individual holds a position on 10
the date of enactment of this Act, submit 11
a written election to the agency employing 12
the individual; 13
(ii) if the individual is not employed 14
by the agency that employed the individual 15
when the service described in subpara-16
graph (A) was performed, submit a written 17
election to such agency; and 18
(iii) remit to the agency that em-19
ployed the individual when such service 20
was performed the additional amount that 21
would have been deducted during the pe-22
riod of prior service under section 8422 of 23
title 5, United States Code, from the pay 24
of the individual if the amendments made 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 1923 IH
by paragraph (1) had been in effect during 1
the prior service, plus any applicable inter-2
est computed under section 8334(e) of title 3
5, United States Code. 4
(C) G
OVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS .—If an 5
individual remits payment under subparagraph 6
(B)(iii) with respect to service described in sub-7
paragraph (A), the agency that employed the 8
individual when such service was performed 9
shall remit to the Office of Personnel Manage-10
ment (for deposit in the Treasury of the United 11
States to the credit of the Civil Service Retire-12
ment and Disability Fund) the total additional 13
amount of Federal contributions that would 14
have been paid under section 8423 of title 5, 15
United States Code, if the amendments made 16
by paragraph (1) had been in effect during the 17
prior service, plus any applicable interest com-18
puted in accordance with section 8334(e) of 19
title 5, United States Code. 20
(D) N
OTIFICATION AND ASSISTANCE RE -21
QUIREMENTS.—The Director of the Office of 22
Personnel Management shall— 23
(i) take such action as may be nec-24
essary and appropriate to inform individ-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12
•HR 1923 IH
uals entitled to have any service credited 1
under this subsection, or to have any an-2
nuity computed under this subsection, of 3
the entitlement to the credit or computa-4
tion; and 5
(ii) upon request, assist any individual 6
described in clause (i) in obtaining such in-7
formation in the possession of the Sec-8
retary of Agriculture or the Secretary of 9
the Interior, as applicable, as may be nec-10
essary to verify the entitlement of the indi-11
vidual to have any service credited, or to 12
have any annuity computed, pursuant to 13
this subsection. 14
(E) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 15
this subsection shall be construed to permit or 16
require the making of any contribution to the 17
Thrift Savings Fund that would not otherwise 18
have been permitted or required but for the en-19
actment of this subsection. 20
(b) R
ETENTION OFENHANCEDRETIREMENTBENE-21
FITSDURINGPERIOD OFNON-FEDERALSERVICE.—Sec-22
tion 104(e)(2) of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-23
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5323(e)) is amended by 24
adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any Federal wildland 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13
•HR 1923 IH
firefighter (as that term is defined in section 201(d) of 1
the Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2
2025) who retains coverage, rights, and benefits under 3
such chapter 83 or 84 pursuant to this paragraph shall 4
retain enhanced retirement benefits under either such 5
chapter.’’. 6
(c) J
OB-SHARING.—Notwithstanding any other pro-7
vision of law, a Federal wildland firefighter or wildland 8
fire support personnel may occupy a position in the civil 9
service (as that term is defined in section 2101 of title 10
5, United States Code) and a position with a Tribal gov-11
ernment under a job-share agreement even if the position 12
with a Tribal government is classified at a level higher 13
than the civil service position, including any level that is 14
above that of the highest level applicable to the General 15
Schedule. 16
(d) F
EDERALWILDLANDFIREFIGHTER.—In this 17
section, the term ‘‘Federal wildland firefighter’’ means a 18
person who is— 19
(1) in a temporary, seasonal, or permanent po-20
sition at the Department of Agriculture or the De-21
partment of the Interior or as a Tribal firefighter 22
who; 23
(A) maintains group, emergency incident 24
management, or fire qualifications, as estab-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 14
•HR 1923 IH
lished annually by the Standards for Wildland 1
Fire Position Qualifications published by the 2
National Wildfire Coordinating Group; and 3
(B) primarily engages in or supports 4
wildland fire management activities, including 5
forestry and rangeland technicians and posi-6
tions concerning aviation, engineering heavy 7
equipment operations, dispatch, or fire and 8
fuels management; or 9
(2) a Federal firefighter stationed on military 10
installations under the Department of Defense who 11
engages in or supports wildland fire management ac-12
tivities, including forestry and rangeland technicians 13
and positions concerning aviation, engineering heavy 14
equipment operations, dispatch, or fire and fuels 15
management. 16
SEC. 202. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY AS-17
SISTANCE PROGRAM (REPORT REC-18
OMMENDATION 87). 19
(a) D
EVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 6 20
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 21
Secretary of the Interior shall develop a Wildland Fire 22
Management Casualty Assistance Program (referred to in 23
this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide assistance to 24
the next of kin of— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Mar 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 15
•HR 1923 IH
(1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, 1
suffer illness or are critically injured or killed; and 2
(2) wildland fire support personnel critically in-3
jured or killed in the line of duty. 4
(b) A
SPECTS OFPROGRAM.—The Program shall ad-5
dress the following: 6
(1) The initial and any subsequent notifications 7
to the next of kin of a firefighter or wildland fire 8
support personnel who— 9
(A) was killed in the line of duty; or 10
(B) requires hospitalization or treatment 11
at a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury 12
or illness. 13
(2) The reimbursement of next of kin for ex-14
penses associated with travel to visit a firefighter or 15
wildland fire support personnel who— 16
(A) was killed in the line of duty; or 17
(B) requires hospitalization or treatment 18
at a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury 19
or illness. 20
(3) The qualifications, assignment, training, du-21
ties, supervision, and accountability for the perform-22
ance of casualty assistance responsibilities. 23
(4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance 24
officers, including notification to survivors of critical 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Mar 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 16
•HR 1923 IH
injury or illness in the line of duty and next of kin 1
of the reassignment of such officers to other duties. 2
(5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case 3
management procedures for casualty assistance, in-4
cluding rapid access by survivors of firefighters or 5
wildland fire support personnel and casualty assist-6
ance officers to expert case managers and coun-7
selors. 8
(6) The provision, through a computer acces-9
sible website and other means and at no cost to sur-10
vivors and next of kin of firefighters or wildland fire 11
support personnel, of personalized, integrated infor-12
mation on the benefits and financial assistance avail-13
able to such survivors from the Federal Government. 14
(7) The provision of information to survivors 15
and next of kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-16
port personnel on mechanisms for registering com-17
plaints about, or requests for, additional assistance 18
related to casualty assistance. 19
(8) Liaison with the Department of the Inte-20
rior, the Department of Justice, and the Social Se-21
curity Administration to ensure prompt and accurate 22
resolution of issues relating to benefits administered 23
by those agencies for survivors of firefighters or 24
wildland fire support personnel. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Mar 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 17
•HR 1923 IH
(9) Data collection regarding the incidence and 1
quality of casualty assistance provided to survivors 2
of firefighters or wildland fire support personnel. 3
(c) L
INE OFDUTYDEATHBENEFITS.—The Pro-4
gram shall not affect existing authorities for Line of Duty 5
Death benefits for Federal firefighters and wildland fire 6
support personnel. 7
(d) N
EXT OFKINDEFINED.—In this section, the 8
term ‘‘next of kin’’ means person or persons in the highest 9
category of priority as determined by the following list 10
(categories appear in descending order of priority): 11
(1) Surviving legal spouse. 12
(2) Children (whether by current or prior mar-13
riage) age 18 years or older in descending prece-14
dence by age. 15
(3) Father or mother, unless by court order 16
custody has been vested in another (adoptive parent 17
takes precedence over natural parent); 18
(4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or 19
older in descending precedence by age. 20
(5) Grandfather or grandmother. 21
(6) Any other relative (precedence to be deter-22
mined in accordance with the civil law of descent of 23
the deceased former member’s State of domicile at 24
time of death). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Mar 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 18
•HR 1923 IH
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 2
$1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035. 3
TITLE III—WILDFIRE SMOKE 4
AND PUBLIC HEALTH 5
SEC. 301. NATIONAL SMOKE MONITORING AND ALERT SYS-6
TEM (REPORT RECOMMENDATION 44). 7
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the Na-8
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, acting 9
through the Director of the National Weather Service, and 10
in conjunction with the Secretary of Agriculture acting 11
through the Chief of the Forest Service, the Secretary of 12
the Interior, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro-13
tection Agency, and the Director of the Centers for Dis-14
ease Control and Prevention shall establish a nationally 15
consistent smoke monitoring and alert system to provide 16
consistent, real-time information and forecasts on air 17
quality impacts from wildfire smoke, including wildfire 18
smoke in the built environment. 19
(b) I
NCREASE INSMOKESENSORS.—In carrying out 20
subsection (a), to ensure adequate and accessible data, the 21
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 22
shall increase the availability and use of air monitoring 23
devices for wildfire smoke, including, to distinguish wild-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 19
•HR 1923 IH
fire smoke from other forms of air pollution, increasing 1
the availability and use of— 2
(1) speciation monitors; and 3
(2) nonregulatory air monitors. 4
(c) U
SE OFSATELLITES.—In carrying out subsection 5
(a), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 6
Agency shall explore the use of satellites. 7
(d) P
UBLICCOUNTY-RESOLUTIONSMOKEALERT 8
S
YSTEM FORPUBLICHEALTH AND ROADWAYSSAFE-9
TY.—In carrying out subsection (a), not later than 1 year 10
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis-11
trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-12
tration, acting through the Director of the National 13
Weather Service and in coordination with the Secretary 14
of Agriculture acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv-15
ice, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Administrator 16
of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Director 17
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall 18
establish a public county-resolution smoke alert system for 19
public health and roadways safety which shall be based 20
on levels of particulate matter. The system established 21
under this subsection shall be in addition to the National 22
Weather Service Dense Smoke Advisories, which are based 23
on visibility. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 20
•HR 1923 IH
(e) COLLECTION ANDDISSEMINATION OFAIRQUAL-1
ITY ANDSMOKEALERTINFORMATION.—In carrying out 2
subsection (a), the Director of the National Weather Serv-3
ice shall collect all air quality forecasts, including through 4
AirNow, public notifications, and alerts for smoke issued 5
by Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial air agencies 6
and disseminate them through weather forecast office net-7
works to enable the Wireless Emergency Alerts System to 8
be extended to support smoke communications to protect 9
public health. 10
(f) F
ORESTSERVICEPERSONNEL ANDSMOKEMONI-11
TORINGEQUIPMENT.—In carrying out subsection (a), not 12
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 13
Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief 14
of the Forest Service, in coordination with the Secretary 15
of the Interior, shall expand the personnel and smoke 16
monitoring equipment of the Forest Service to increase the 17
capacity of the Forest Service to assess wildfire smoke, 18
including wildfire smoke in the built environment, and 19
carry out prescribed fires. 20
(g) I
NTERAGENCY WILDLANDFIREAIRQUALITY 21
R
ESPONSEPROGRAMPERSONNEL AND SMOKEMONI-22
TORINGEQUIPMENT.—In carrying out subsection (a), not 23
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 24
Act, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 21
•HR 1923 IH
Interior shall expand the personnel (including air resource 1
advisors) of, and smoke monitoring equipment available 2
to, the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response 3
Program established under section 1114(f) of the John D. 4
Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation 5
Act (43 U.S.C. 1748b–1(f)). 6
(h) E
XPANSION OFEMERGENCYRESPONSECAPAC-7
ITY.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 9
(a), the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-10
tion Agency shall expand the emergency response ca-11
pacity, including personnel and equipment, of the 12
Environmental Protection Agency— 13
(A) to measure air pollution from wildfires 14
that involve combustion of hazardous materials; 15
and 16
(B) to communicate information during 17
smoke events resulting from wildfires. 18
(2) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 19
‘‘hazardous materials’’ means explosive, flammable, 20
combustible, corrosive, oxidizing, toxic, infectious, or 21
radioactive materials that, when involved in an acci-22
dent and released in sufficient quantities, put some 23
portion of the general public in immediate danger 24
from exposure, contact, inhalation, or ingestion. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 22
•HR 1923 IH
(i) IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTINGSYSTEMS.—In car-1
rying out subsection (a), in order to maintain the Environ-2
mental Protection Agency AirNow framework and tech-3
nology as a state-of-the-art, real-time resource for pro-4
viding robust and actionable information to protect public 5
health from wildfire smoke, the Administrator of the Envi-6
ronmental Protection Agency shall, as the Administrator 7
determines appropriate, improve and modernize such 8
AirNow framework and technology, including by making 9
improvements to and otherwise modernizing AirNow.gov, 10
AirNow-Tech, the AirNow Environmental Protection 11
Agency and Forest Service Fire and Smoke Map, AirNow 12
Forecast Submittal System, and the AirNow mobile app. 13
(j) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 14
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 15
$32,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035. 16
SEC. 302. HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT FOR WILDFIRE 17
SMOKE EXPOSURE (REPORT RECOMMENDA-18
TION 100). 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 20
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na-21
tional Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in 22
consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental 23
Protection Agency, the Director of the Centers for Disease 24
Control and Prevention, the Administrator of the United 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 23
•HR 1923 IH
States Fire Administration, the Chief of the Forest Serv-1
ice, and the Director of the Office of Wildland Fire, shall 2
complete a human health risk assessment for worker expo-3
sure to wildfire smoke to estimate the nature and prob-4
ability of adverse health effects in workers who may be 5
exposed to hazards from wildfire smoke, including wildfire 6
smoke in the built environment. 7
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR ASSESSMENT.—The human 8
health risk assessment required under subsection (a) shall 9
address the following: 10
(1) The health problems for workers that may 11
be caused by exposure to wildfire smoke, including 12
wildfire smoke in the built environment. 13
(2) The probability that workers will experience 14
health problems when exposed to different con-15
centrations of wildfire smoke, including wildfire 16
smoke in the built environment. 17
(3) The chemicals that workers are exposed to 18
from wildfire smoke, including wildfire smoke in the 19
built environment, as well as the overall level and 20
duration of such exposure. 21
(4) The differences in worker susceptibility to 22
health effects from exposure to wildfire smoke, in-23
cluding wildfire smoke in the built environment. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 24
•HR 1923 IH
(5) The effectiveness of mitigating both acute 1
and cumulative exposures to wildfire smoke, includ-2
ing wildfire smoke in the built environment, in de-3
creasing adverse health effects from such wildfire 4
smoke. 5
(c) B
ESTPRACTICES.—Not later than 6 months after 6
completing the human health risk assessment under sub-7
section (a), the Director of the National Institute for Oc-8
cupational Safety and Health shall develop and publish 9
best practices to mitigate worker exposure to wildfire 10
smoke, including wildfire smoke in the built environment. 11
Such best practices shall be informed by the human health 12
assessment completed under subsection (a). 13
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 14
authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the Na-15
tional Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to 16
carry out this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 17
2026 through 2028. 18
TITLE IV—FIRE MITIGATION 19
AND TECHNOLOGY 20
SEC. 401. IMPROVEMENTS TO WILDFIRE FORAGE LOSS 21
PROGRAMS (REPORT RECOMMENDATION 59). 22
(a) L
IVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM.—Section 23
1501(c)(4)(A)(ii) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 24
U.S.C. 9081(c)(4)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(in-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 25
•HR 1923 IH
cluding a prescribed fire, beneficial fire, and wildfire man-1
aged for resource objectives)’’ before the period. 2
(b) E
MERGENCY LIVESTOCKASSISTANCEPRO-3
GRAM.—Section 1501(d)(1) of the Agricultural Act of 4
2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘and 5
wildfires’’ and inserting ‘‘wildfires, beneficial fires, pre-6
scribed fires, and wildfires managed for resource objec-7
tives’’. 8
SEC. 402. IMPROVEMENTS TO FEMA PROGRAMS (REPORT 9
RECOMMENDATIONS 66 AND 64). 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 324 of the Robert T. 11
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 12
(42 U.S.C. 5165b) is amended— 13
(1) in subsection (b)(2)— 14
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 15
and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and 16
adjusting the margins accordingly; and 17
(B) in the matter preceding clause (i), as 18
so redesignated, by striking ‘‘provide the fol-19
lowing percentage rates’’ and inserting ‘‘pro-20
vide— 21
‘‘(A) excess funds for management costs as 22
described in subsection (c); and 23
‘‘(B) the following percentage rates’’; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 26
•HR 1923 IH
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-1
section (d); and 2
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(c) U
SE OFEXCESSFUNDS FORMANAGEMENT 5
C
OSTS.— 6
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 7
‘excess funds for management costs’ means the dif-8
ference between— 9
‘‘(A) the amount of the applicable specific 10
management costs authorized under subsection 11
(b)(1) and subsection (b)(2)(B); and 12
‘‘(B) as of the date on which the grant 13
award is closed, the amount of funding for 14
management costs activities expended by the 15
grantee or subgrantee receiving the financial as-16
sistance for costs described in subparagraph 17
(A). 18
‘‘(2) A
VAILABILITY OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR 19
MANAGEMENT COSTS .—The President may make 20
available to a grantee or subgrantee receiving finan-21
cial assistance under section 403, 404, 406, 407, or 22
502 any excess funds for management costs. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 27
•HR 1923 IH
‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—Excess funds for man-1
agement costs made available to a grantee or sub-2
grantee under paragraph (2) may be used for— 3
‘‘(A) activities associated with building ca-4
pacity to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate 5
the impacts of a major disaster or emergency 6
declared under section 401 or 501, respectively; 7
and 8
‘‘(B) management costs associated with 9
any— 10
‘‘(i) major disaster; 11
‘‘(ii) emergency; 12
‘‘(iii) disaster preparedness measure; 13
or 14
‘‘(iv) mitigation activity or measure 15
authorized under section 203, 204, 205, or 16
404. 17
‘‘(4) A
VAILABILITY.—Excess funds for manage-18
ment costs made available to a grantee or sub-19
grantee under paragraph (2) shall remain available 20
to the grantee or subgrantee until the date that is 21
5 years after the date on which the excess funds for 22
management costs are made available under para-23
graph (2).’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 28
•HR 1923 IH
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub-1
section (a) shall apply with respect to any grant award 2
in relation to a major disaster or emergency declared 3
under section 401 or 501, respectively, of the Robert T. 4
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 5
(42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191)— 6
(1) the declaration of which is made on or after 7
the date of enactment of this Act; and 8
(2) that is funded with amounts appropriated 9
on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 10
(c) GAO S
TUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the 11
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 12
of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 13
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-14
ate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-15
ture of the House of Representatives a report— 16
(1) on the actual management costs described 17
in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 18
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 19
5165b) during the period of a major disaster dec-20
laration under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 21
5170) to determine whether the amount set aside for 22
those management costs after the date of enactment 23
of this Act is appropriate; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 29
•HR 1923 IH
(2) that includes the management costs de-1
scribed in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-2
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 3
U.S.C. 5165b) for each disaster declared under dur-4
ing the period of a major disaster declaration under 5
section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the 6
5-year period preceding the date of the report, the 7
amount set aside for those management costs, the 8
use of those management costs, the length of each 9
disaster, and the reason for the length of each dis-10
aster. 11
(d) N
OADDITIONALFUNDS.—No additional funds 12
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the amend-13
ments made by subsection (a). 14
(e) T
REATMENT OF MULTIPLEEVENTSSTEMMING 15
F
ROMSAMEWILDFIRE.— 16
(1) M
AJOR DISASTER ASSISTANCE PRO -17
GRAMS.—Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-18
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 19
U.S.C. 5170) is amended— 20
‘‘(d) W
ILDLANDFIREMAJORDISASTERDECLARA-21
TION.—In the case of an initial wildland fire major dis-22
aster declaration under this section, the declaration shall 23
include any landslide, mudslide, flood, or other natural 24
disaster event which stems from the wildland fire occuring 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 30
•HR 1923 IH
within the 3-year period beginning on the first date of the 1
wildland fire.’’. 2
(2) E
MERGENCY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS .—Sec-3
tion 501 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5191) is amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(d) W
ILDLANDFIREMAJORDISASTERDECLARA-6
TION.—In the case of an initial wildland fire major dis-7
aster declaration under this section, the declaration shall 8
include any landslide, mudslide, flood, or other natural 9
disaster event which stems from the wildland fire occuring 10
within the 3-year period beginning on the first date of the 11
wildland fire.’’. 12
(3) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 13
by this subsection shall apply with respect to events 14
occurring after the date of the enactment of this 15
Act. 16
(f) F
IREMANAGEMENTASSISTANCEPROGRAMPOL-17
ICY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 18
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 19
Management Agency shall recommend such regulations or 20
guidance as are necessary to make eligible assessments 21
and emergency stabilization to protect public safety, in-22
cluding for the fire management assistance program under 23
section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 31
•HR 1923 IH
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187), irrespective 1
of the incident period for a declared fire. 2
(g) C
HANGES TO PUBLICASSISTANCEPOLICY 3
G
UIDE.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-4
ment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emer-5
gency Management Agency shall amend the Public Assist-6
ance Program and Policy Guide of the Federal Emergency 7
Management Agency to include guidance on wildfire-spe-8
cific recovery challenges, including debris removal, emer-9
gency protective measures, and the resulting toxicity of 10
drinking water resources. 11
(h) M
ITIGATIONCOSTEFFECTIVENESS.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 13
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall con-14
duct a review of the criteria for evaluating the cost 15
effectiveness of projects intended to mitigate the im-16
pacts of wildfire under sections 203 and 404 of the 17
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 18
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133; 5170c), includ-19
ing— 20
(A) the establishment of precalculated ben-21
efits criterion for common defensible space miti-22
gation projects for wildfire mitigation; 23
(B) the use of nature-based infrastructure 24
in wildfire mitigation; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 32
•HR 1923 IH
(C) considerations for vegetation manage-1
ment for wildfire mitigation; 2
(D) reducing the negative effects of wild-3
fire smoke on public health; and 4
(E) lessening the impact of wildfires on 5
water infrastructure. 6
(2) U
PDATED CRITERIA.—Not later than 1 year 7
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-8
trator shall issue such guidance as is necessary to— 9
(A) update criteria for evaluating the cost 10
effectiveness of mitigation projects under sec-11
tions 203 and 404 of the Robert T. Stafford 12
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 13
(42 U.S.C. 5133; 5170c) based on the results 14
of the review conducted under paragraph (1); 15
and 16
(B) prioritize such projects based on the 17
criteria updated under subparagraph (A). 18
SEC. 403. THE WILDLAND DYNAMIC RISK MAPPING PRO-19
GRAM (REPORT RECOMMENDATION 118). 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 21
date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 22
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 23
shall work jointly with the National Aeronautical and 24
Space Agency, United States Geological Survey, United 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 33
•HR 1923 IH
States Fire Administration, universities, and National 1
Laboratories to— 2
(1) develop dynamic risk and hazard maps for 3
the wildland and built environments in the United 4
States; and 5
(2) ensure that such dynamic risk maps are up-6
dated as required to reflect each wildfire season— 7
(A) changes in the natural environment, 8
such as postflood or fire alterations; 9
(B) rapidly changing environmental condi-10
tions; 11
(C) measure changes in fuels moisture on 12
the temporal scale; and 13
(D) utilize both remote sensing tech-14
nologies and on the ground monitoring. 15
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16
authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of the 17
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 18
carry out this section $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 19
2026 through 2030. 20
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 34
•HR 1923 IH
SEC. 404. IMPROVEMENTS TO GRANT PROGRAMS FOR COM-1
MUNITY WILDFIRE RISK REDUCTION AND 2
POSTFIRE RECOVERY EFFORTS (REPORT 3
RECOMMENDATION 142). 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 5
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall, 6
with respect to the grant programs for community wildfire 7
risk reduction and postfire recovery efforts carried out by 8
each such Secretary— 9
(1) increase the accessibility of such grant pro-10
grams; 11
(2) reduce the complexity of the application 12
process for grants under such programs, including— 13
(A) by reducing the amount of information 14
required to apply; and 15
(B) to the maximum extent practicable, en-16
abling auto-populating fields in the online appli-17
cations for such grants; 18
(3) reduce administrative burden with respect 19
to such grant programs, including by— 20
(A) aligning program applications to re-21
duce separate applications for similar programs; 22
and 23
(B) developing a common section for appli-24
cations to reduce duplicative questions; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 35
•HR 1923 IH
(4) review the statutory and administrative bar-1
riers that impede the ability of communities to 2
quickly access funds under each such grant pro-3
gram; 4
(5) increase technical assistance provided to ap-5
plicants, recipients, and subrecipients; and 6
(6) increase outreach to potential applicants for 7
such grant programs, including by— 8
(A) providing appropriate dedicated staff 9
to assist individuals and communities in identi-10
fying and applying for grants under such grant 11
programs; and 12
(B) notifying potential applicants of eligi-13
bility and open application seasons with respect 14
to such grant programs. 15
(b) S
ECRETARIESDEFINED.—In this section, the 16
term ‘‘Secretaries’’ means the Secretary of the Interior, 17
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of 18
the Forest Service, the Administrator of the Federal 19
Emergency Management Agency, the Administrator of the 20
Small Business Administration, and the Administrator of 21
the Environmental Protection Agency. 22
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 36
•HR 1923 IH
SEC. 405. JOINT OFFICE OF THE FIRE ENVIRONMENT CEN-1
TER (REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS 104, 105, 2
106). 3
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than a 1 year after 5
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis-6
trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-7
ministration shall establish a joint office, which shall 8
be known as the ‘‘Joint Office of the Fire Environ-9
ment Center’’. 10
(2) S
TRUCTURE.—The Joint Office shall be 11
comprised of the following branches: 12
(A) T
ECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING .— 13
Technology and Engineering, which shall— 14
(i) focus on modeling and the building 15
and testing of technology; and 16
(ii) may enter into public-private part-17
nerships. 18
(B) D
ATA SERVICES.—Data Services, 19
which shall— 20
(i) be responsible for testing artificial 21
intelligence and machine learning tech-22
nologies to support managers, firefighters, 23
and public health officials on the ground, 24
including producing decision consequence 25
data, modeling risk, and suggesting re-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 37
•HR 1923 IH
sources based on fire and smoke conditions 1
at the time and place of ignition detection; 2
and 3
(ii) working with State, local, and 4
Tribal entities on data sharing. 5
(C) A
NALYSIS AND PREDICTION .—Analysis 6
and Prediction. 7
(D) E
DUCATION AND CONSULTATION .— 8
Education and Consultation, which shall be re-9
sponsible for incident management. 10
(E) O
THER.—Any other branch deter-11
mined necessary or appropriate by the Board. 12
(b) F
UNCTIONS OFJOINTOFFICE.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 14
(A) A
VAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS AND IN -15
FORMATION.—The Joint Office shall make 16
available any products and information devel-17
oped by the Joint Office to— 18
(i) geographic area coordination cen-19
ters; 20
(ii) incident management teams; 21
(iii) land managers; 22
(iv) air quality and water provider 23
agencies; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 38
•HR 1923 IH
(v) State, local, and Tribal govern-1
ments; and 2
(vi) public health agencies. 3
(B) S
ERVICES AND SUPPORT .—The Joint 4
Office shall provide real-time, science-based, 5
and data-rich scientific and technical analytic 6
services, decision support, and predictive serv-7
ices to inform land and fuels management, com-8
munity risk reduction, and fire management 9
and response, including the following: 10
(i) P
REFIRE MITIGATION AND RISK 11
REDUCTION.—Prefire mitigation and risk 12
reduction activities for landscapes and 13
communities, including through assess-14
ments and modeling of— 15
(I) climate condition; 16
(II) fuels; 17
(III) home ignition; 18
(IV) structure-to-structure 19
spread; and 20
(V) values at risk. 21
(ii) P
UBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY 22
DURING AND AFTER FIRE .—Activities that 23
better protect public health and safety dur-24
ing and after a fire, including mapping 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 39
•HR 1923 IH
services and data provision to support 1
evacuation decisions in communities at risk 2
and air quality monitoring and forecast 3
data to support health risk information 4
that helps protect the public from smoke 5
impacts associated with fire. 6
(iii) F
IRE RESPONSE AND MANAGE -7
MENT.—Fire response and management, 8
including— 9
(I) response preparedness and 10
initial attack readiness for new fires; 11
(II) deployment of response re-12
sources; and 13
(III) firefighter movement deci-14
sions during active fire management. 15
(iv) P
OSTFIRE ACTIVITIES.—Postfire 16
activities, including— 17
(I) vegetation recovery; 18
(II) debris flows and flooding; 19
(III) watershed protection; and 20
(IV) ecosystem health. 21
(C) C
OORDINATION OF FUNCTIONS .—The 22
Administrator of the National Oceanic and At-23
mospheric Administration, in coordination with 24
each of the agencies specified in subparagraphs 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 40
•HR 1923 IH
(B) through (J) of subsection (c)(1), shall oper-1
ate as a collective entity to produce accessible 2
products and services for a variety of users and 3
uses in fire management, including by— 4
(i) developing timely, manager-focused 5
models, technologies, assessments, and 6
forecasts to support fire operational deci-7
sionmaking, and short- and long-term fire 8
planning; and 9
(ii) integrating the existing specialties 10
of the constituent land management, com-11
munity preparedness, and public health 12
agencies. 13
(2) T
ECHNOLOGICAL COMMON OPERATING EN -14
VIRONMENT.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Joint Office shall 16
develop a technological common operating envi-17
ronment for practitioners across the spectrum 18
of risk mitigation, prescribed fire, response, and 19
postdisaster response to shepherd the creation 20
of highly dynamic decision support tools. 21
(B) P
UBLIC HEALTH INFORMATION .—The 22
Joint Office shall ensure that public health in-23
formation that is essential to integrate into this 24
common operating environment is provided to 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 41
•HR 1923 IH
ensure its products accurately reflect the depth 1
and breadth of the wildfire issues. Information 2
provided shall include air quality data and fore-3
casts and information pertaining to the built 4
environment. 5
(c) B
OARD OF THEJOINTOFFICE.— 6
(1) N
UMBER AND APPOINTMENT .—The Joint 7
Office shall be governed by a board, comprised of 12 8
members, as follows: 9
(A) One member who is a career employee 10
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-11
ministration, appointed by the Administrator of 12
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-13
istration. 14
(B) One member who is a career employee 15
of the United States Fire Administration, ap-16
pointed by the Administrator of the United 17
States Fire Administration. 18
(C) One member who is a career employee 19
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 20
appointed by the Administrator of the Federal 21
Emergency Management Agency. 22
(D) One member who is a career employee 23
of the National Weather Service, appointed by 24
the Director of the National Weather Service. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 42
•HR 1923 IH
(E) One member who is a career employee 1
of the Forest Service, appointed by the Chief of 2
the Forest Service. 3
(F) One member who is a career employee 4
of the Department of the Interior, appointed by 5
the Secretary of the Interior. 6
(G) One member who is a career employee 7
of the Bureau of Land Management, appointed 8
by the Director of the Bureau of Land Manage-9
ment. 10
(H) One member who is a career employee 11
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, appointed by 12
the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 13
(I) One member who is a career employee 14
of the National Park Service, appointed by the 15
Director of the National Park Service. 16
(J) One member who is a career employee 17
of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 18
appointed by the Director of the United States 19
Fish and Wildlife Service. 20
(K) Two members who are non-Federal 21
representatives of the wildfire community, ap-22
pointed by the Board. Their initial terms can be 23
1 year each. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 43
•HR 1923 IH
(L) Two members who are State represen-1
tations of the wildfire community, appointed by 2
the Board. Their initial terms can be 1 year 3
each. 4
(2) T
ERMS.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Each member shall be 6
appointed for a term of 5 years, except as pro-7
vided in paragraphs (2) and (3). 8
(B) T
ERMS OF INITIAL APPOINTEES .—Of 9
the members first appointed— 10
(i) the members appointed under sub-11
paragraphs (I), (J), and (K) of paragraph 12
(1) shall be appointed for terms of 1 year; 13
(ii) the members appointed under sub-14
paragraphs (D) and (G) of paragraph (1) 15
shall be appointed for terms of 2 years; 16
(iii) the members appointed under 17
subparagraphs (F) and (H) of paragraph 18
(1) shall be appointed for terms of 3 years; 19
and 20
(iv) the members appointed under 21
subparagraphs (C) and (E) of paragraph 22
(1) shall be appointed for terms of 4 years. 23
(C) V
ACANCIES.—Any member appointed 24
to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 44
•HR 1923 IH
of the term for which the member’s predecessor 1
was appointed shall be appointed only for the 2
remainder of that term. A member may serve 3
after the expiration of that member’s term until 4
a successor has taken office. A vacancy in the 5
Board shall be filled in the manner in which the 6
original appointment was made. 7
(3) P
ROHIBITION OF COMPENSATION OF FED -8
ERAL EMPLOYEES.—Members of the Board who are 9
career employees of the United States may not re-10
ceive additional pay, allowances, or benefits by rea-11
son of their service on the Board. 12
(4) T
RAVEL EXPENSES .—Each member shall 13
receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of 14
subsistence, in accordance with applicable provisions 15
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 16
States Code. 17
(5) Q
UORUM.—Nine members of the Board 18
shall constitute a quorum. 19
(6) C
HAIRPERSON; VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The 20
Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Board 21
shall be elected by the members of the Board. The 22
term of office of the Chairperson and Vice Chair-23
person shall be 1 year. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 45
•HR 1923 IH
(7) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at least 1
quarterly and at a call of a majority of its members. 2
(d) D
IRECTOR ANDSTAFF OFJOINTOFFICE; EX-3
PERTS ANDCONSULTANTS.— 4
(1) D
IRECTOR.—The Joint Office shall have a 5
Director who shall be appointed by the Board. To 6
the extent or in the amounts provided in advance in 7
appropriation Acts, the Director shall be paid at a 8
rate of basic pay not to exceed the rate of basic pay 9
for level II of the Executive Schedule. The budget 10
and decisionmaking authority for the Joint Office is 11
vested in the Director. 12
(2) C
HIEF INFORMATION OFFICER , CHIEF FI-13
NANCIAL OFFICER, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER , 14
AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER .—With the ap-15
proval of the Board, the Director may appoint a 16
Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, 17
Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Operating Offi-18
cer. 19
(3) S
TAFF.—With the approval of the Board, 20
the Director may appoint at least 100 personnel and 21
may appoint such additional personnel as the Direc-22
tor considers appropriate. 23
(4) A
PPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN CIVIL SERVICE 24
LAWS.—The Director and staff of the Joint Office 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 46
•HR 1923 IH
shall be appointed subject to the provisions of title 1
5, United States Code, governing appointments in 2
the competitive service, and shall be paid in accord-3
ance with the provisions of chapter 51 and sub-4
chapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to 5
classification and General Schedule pay rates. 6
(5) E
XPERTS AND CONSULTANTS .—With the 7
approval of the Joint Office, the Director may pro-8
cure temporary and intermittent services under sec-9
tion 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, but at 10
rates for individuals not to exceed the daily equiva-11
lent of the maximum annual rate of basic pay under 12
the General Schedule. 13
(6) S
TAFF OF FEDERAL AGENCIES .—Upon re-14
quest of the Director, the head of any Federal de-15
partment or agency may detail, on a reimbursable 16
basis, any of the personnel of that department or 17
agency to the Joint Office to assist it in carrying out 18
its duties under this Act. 19
(e) C
ONTRACTAUTHORITY.—The Joint Office may 20
contract with and compensate government and private 21
agencies or persons for supplies and services. 22
(f) C
ONSULTATION.—In carrying out its functions 23
under this section, the Joint Office is encouraged to con-24
sult with and share relevant data with the Environmental 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 47
•HR 1923 IH
Protection Agency, the National Aeronautical and Space 1
Agency, the United States Geological Survey, and the Cen-2
ters for Disease Control and Prevention. 3
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 4
following definitions shall apply: 5
(1) J
OINT OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Joint Office’’ 6
means the Joint Office of the Fire Environment 7
Center established under subsection (a)(1). 8
(2) B
OARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 9
Board of the Joint Office established by subsection 10
(c). 11
(3) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 12
the Director of the Joint Office required by sub-13
section (d). 14
(h) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 15
authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of the 16
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 17
carry out this section $150,000,000 for each of fiscal 18
years 2026 through 2035. 19
SEC. 406. INTERAGENCY DATA COLLABORATION ENVIRON-20
MENT (REPORT RECOMMENDATION 107). 21
(a) E
XPANSION OF INFORMATION SYSTEM.—Not 22
later than a 1 year after the date of the enactment of 23
this Act, the Administrator of the United States Fire Ad-24
ministration shall expand the National Emergency Re-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 48
•HR 1923 IH
sponse Information System to include real-time informa-1
tion and analytics tools relating to prescribed fires as well 2
as wildfires that do not impact structures and infrastruc-3
ture. The expansion of this system shall be compatible 4
with, and shared with, existing wildland fire information 5
collection at the Fire Environment Center established 6
under section 405. 7
(b) W
ILDFIREDIGITALDATACENTER.— 8
(1) C
REATION.—The Administrator of the 9
United States Fire Administration shall create a 10
data center to be known as the ‘‘Wildfire Digital 11
Data Center’’. The Wildfire Digital Data Center 12
shall be a public, government, scientific research 13
data catalog and repository available to assist the 14
wildfire communities research and share data. 15
(2) D
ATA AND MODELING COLLABORATION EN -16
VIRONMENT.—The Wildfire Digital Data Center 17
shall provide a data and modeling collaboration envi-18
ronment for researchers across the wildfire commu-19
nity to engage with data across agencies and dis-20
ciplines. 21
(3) O
PEN ACCESS.—The Administrator shall 22
ensure that the Wildfire Digital Data Center is in 23
compliance with the guidance on public access poli-24
cies as specified in the Memorandum from the Office 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 49
•HR 1923 IH
of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive 1
Office of the President that was issued on August 2
25, 2022. 3
(4) I
NFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN WILD -4
FIRE DIGITAL DATA CENTER REPOSITORY .—The 5
Wildfire Digital Data Center shall include in its re-6
pository information on the following areas: 7
(A) Outcomes and impacts of wildfire and 8
associated management actions. 9
(B) Real-time data on new fire starts. 10
(C) The effectiveness of wildfire risk miti-11
gation measures. 12
(D) Public health research related to 13
wildland fire and fires in the built environment. 14
(5) I
NFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED ON 15
WEBSITE.—The Administrator of the United States 16
Fire Administration shall coordinate with the Sec-17
retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of 18
the Forest Service, to include on the publicly acces-19
sible website of the Wildfire Digital Data Center— 20
(A) information on postwildfire impacts 21
and State and Federal programs and funding 22
opportunities to address such impacts; 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 50
•HR 1923 IH
(B) State and Federal best practices relat-1
ing to the short- and long-term mitigation of 2
wildfire; and 3
(C) with respect to wildfire, information on 4
ecological recovery, assessment science, and 5
State and Federal emergency declaration proc-6
esses. 7
(6) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in this 8
section shall be construed to affect the ownership of 9
individual agencies over their data sources. 10
(c) F
INDABLE, ACCESSIBLE, INTEROPERABLE, AND 11
R
EUSABLEREQUIREMENT.— 12
(1) A
CCESS REQUIREMENT FOR U .S. DEPART-13
MENT OF THE INTERIOR LIBRARY ALONG WITH THE 14
NATIONAL EMERGENCY TRAINING CENTER LIBRARY 15
AND NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE LIBRARY .— 16
Through the Wildfire Digital Data Center, the U.S. 17
Department of the Interior Library along with the 18
National Emergency Training Center Library and 19
National Forest Service Library shall provide serv-20
ices to make federally funded wildland and struc-21
tural fire research data systems and data products 22
findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable 23
(FAIR). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 51
•HR 1923 IH
(2) The services required by subparagraph (A) 1
shall be integrated with the National Emergency Re-2
sponse Information System of the United States 3
Fire Administration to better collect data and model 4
the built environment. 5
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 6
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 7
$15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035. 8
SEC. 407. REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO PAYMENT TIMING 9
FOR CERTAIN PROGRAMS ADDRESSING 10
WILDFIRE DAMAGES (REPORT REC-11
OMMENDATION 61). 12
(a) E
MERGENCYFORESTRESTORATIONPROGRAM.— 13
Section 407(b) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 14
U.S.C. 2206) is amended— 15
(1) by striking ‘‘The’’ and inserting the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The’’; and 18
(2) by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘(2) P
AYMENTS FOR EMERGENCY MEASURES 20
TO ADDRESS WILDFIRE .—In the case of an applica-21
tion for a payment by an owner of nonindustrial pri-22
vate forest land who carries out emergency measures 23
to restore the land after the land is damaged by a 24
wildfire, if the Secretary approves such application, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 52
•HR 1923 IH
the Secretary shall provide payment to such owner 1
not later than 90 days after the date on which the 2
application was submitted to the Secretary.’’. 3
(b) E
MERGENCYWATERSHEDPROGRAM.—Section 4
403 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 5
2203) is amended by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(c) P
AYMENTS FOREMERGENCYWATERSHEDPRO-7
TECTIONMEASURESTOADDRESSWILDFIREDAMAGE.— 8
In the case of an application for a payment for emergency 9
watershed protection measures addressing a sudden im-10
pairment of a watershed caused by a wildfire, if the Sec-11
retary approves such application, the Secretary shall pro-12
vide such payment not later than 90 days after the date 13
on which the application was submitted to the Secretary.’’. 14
(c) C
OMMUNITYFACILITIESDIRECTLOAN AND 15
G
RANTPROGRAMS.— 16
(1) D
IRECT LOAN PROGRAM .—Section 17
306(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De-18
velopment Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(19)) is amended 19
by adding at the end the following: ‘‘If the Secretary 20
approves an application for an essential community 21
facilities loan under this paragraph that is submitted 22
by an owner of nonindustrial private forest land (as 23
defined in section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act 24
of 1978) who carries out emergency measures (as 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 53
•HR 1923 IH
defined in such section) to restore the land after the 1
land is damaged by a wildfire and the Secretary ap-2
proves the application, the Secretary shall provide 3
the loan to the owner within 90 days after date the 4
application is submitted.’’ 5
(2) G
RANT PROGRAM.—Section 306(a)(19) of 6
such Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(19)) is amended by add-7
ing at the end the following: 8
‘‘(C) P
AYMENTS FOR EMERGENCY MEAS -9
URES TO ADDRESS WILDFIRE .—If the Secretary 10
approves an application for a grant under this 11
paragraph that is submitted by an owner of 12
nonindustrial private forest land (as defined in 13
section 407 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 14
1978) who carries out emergency measures (as 15
defined in such section) to restore the land 16
after the land is damaged by a wildfire and the 17
Secretary approves the application, the Sec-18
retary shall provide the grant to the owner 19
within 90 days after date the application is sub-20
mitted.’’. 21
(d) D
ISASTERRELIEF AND MITIGATIONPRO-22
GRAMS.—The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 23
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is 24
amended— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 54
•HR 1923 IH
(1) in section 203, by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(m) A
SSISTANCE FORWILDFIREMITIGATION.—If 3
the President approves an application for financial assist-4
ance under this section to implement predisaster hazard 5
mitigation measures related to the mitigation of wildfires, 6
the President shall provide such assistance within 90 days 7
after the date such application is submitted.’’; 8
(2) in section 404, by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(h) A
SSISTANCE FORWILDFIREMITIGATION.—If 11
the President approves an application for hazard mitiga-12
tion assistance under this section that is related to the 13
mitigation of wildfires, the President shall provide such 14
assistance within 90 days after the date such application 15
is submitted.’’; 16
(3) in section 407(e), by adding at the end the 17
following: 18
‘‘(3) P
AYMENTS RELATED TO WILDFIRE .—Not-19
withstanding the requirements of paragraphs (1) 20
and (2), if the President approves an application for 21
a grant under this section to remove debris or 22
wreckage resulting from a wildfire, such grant shall 23
be paid in full no later than the date that is 90 days 24
after the last day such wildfire occurred.’’. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 55
•HR 1923 IH
(4) in section 408— 1
(A) by redesignating subsections (i) and (j) 2
as subsections (j) and (k), respectively; and 3
(B) by inserting after subsection (h) the 4
following: 5
‘‘(i) P
AYMENTSRELATED TO WILDFIRE.—If the 6
President approves an application for financial assistance 7
under this section for necessary expenses or serious needs 8
related to a wildfire, the President shall provide such as-9
sistance within 90 days after the last day such wildfire 10
occurred.’’. 11
(e) S
MALLBUSINESSADMINISTRATIONDISASTER 12
L
OANPROGRAM.—The Small Business Administration 13
Disaster Loan program under Section 7(b) of the Small 14
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended— 15
(1) by redesignating the second paragraph (16) 16
(relating to statute of limitations) as paragraph 17
(17); and 18
(2) by inserting after paragraph (17) (as so re-19
designated), the following new paragraph: 20
‘‘(18) E
MERGENCY MEASURES TO ADDRESS 21
WILDFIRE.—If the Administrator approves an appli-22
cation for a loan under this subsection that is sub-23
mitted by an owner of nonindustrial private forest 24
land (as defined in section 407 of the Agricultural 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 56
•HR 1923 IH
Credit Act of 1978) who carries out emergency 1
measures (as defined in such section) to restore the 2
land after the land is damaged by a wildfire, the Ad-3
ministrator shall ensure that such loan is disbursed 4
not later than 90 days after date of such approval.’’. 5
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:10 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1923.IH H1923
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS