I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 582
To establish a community protection and wildfire resilience grant program,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY21, 2025
Mr. H
UFFMAN(for himself and Mr. OBERNOLTE) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
nology, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Ag-
riculture, 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 establish a community protection and wildfire resilience
grant program, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Community Protection 4
and Wildfire Resilience Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2
Emergency Management Agency. 3
(2) C
HIEF.—The term ‘‘Chief’’ means the Chief 4
of the Forest Service. 5
(3) C
OMMUNITY PROTECTION AND WILDFIRE 6
RESILIENCE PLAN.—The term ‘‘community protec-7
tion and wildfire resilience plan’’ means a plan 8
that— 9
(A) is developed by an eligible entity in co-10
ordination with— 11
(i) the local community and govern-12
ment; 13
(ii) local Indian Tribes; 14
(iii) local law enforcement, fire-15
fighters, first responders, fire managers, 16
and utilities; 17
(iv) non-governmental organizations 18
carrying out relevant projects or relevant 19
operations locally; and 20
(v) State agencies responsible for— 21
(I) fire prevention and emergency 22
response; 23
(II) other emergency response; 24
(III) public safety; 25
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(IV) environmental protection; 1
and 2
(V) forest management. 3
(B) includes strategies and activities relat-4
ing to— 5
(i) improving early detection tech-6
nology, public outreach and education, 7
alerts and warnings, evacuation planning, 8
evacuation execution, and access for first 9
responders; 10
(ii) addressing vulnerable populations, 11
including the elderly, children, individuals 12
with disabilities, and homeless individuals; 13
(iii) hardening and increasing the re-14
siliency of critical infrastructure and 15
homes, including through incentive pro-16
grams; 17
(iv) applying community-scale defen-18
sible space projects, developed collabo-19
ratively with the entities described in 20
clauses (i) through (iii) of subparagraph 21
(A), across contiguous areas; 22
(v) building local capacity to imple-23
ment and oversee the plan; 24
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(vi) implementing strategic land use 1
planning; 2
(vii) educating community members 3
about ways to improve community resil-4
ience; 5
(viii) coordinating any existing wild-6
fire plans, such as a community wildfire 7
protection plan or a community emergency 8
evacuation plan; and 9
(ix) incorporating information from a 10
map generated pursuant to section 210(a) 11
of division O of the Consolidated Appro-12
priations Act, 2018 (16 U.S.C. 6501 note; 13
Public Law 115–141); and 14
(C) may consist of existing plans or other 15
efforts, provided that any such plan complies 16
with subparagraphs (A) and (B). 17
(4) C
RITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 18
‘‘critical infrastructure’’ means any public safety, 19
health, education, transportation, communications, 20
or water or power utility infrastructure or any pri-21
vate infrastructure necessary to preserve community 22
safety, resilience, or continuity of operation of such 23
infrastructure with respect to a wildfire threat. 24
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(5) DEFENSIBLE SPACE PROJECT .—The term 1
‘‘defensible space project’’— 2
(A) means a project that is conducted 3
within a radius of not more than 100 feet 4
around a home, business, or administrative fa-5
cility, and is comprised of vegetation pruning, 6
such as annual removal of tree seedlings and 7
saplings, lower limbs of mature trees, cutting of 8
grasses and reducing density and continuity of 9
shrubs, and removal of most small twigs and 10
leaves; or 11
(B) at the discretion of the Administrator, 12
if a project funded under the program is being 13
carried out in a State that has established, by 14
law, a more restrictive definition of the term, 15
has the meaning given the term in State law. 16
(6) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-17
ty’’ means— 18
(A) a State; 19
(B) an Indian Tribe; 20
(C) a unit of general local or regional gov-21
ernment, including a fire protection district or 22
a municipal fire department; 23
(D) a volunteer fire department; or 24
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(E) a collaborative effort of not less than 1
2 entities described in subparagraphs (A) 2
through (D). 3
(7) P
ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 4
the grant program established under section 3(a). 5
(8) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State 6
of the United States, the District of Columbia, 7
Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American 8
Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 9
other territory or possession of the United States. 10
SEC. 3. COMMUNITY PROTECTION AND WILDFIRE RESIL-11
IENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 12
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 13
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, act-14
ing through the United States Fire Administrator and in 15
coordination with the Chief, shall establish a program, 16
which shall be separate from the program established 17
under section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-18
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133), 19
under which the Administrator shall award grants to eligi-20
ble entities to— 21
(1) in the case of an eligible entity that has a 22
community protection and wildfire resilience plan, 23
carry out projects described in the community pro-24
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tection and wildfire resilience plan of the eligible en-1
tity in accordance with subsection (c); or 2
(2) in the case of an eligible entity that does 3
not have a community protection and wildfire resil-4
ience plan, develop a community protection and wild-5
fire resilience plan in accordance with subsection (d). 6
(b) C
RITERIA FORGRANTS.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 8
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, 9
acting through the United States Fire Administrator 10
and in coordination with the Chief, shall establish 11
criteria to award grants under the program. 12
(2) C
OMMUNITIES.—Amounts provided under 13
the program shall be used to conduct projects and 14
activities only in communities in existence on the 15
date of enactment of this Act. 16
(3) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under the 17
program, the Administrator shall give priority to eli-18
gible entities that will carry out projects or plans 19
supporting a community located in an area with a 20
high risk for fire or wildfire, as evidenced by a State 21
wildfire hazard map or a map generated pursuant to 22
section 210(a) of division O of the Consolidated Ap-23
propriations Act, 2018 (16 U.S.C. 6501 note; Public 24
Law 115–141). 25
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(c) COMMUNITYPROTECTION ANDWILDFIRERESIL-1
IENCEGRANTS.— 2
(1) U
SE OF GRANT FUNDS .—An eligible entity 3
that receives a grant under the program must use 4
grant funds to carry out projects that support a di-5
verse portfolio of community protection and wildfire 6
resilience strategies described in the community pro-7
tection and wildfire resilience plan of the eligible en-8
tity. 9
(2) G
RANT AMOUNTS.—A grant under this sub-10
section shall be for not more than $10,000,000. 11
(d) C
OMMUNITYPROTECTION ANDWILDFIRERESIL-12
IENCEPLANDEVELOPMENTGRANTS.— 13
(1) U
SE OF GRANT FUNDS .—An eligible entity 14
that receives a grant under the program may use 15
grant funds to develop a community protection and 16
wildfire resilience plan for the eligible entity. 17
(2) G
RANT AMOUNTS.—An award under this 18
subsection shall be for not more than $250,000. 19
(e) P
REFERENCE FOR LOCALCONTRACTORS AND 20
L
ABOR.—In carrying out a project using a grant awarded 21
under the program, the grant recipient shall, to the max-22
imum extent practicable, give preference to contracting 23
with entities, and hiring individuals, from the area in 24
which the project is being carried out, including by 25
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partnering with local corps groups such as AmeriCorps or 1
a conservation corps. 2
(f) C
OST-SHARING.— 3
(1) N
ON-FEDERAL SHARE REQUIREMENT .—The 4
non-Federal share of the cost (including the admin-5
istrative cost) of carrying out a project using funds 6
from a grant awarded under the program— 7
(A)(i) shall be not less than 25 percent of 8
the cost of the project to be carried out using 9
grant funds in accordance with subsection (c); 10
and 11
(ii) shall be 0 percent of the cost of the 12
project to be carried out using grant funds in 13
accordance with subsection (d); 14
(B) may be provided by— 15
(i) a State, a unit of local government, 16
an Indian Tribe, a nonprofit organization, 17
private industry, or a combination of those 18
entities; or 19
(ii) volunteer hours and in-kind dona-20
tions; and 21
(C) may, in the case of a project that 22
serves a low-income community, be in the form 23
of a low-interest Federal loan to the eligible en-24
tity carrying out the project through the Com-25
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munity Disaster Loan program authorized 1
under section 417 of the Robert T. Stafford 2
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 3
(42 U.S.C. 5184). 4
(2) W
AIVER; REDUCTION.—In carrying out the 5
program, the Administrator may waive or reduce the 6
non-Federal share amount required under paragraph 7
(1). 8
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the pro-10
gram $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 11
through 2029. 12
SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT. 13
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 14
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 15
shall publish a report— 16
(1) on authorities and programs of the Federal 17
Government that are available to protect commu-18
nities from wildfires; and 19
(2) that includes an assessment of the Comp-20
troller General with respect to impediments to the 21
implementation of such programs, including gaps in 22
funding. 23
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SEC. 5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY. 1
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 3
shall publish a study that includes— 4
(1) an assessment of the Comptroller General 5
with respect to— 6
(A) the potential for a community protec-7
tion and wildfire resilience plan to qualify for a 8
certification identifying a level of wildfire sur-9
vivability and resilience; and 10
(B) methods that could be used by the 11
Federal Government to incentivize insurance 12
companies to accept such a certification; and 13
(2) an identification of any metrics that could 14
be provided to insurance companies as assurance 15
that a community has wildfire resilience measures in 16
place. 17
SEC. 6. UPDATING LIST OF AT-RISK COMMUNITIES. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 19
101(1) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 20
(16 U.S.C. 6511(1)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 21
‘‘(A) that is comprised of a group of homes 22
and other structures with basic infrastructure 23
and services (such as utilities and collectively 24
maintained transportation routes) within or ad-25
jacent to Federal land;’’. 26
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(b) MAP.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 1
enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the 2
Administrator, acting through the United States Fire Ad-3
ministrator and in coordination with the Chief, shall de-4
velop and publish a map depicting at-risk communities (as 5
defined in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration 6
Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511), as amended by this sec-7
tion), including Tribal at-risk communities. 8
SEC. 7. REPORT ON RADIO COMMUNICATIONS. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 10
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, acting 11
through the United States Fire Administrator and in co-12
ordination with the Chief, shall prepare a report relating 13
to insufficient radio frequencies, barriers to interoper-14
ability of radio frequencies, and available products and 15
technologies for overcoming barriers to interoperability for 16
wildfire management. 17
(b) C
OOPERATION.—In preparing the report under 18
subsection (a), the Administrator shall cooperate with— 19
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture; 20
(2) agencies responsible for the management of 21
Federal land; 22
(3) State fire marshals; 23
(4) State and local emergency response agen-24
cies; 25
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(5) Tribal fire departments and emergency 1
managers; and 2
(6) municipal fire departments, fire protection 3
districts, and volunteer fire departments in relevant 4
communities. 5
(c) C
OMPATIBILITY; ADDITIONALFREQUENCIES.— 6
The report under subsection (a) shall include— 7
(1) a determination on whether the entities de-8
scribed in subsection (b) have the ability to commu-9
nicate by way of radio during a potential fire sup-10
pression effort for a community conflagration; 11
(2) a determination on whether— 12
(A) the reserved radio frequencies are suf-13
ficient for wildfire management; or 14
(B) additional frequencies, listed by type 15
and location, are recommended to be reserved 16
or obtained; 17
(3) an analysis of commercially available tech-18
nology and products to enable radios from multiple 19
agencies operating on different radio frequencies to 20
be interoperable; and 21
(4) if the Administrator determines under para-22
graph (1) that any entities do not have the ability 23
to communicate, a plan for ensuring such entities 24
would be able to communicate adequately during a 25
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fire suppression effort for a community conflagra-1
tion. 2
SEC. 8. AMENDMENT TO COMMUNITY WILDFIRE DEFENSE 3
GRANT PROGRAM TO ALLOW STRUCTURE 4
HARDENING. 5
Section 40803(f) of the Infrastructure Investment 6
and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(f)) is amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘projects’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘projects (including covered 9
projects)’’; and 10
(2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 11
following new subparagraph: 12
‘‘(D) C
OVERED PROJECTS DEFINED .—In 13
this subsection, the term ‘covered projects’ 14
means the following: 15
‘‘(i) The construction, modification, or 16
maintenance of a structure to make the 17
structure resistant to the intrusion of 18
flames or embers. 19
‘‘(ii) The modification of a structure 20
or an area adjacent to a structure, (includ-21
ing vegetation and miscellaneous struc-22
tures, such as garages, sheds, and fencing) 23
if such modification is carried out— 24
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‘‘(I) to reduce the exposure of the 1
structure to direct contact from flame, 2
radiation, or embers from wildfire; 3
and 4
‘‘(II) with consideration for the 5
potential effects on the structure of 6
nearby combustible features (including 7
vegetation, vehicles, and miscellaneous 8
structures, such as garages, sheds, 9
and fencing).’’. 10
Æ
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