Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB582 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 582
55 To establish a community protection and wildfire resilience grant program,
66 and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY21, 2025
99 Mr. H
1010 UFFMAN(for himself and Mr. OBERNOLTE) introduced the following
1111 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
1212 nology, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Ag-
1313 riculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
1414 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
1515 tion of the committee concerned
1616 A BILL
1717 To establish a community protection and wildfire resilience
1818 grant program, and for other purposes.
1919 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2020 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2121 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2222 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Protection 4
2323 and Wildfire Resilience Act’’. 5
2424 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
2525 In this Act: 7
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2929 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
3030 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2
3131 Emergency Management Agency. 3
3232 (2) C
3333 HIEF.—The term ‘‘Chief’’ means the Chief 4
3434 of the Forest Service. 5
3535 (3) C
3636 OMMUNITY PROTECTION AND WILDFIRE 6
3737 RESILIENCE PLAN.—The term ‘‘community protec-7
3838 tion and wildfire resilience plan’’ means a plan 8
3939 that— 9
4040 (A) is developed by an eligible entity in co-10
4141 ordination with— 11
4242 (i) the local community and govern-12
4343 ment; 13
4444 (ii) local Indian Tribes; 14
4545 (iii) local law enforcement, fire-15
4646 fighters, first responders, fire managers, 16
4747 and utilities; 17
4848 (iv) non-governmental organizations 18
4949 carrying out relevant projects or relevant 19
5050 operations locally; and 20
5151 (v) State agencies responsible for— 21
5252 (I) fire prevention and emergency 22
5353 response; 23
5454 (II) other emergency response; 24
5555 (III) public safety; 25
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5959 (IV) environmental protection; 1
6060 and 2
6161 (V) forest management. 3
6262 (B) includes strategies and activities relat-4
6363 ing to— 5
6464 (i) improving early detection tech-6
6565 nology, public outreach and education, 7
6666 alerts and warnings, evacuation planning, 8
6767 evacuation execution, and access for first 9
6868 responders; 10
6969 (ii) addressing vulnerable populations, 11
7070 including the elderly, children, individuals 12
7171 with disabilities, and homeless individuals; 13
7272 (iii) hardening and increasing the re-14
7373 siliency of critical infrastructure and 15
7474 homes, including through incentive pro-16
7575 grams; 17
7676 (iv) applying community-scale defen-18
7777 sible space projects, developed collabo-19
7878 ratively with the entities described in 20
7979 clauses (i) through (iii) of subparagraph 21
8080 (A), across contiguous areas; 22
8181 (v) building local capacity to imple-23
8282 ment and oversee the plan; 24
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8686 (vi) implementing strategic land use 1
8787 planning; 2
8888 (vii) educating community members 3
8989 about ways to improve community resil-4
9090 ience; 5
9191 (viii) coordinating any existing wild-6
9292 fire plans, such as a community wildfire 7
9393 protection plan or a community emergency 8
9494 evacuation plan; and 9
9595 (ix) incorporating information from a 10
9696 map generated pursuant to section 210(a) 11
9797 of division O of the Consolidated Appro-12
9898 priations Act, 2018 (16 U.S.C. 6501 note; 13
9999 Public Law 115–141); and 14
100100 (C) may consist of existing plans or other 15
101101 efforts, provided that any such plan complies 16
102102 with subparagraphs (A) and (B). 17
103103 (4) C
104104 RITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 18
105105 ‘‘critical infrastructure’’ means any public safety, 19
106106 health, education, transportation, communications, 20
107107 or water or power utility infrastructure or any pri-21
108108 vate infrastructure necessary to preserve community 22
109109 safety, resilience, or continuity of operation of such 23
110110 infrastructure with respect to a wildfire threat. 24
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114114 (5) DEFENSIBLE SPACE PROJECT .—The term 1
115115 ‘‘defensible space project’’— 2
116116 (A) means a project that is conducted 3
117117 within a radius of not more than 100 feet 4
118118 around a home, business, or administrative fa-5
119119 cility, and is comprised of vegetation pruning, 6
120120 such as annual removal of tree seedlings and 7
121121 saplings, lower limbs of mature trees, cutting of 8
122122 grasses and reducing density and continuity of 9
123123 shrubs, and removal of most small twigs and 10
124124 leaves; or 11
125125 (B) at the discretion of the Administrator, 12
126126 if a project funded under the program is being 13
127127 carried out in a State that has established, by 14
128128 law, a more restrictive definition of the term, 15
129129 has the meaning given the term in State law. 16
130130 (6) E
131131 LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-17
132132 ty’’ means— 18
133133 (A) a State; 19
134134 (B) an Indian Tribe; 20
135135 (C) a unit of general local or regional gov-21
136136 ernment, including a fire protection district or 22
137137 a municipal fire department; 23
138138 (D) a volunteer fire department; or 24
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142142 (E) a collaborative effort of not less than 1
143143 2 entities described in subparagraphs (A) 2
144144 through (D). 3
145145 (7) P
146146 ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 4
147147 the grant program established under section 3(a). 5
148148 (8) S
149149 TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State 6
150150 of the United States, the District of Columbia, 7
151151 Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American 8
152152 Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 9
153153 other territory or possession of the United States. 10
154154 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY PROTECTION AND WILDFIRE RESIL-11
155155 IENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 12
156156 (a) E
157157 STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 13
158158 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, act-14
159159 ing through the United States Fire Administrator and in 15
160160 coordination with the Chief, shall establish a program, 16
161161 which shall be separate from the program established 17
162162 under section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-18
163163 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133), 19
164164 under which the Administrator shall award grants to eligi-20
165165 ble entities to— 21
166166 (1) in the case of an eligible entity that has a 22
167167 community protection and wildfire resilience plan, 23
168168 carry out projects described in the community pro-24
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172172 tection and wildfire resilience plan of the eligible en-1
173173 tity in accordance with subsection (c); or 2
174174 (2) in the case of an eligible entity that does 3
175175 not have a community protection and wildfire resil-4
176176 ience plan, develop a community protection and wild-5
177177 fire resilience plan in accordance with subsection (d). 6
178178 (b) C
179179 RITERIA FORGRANTS.— 7
180180 (1) I
181181 N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 8
182182 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, 9
183183 acting through the United States Fire Administrator 10
184184 and in coordination with the Chief, shall establish 11
185185 criteria to award grants under the program. 12
186186 (2) C
187187 OMMUNITIES.—Amounts provided under 13
188188 the program shall be used to conduct projects and 14
189189 activities only in communities in existence on the 15
190190 date of enactment of this Act. 16
191191 (3) P
192192 RIORITY.—In awarding grants under the 17
193193 program, the Administrator shall give priority to eli-18
194194 gible entities that will carry out projects or plans 19
195195 supporting a community located in an area with a 20
196196 high risk for fire or wildfire, as evidenced by a State 21
197197 wildfire hazard map or a map generated pursuant to 22
198198 section 210(a) of division O of the Consolidated Ap-23
199199 propriations Act, 2018 (16 U.S.C. 6501 note; Public 24
200200 Law 115–141). 25
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204204 (c) COMMUNITYPROTECTION ANDWILDFIRERESIL-1
205205 IENCEGRANTS.— 2
206206 (1) U
207207 SE OF GRANT FUNDS .—An eligible entity 3
208208 that receives a grant under the program must use 4
209209 grant funds to carry out projects that support a di-5
210210 verse portfolio of community protection and wildfire 6
211211 resilience strategies described in the community pro-7
212212 tection and wildfire resilience plan of the eligible en-8
213213 tity. 9
214214 (2) G
215215 RANT AMOUNTS.—A grant under this sub-10
216216 section shall be for not more than $10,000,000. 11
217217 (d) C
218218 OMMUNITYPROTECTION ANDWILDFIRERESIL-12
219219 IENCEPLANDEVELOPMENTGRANTS.— 13
220220 (1) U
221221 SE OF GRANT FUNDS .—An eligible entity 14
222222 that receives a grant under the program may use 15
223223 grant funds to develop a community protection and 16
224224 wildfire resilience plan for the eligible entity. 17
225225 (2) G
226226 RANT AMOUNTS.—An award under this 18
227227 subsection shall be for not more than $250,000. 19
228228 (e) P
229229 REFERENCE FOR LOCALCONTRACTORS AND 20
230230 L
231231 ABOR.—In carrying out a project using a grant awarded 21
232232 under the program, the grant recipient shall, to the max-22
233233 imum extent practicable, give preference to contracting 23
234234 with entities, and hiring individuals, from the area in 24
235235 which the project is being carried out, including by 25
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239239 partnering with local corps groups such as AmeriCorps or 1
240240 a conservation corps. 2
241241 (f) C
242242 OST-SHARING.— 3
243243 (1) N
244244 ON-FEDERAL SHARE REQUIREMENT .—The 4
245245 non-Federal share of the cost (including the admin-5
246246 istrative cost) of carrying out a project using funds 6
247247 from a grant awarded under the program— 7
248248 (A)(i) shall be not less than 25 percent of 8
249249 the cost of the project to be carried out using 9
250250 grant funds in accordance with subsection (c); 10
251251 and 11
252252 (ii) shall be 0 percent of the cost of the 12
253253 project to be carried out using grant funds in 13
254254 accordance with subsection (d); 14
255255 (B) may be provided by— 15
256256 (i) a State, a unit of local government, 16
257257 an Indian Tribe, a nonprofit organization, 17
258258 private industry, or a combination of those 18
259259 entities; or 19
260260 (ii) volunteer hours and in-kind dona-20
261261 tions; and 21
262262 (C) may, in the case of a project that 22
263263 serves a low-income community, be in the form 23
264264 of a low-interest Federal loan to the eligible en-24
265265 tity carrying out the project through the Com-25
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269269 munity Disaster Loan program authorized 1
270270 under section 417 of the Robert T. Stafford 2
271271 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 3
272272 (42 U.S.C. 5184). 4
273273 (2) W
274274 AIVER; REDUCTION.—In carrying out the 5
275275 program, the Administrator may waive or reduce the 6
276276 non-Federal share amount required under paragraph 7
277277 (1). 8
278278 (g) A
279279 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
280280 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the pro-10
281281 gram $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 11
282282 through 2029. 12
283283 SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT. 13
284284 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 14
285285 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 15
286286 shall publish a report— 16
287287 (1) on authorities and programs of the Federal 17
288288 Government that are available to protect commu-18
289289 nities from wildfires; and 19
290290 (2) that includes an assessment of the Comp-20
291291 troller General with respect to impediments to the 21
292292 implementation of such programs, including gaps in 22
293293 funding. 23
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297297 SEC. 5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY. 1
298298 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2
299299 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 3
300300 shall publish a study that includes— 4
301301 (1) an assessment of the Comptroller General 5
302302 with respect to— 6
303303 (A) the potential for a community protec-7
304304 tion and wildfire resilience plan to qualify for a 8
305305 certification identifying a level of wildfire sur-9
306306 vivability and resilience; and 10
307307 (B) methods that could be used by the 11
308308 Federal Government to incentivize insurance 12
309309 companies to accept such a certification; and 13
310310 (2) an identification of any metrics that could 14
311311 be provided to insurance companies as assurance 15
312312 that a community has wildfire resilience measures in 16
313313 place. 17
314314 SEC. 6. UPDATING LIST OF AT-RISK COMMUNITIES. 18
315315 (a) I
316316 NGENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 19
317317 101(1) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 20
318318 (16 U.S.C. 6511(1)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 21
319319 ‘‘(A) that is comprised of a group of homes 22
320320 and other structures with basic infrastructure 23
321321 and services (such as utilities and collectively 24
322322 maintained transportation routes) within or ad-25
323323 jacent to Federal land;’’. 26
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327327 (b) MAP.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 1
328328 enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the 2
329329 Administrator, acting through the United States Fire Ad-3
330330 ministrator and in coordination with the Chief, shall de-4
331331 velop and publish a map depicting at-risk communities (as 5
332332 defined in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration 6
333333 Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511), as amended by this sec-7
334334 tion), including Tribal at-risk communities. 8
335335 SEC. 7. REPORT ON RADIO COMMUNICATIONS. 9
336336 (a) I
337337 NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 10
338338 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, acting 11
339339 through the United States Fire Administrator and in co-12
340340 ordination with the Chief, shall prepare a report relating 13
341341 to insufficient radio frequencies, barriers to interoper-14
342342 ability of radio frequencies, and available products and 15
343343 technologies for overcoming barriers to interoperability for 16
344344 wildfire management. 17
345345 (b) C
346346 OOPERATION.—In preparing the report under 18
347347 subsection (a), the Administrator shall cooperate with— 19
348348 (1) the Secretary of Agriculture; 20
349349 (2) agencies responsible for the management of 21
350350 Federal land; 22
351351 (3) State fire marshals; 23
352352 (4) State and local emergency response agen-24
353353 cies; 25
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357357 (5) Tribal fire departments and emergency 1
358358 managers; and 2
359359 (6) municipal fire departments, fire protection 3
360360 districts, and volunteer fire departments in relevant 4
361361 communities. 5
362362 (c) C
363363 OMPATIBILITY; ADDITIONALFREQUENCIES.— 6
364364 The report under subsection (a) shall include— 7
365365 (1) a determination on whether the entities de-8
366366 scribed in subsection (b) have the ability to commu-9
367367 nicate by way of radio during a potential fire sup-10
368368 pression effort for a community conflagration; 11
369369 (2) a determination on whether— 12
370370 (A) the reserved radio frequencies are suf-13
371371 ficient for wildfire management; or 14
372372 (B) additional frequencies, listed by type 15
373373 and location, are recommended to be reserved 16
374374 or obtained; 17
375375 (3) an analysis of commercially available tech-18
376376 nology and products to enable radios from multiple 19
377377 agencies operating on different radio frequencies to 20
378378 be interoperable; and 21
379379 (4) if the Administrator determines under para-22
380380 graph (1) that any entities do not have the ability 23
381381 to communicate, a plan for ensuring such entities 24
382382 would be able to communicate adequately during a 25
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386386 fire suppression effort for a community conflagra-1
387387 tion. 2
388388 SEC. 8. AMENDMENT TO COMMUNITY WILDFIRE DEFENSE 3
389389 GRANT PROGRAM TO ALLOW STRUCTURE 4
390390 HARDENING. 5
391391 Section 40803(f) of the Infrastructure Investment 6
392392 and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(f)) is amended— 7
393393 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘projects’’ 8
394394 and inserting ‘‘projects (including covered 9
395395 projects)’’; and 10
396396 (2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 11
397397 following new subparagraph: 12
398398 ‘‘(D) C
399399 OVERED PROJECTS DEFINED .—In 13
400400 this subsection, the term ‘covered projects’ 14
401401 means the following: 15
402402 ‘‘(i) The construction, modification, or 16
403403 maintenance of a structure to make the 17
404404 structure resistant to the intrusion of 18
405405 flames or embers. 19
406406 ‘‘(ii) The modification of a structure 20
407407 or an area adjacent to a structure, (includ-21
408408 ing vegetation and miscellaneous struc-22
409409 tures, such as garages, sheds, and fencing) 23
410410 if such modification is carried out— 24
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414414 ‘‘(I) to reduce the exposure of the 1
415415 structure to direct contact from flame, 2
416416 radiation, or embers from wildfire; 3
417417 and 4
418418 ‘‘(II) with consideration for the 5
419419 potential effects on the structure of 6
420420 nearby combustible features (including 7
421421 vegetation, vehicles, and miscellaneous 8
422422 structures, such as garages, sheds, 9
423423 and fencing).’’. 10
424424 Æ
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