Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB743 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 743
5	5	To reform and enhance the pay and benefits of Federal wildland firefighters,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY28, 2025
9	9	Mr. N
10	10	EGUSE(for himself, Mr. HARDERof California, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms.
11	11	P
12	12	ETTERSEN, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. HOYLEof Oregon, Ms.
13	13	B
14	14	ROWNLEY, Mr. BACON, and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the following bill;
15	15	which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
16	16	form, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agri-
17	17	culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
18	18	each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
19	19	tion of the committee concerned
20	20	A BILL
21	21	To reform and enhance the pay and benefits of Federal
22	22	wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS; TABLE OF CON-3
26	26	TENTS. 4
27	27	(a) S
28	28	HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 5
29	29	‘‘Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay 6
30	30	Parity Act’’ or ‘‘Tim’s Act’’. 7
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34	34	(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 1
35	35	(1) D
36	36	IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 2
37	37	the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 3
38	38	(2) F
39	39	EDERAL WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER .—The 4
40	40	term ‘‘Federal wildland firefighter’’ means any tem-5
41	41	porary, seasonal, or permanent position at the De-6
42	42	partment of Agriculture or the Department of the 7
43	43	Interior, and Tribal Firefighters, that maintains 8
44	44	group, emergency incident management, or fire 9
45	45	qualifications, as established annually by the Stand-10
46	46	ards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications pub-11
47	47	lished by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 12
48	48	and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire 13
49	49	management activities, including forestry and range-14
50	50	land technicians and positions concerning aviation, 15
51	51	engineering heavy equipment operations, dispatch, or 16
52	52	fire and fuels management. 17
53	53	(3) S
54	54	ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 18
55	55	means the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-19
56	56	retary of the Interior. 20
57	57	(c) T
58	58	ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 21
59	59	this Act is as follows: 22
60	60	Sec. 1. Short title; definitions; table of contents.
61	61	Sec. 2. Special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters.
62	62	Sec. 3. Wildland fire incident response premium pay.
63	63	Sec. 4. Special limitations on pay for wildland firefighters.
64	64	Sec. 5. Rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland fire-
65	65	fighting.
66	66	Sec. 6. Health provisions.
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70	70	Sec. 7. Retirement for firefighters.
71	71	Sec. 8. Pay parity for Federal structural firefighters.
72	72	Sec. 9. Pay adjustments and other matters.
73	73	Sec. 10. Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program.
74	74	Sec. 11. Continuing accrual of service for Firefighters.
75	75	SEC. 2. SPECIAL BASE RATES OF PAY FOR WILDLAND FIRE-
76	76	1
77	77	FIGHTERS. 2
78	78	(a) I
79	79	NGENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 53 of 3
80	80	title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 4
81	81	section 5332 the following: 5
82	82	‘‘§ 5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland fire-6
83	83	fighters 7
84	84	‘‘(a) D
85	85	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
86	86	‘‘(1) the term ‘firefighter’ means an employee 9
87	87	who— 10
88	88	‘‘(A) is a firefighter within the meaning of 11
89	89	section 8331(21) or section 8401(14); 12
90	90	‘‘(B) in the case of an employee who holds 13
91	91	a supervisory or administrative position and is 14
92	92	subject to subchapter III of chapter 83, but 15
93	93	who does not qualify to be considered a fire-16
94	94	fighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), 17
95	95	would otherwise qualify if the employee had 18
96	96	transferred directly to that position after serv-19
97	97	ing as a firefighter within the meaning of that 20
98	98	section; 21
99	99	‘‘(C) in the case of an employee who holds 22
100	100	a supervisory or administrative position and is 23
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104	104	subject to chapter 84, but who does not qualify 1
105	105	to be considered a firefighter within the mean-2
106	106	ing of section 8401(14), would otherwise qualify 3
107	107	if the employee had transferred directly to that 4
108	108	position after performing duties described in 5
109	109	section 8401(14)(A) for at least 3 years; or 6
110	110	‘‘(D) in the case of an employee who is not 7
111	111	subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap-8
112	112	ter 84, holds a position that the Office of Per-9
113	113	sonnel Management determines would satisfy 10
114	114	subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) if the employee 11
115	115	were subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or 12
116	116	chapter 84; 13
117	117	‘‘(2) the term ‘General Schedule base rate’ 14
118	118	means an annual rate of basic pay established under 15
119	119	section 5332 before any additions, such as a locality- 16
120	120	based comparability payment under section 5304 or 17
121	121	5304a or a special rate supplement under section 18
122	122	5305; 19
123	123	‘‘(3) the term ‘special base rate’ means an an-20
124	124	nual rate of basic pay payable to a wildland fire-21
125	125	fighter, before any additions or reductions, that re-22
126	126	places the General Schedule base rate otherwise ap-23
127	127	plicable to the wildland firefighter and that is ad-24
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131	131	ministered in the same manner as a General Sched-1
132	132	ule base rate; and 2
133	133	‘‘(4) the term ‘wildland firefighter’ means any 3
134	134	temporary, seasonal, or permanent position at the 4
135	135	Department of Agriculture or the Department of the 5
136	136	Interior, or Tribal Firefighters, that maintains 6
137	137	group, emergency incident management, or fire 7
138	138	qualifications, as established annually by the Stand-8
139	139	ards for Wildland Fire Position Qualifications pub-9
140	140	lished by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 10
141	141	and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire 11
142	142	management activities, including forestry and range-12
143	143	land technicians and positions concerning aviation, 13
144	144	engineering heavy equipment operations, dispatch, 14
145	145	training, development and technology, or fire and 15
146	146	fuels management. 16
147	147	‘‘(b) S
148	148	PECIALBASERATES OFPAY.— 17
149	149	‘‘(1) E
150	150	NTITLEMENT TO SPECIAL RATE .—Not-18
151	151	withstanding section 5332, a wildland firefighter is 19
152	152	entitled to a special base rate at grades 1 through 20
153	153	15, which shall— 21
154	154	‘‘(A) replace the otherwise applicable Gen-22
155	155	eral Schedule base rate for the wildland fire-23
156	156	fighter; 24
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160	160	‘‘(B) be basic pay for all purposes, includ-1
161	161	ing the purpose of computing a locality-based 2
162	162	comparability payment under section 5304 or 3
163	163	5304a; and 4
164	164	‘‘(C) be computed as described in para-5
165	165	graph (2) and adjusted at the time of adjust-6
166	166	ments in the General Schedule. 7
167	167	‘‘(2) C
168	168	OMPUTATION.— 8
169	169	‘‘(A) I
170	170	N GENERAL.—The special base rate 9
171	171	for a wildland firefighter shall be derived by in-10
172	172	creasing the otherwise applicable General 11
173	173	Schedule base rate for the wildland firefighter 12
174	174	by the following applicable percentage for the 13
175	175	grade of the wildland firefighter and rounding 14
176	176	the result to the nearest whole dollar: 15
177	177	‘‘(i) For GS–1, 42 percent. 16
178	178	‘‘(ii) For GS–2, 39 percent. 17
179	179	‘‘(iii) For GS–3, 36 percent. 18
180	180	‘‘(iv) For GS–4, 33 percent. 19
181	181	‘‘(v) For GS–5, 30 percent. 20
182	182	‘‘(vi) For GS–6, 27 percent. 21
183	183	‘‘(vii) For GS–7, 24 percent. 22
184	184	‘‘(viii) For GS–8, 21 percent. 23
185	185	‘‘(ix) For GS–9, 18 percent. 24
186	186	‘‘(x) For GS–10, 15 percent. 25
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190	190	‘‘(xi) For GS–11, 12 percent. 1
191	191	‘‘(xii) For GS–12, 9 percent. 2
192	192	‘‘(xiii) For GS–13, 6 percent. 3
193	193	‘‘(xiv) For GS–14, 3 percent. 4
194	194	‘‘(xv) For GS–15, 1.5 percent. 5
195	195	‘‘(B) H
196	196	OURLY, DAILY, WEEKLY, OR BI-6
197	197	WEEKLY RATES.—When the special base rate 7
198	198	with respect to a wildland firefighter is ex-8
199	199	pressed as an hourly, daily, weekly, or biweekly 9
200	200	rate, the special base rate shall be computed 10
201	201	from the appropriate annual rate of basic pay 11
202	202	derived under subparagraph (A) in accordance 12
203	203	with the rules under section 5504(b).’’. 13
204	204	(b) C
205	205	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14
206	206	for subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States 15
207	207	Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 16
208	208	section 5332 the following: 17
209	209	‘‘5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters.’’.
210	210	(c) PREVAILINGRATEEMPLOYEES.—Section 5343 18
211	211	of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at 19
212	212	the end the following: 20
213	213	‘‘(g)(1) For a prevailing rate employee described in 21
214	214	section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a wildland firefighter, as de-22
215	215	fined in section 5332a(a), the Secretary of Agriculture or 23
216	216	the Secretary of the Interior (as applicable) shall increase 24
217	217	the wage rates of that employee by an amount (determined 25
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221	221	at the sole and exclusive discretion of the applicable Sec-1
222	222	retary after consultation with the other Secretary) that is 2
223	223	generally consistent with the percentage increases given 3
224	224	to wildland firefighters in the General Schedule under sec-4
225	225	tion 5332a. 5
226	226	‘‘(2) An increased wage rate under paragraph (1) 6
227	227	shall be basic pay for the same purposes as the wage rate 7
228	228	otherwise established under this section. 8
229	229	‘‘(3) An increase under this subsection may not cause 9
230	230	the wage rate of an employee to increase to a rate that 10
231	231	would produce an annualized rate in excess of the annual 11
232	232	rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule.’’. 12
233	233	(d) E
234	234	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 13
235	235	this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 14
236	236	applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 15
237	237	last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-16
238	238	porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-17
239	239	ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 18
240	240	Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 19
241	241	as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 20
242	242	2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 21
243	243	Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 22
244	244	83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-23
245	245	priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 24
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249	249	SEC. 3. WILDLAND FIRE INCIDENT RESPONSE PREMIUM 1
250	250	PAY. 2
251	251	(a) I
252	252	NGENERAL.—Subchapter V of chapter 55 of 3
253	253	title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 4
254	254	section 5545b the following: 5
255	255	‘‘§ 5545c. Incident response premium pay for employ-6
256	256	ees engaged in wildland firefighting 7
257	257	‘‘(a) D
258	258	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
259	259	‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con-9
260	260	gress’ means— 10
261	261	‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 11
262	262	and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 12
263	263	‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Nat-13
264	264	ural Resources of the Senate; 14
265	265	‘‘(C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-15
266	266	tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 16
267	267	‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 17
268	268	the Senate; 18
269	269	‘‘(E) the Committee on Oversight and Gov-19
270	270	ernment Reform; 20
271	271	‘‘(F) the Committee on Agriculture of the 21
272	272	House of Representatives; 22
273	273	‘‘(G) the Committee on Natural Resources 23
274	274	of the House of Representatives; and 24
275	275	‘‘(H) the Committee on Appropriations of 25
276	276	the House of Representatives; 26
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280	280	‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-1
281	281	ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 2
282	282	the Interior who is— 3
283	283	‘‘(A) a wildland firefighter, as defined in 4
284	284	section 5332a(a); or 5
285	285	‘‘(B) certified by the applicable agency to 6
286	286	perform wildland fire incident-related duties 7
287	287	during the period that employee is deployed to 8
288	288	respond to a qualifying incident; 9
289	289	‘‘(3) the term ‘incident response premium pay’ 10
290	290	means pay to which a covered employee is entitled 11
291	291	under subsection (c); 12
292	292	‘‘(4) the term ‘prescribed fire incident’ means a 13
293	293	wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 14
294	294	accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula-15
295	295	tions to meet specific objectives; 16
296	296	‘‘(5) the term ‘qualifying incident’— 17
297	297	‘‘(A) means— 18
298	298	‘‘(i) a wildfire incident, a prescribed 19
299	299	fire incident, or a severity incident; or 20
300	300	‘‘(ii) an incident that the Secretary of 21
301	301	Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior 22
302	302	determines is similar in nature to an inci-23
303	303	dent described in clause (i); and 24
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307	307	‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 1
308	308	(including an initial attack fire) in which a 2
309	309	wildfire is contained within 36 hours; and 3
310	310	‘‘(6) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci-4
311	311	dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 5
312	312	in an area in which conditions indicate there is a 6
313	313	high risk of wildfires. 7
314	314	‘‘(b) E
315	315	LIGIBILITY.—A covered employee is eligible for 8
316	316	incident response premium pay under this section if— 9
317	317	‘‘(1) the covered employee is deployed to re-10
318	318	spond to a qualifying incident; and 11
319	319	‘‘(2) the deployment described in paragraph (1) 12
320	320	is— 13
321	321	‘‘(A) outside of the official duty station of 14
322	322	the covered employee; or 15
323	323	‘‘(B) within the official duty station of the 16
324	324	covered employee and the covered employee is 17
325	325	assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or 18
326	326	other designated field location. 19
327	327	‘‘(c) E
328	328	NTITLEMENT TO INCIDENTRESPONSEPRE-20
329	329	MIUMPAY.— 21
330	330	‘‘(1) I
331	331	N GENERAL.—A covered employee who 22
332	332	satisfies the conditions under subsection (b) is enti-23
333	333	tled to premium pay for the period in which the cov-24
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337	337	ered employee is deployed to respond to the applica-1
338	338	ble qualifying incident. 2
339	339	‘‘(2) C
340	340	OMPUTATION.— 3
341	341	‘‘(A) F
342	342	ORMULA.—Subject to subpara-4
343	343	graphs (B) and (C), premium pay under para-5
344	344	graph (1) shall be paid to a covered employee 6
345	345	at a daily rate of 450 percent of the hourly rate 7
346	346	of basic pay of the covered employee for each 8
347	347	day that the covered employee satisfies the re-9
348	348	quirements under subsection (b), rounded to 10
349	349	the nearest whole cent. 11
350	350	‘‘(B) L
351	351	IMITATION.—Premium pay under 12
352	352	this subsection— 13
353	353	‘‘(i) with respect to a covered em-14
354	354	ployee for whom the annual rate of basic 15
355	355	pay is greater than that for step 10 of GS– 16
356	356	10, shall be paid at the daily rate estab-17
357	357	lished under subparagraph (A) for the ap-18
358	358	plicable rate for step 10 of GS–10 (where 19
359	359	the applicable rate is the rate in effect in 20
360	360	the same locality that is the basis for a lo-21
361	361	cality-based comparability payment payable 22
362	362	to the covered employee under section 23
363	363	5304); and 24
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367	367	‘‘(ii) may not be paid to a covered em-1
368	368	ployee in a total amount that exceeds 2
369	369	$9,000 in any calendar year. 3
370	370	‘‘(C) A
371	371	DJUSTMENTS.— 4
372	372	‘‘(i) A
373	373	SSESSMENT.—The Secretary of 5
374	374	Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-6
375	375	rior shall assess the difference between the 7
376	376	average total amount of compensation that 8
377	377	was paid to covered employees, by grade, 9
378	378	in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. 10
379	379	‘‘(ii) R
380	380	EPORT.—Not later than 180 11
381	381	days after the date that is 1 year after the 12
382	382	effective date of this section, the Secretary 13
383	383	of Agriculture and the Secretary of the In-14
384	384	terior shall jointly publish a report on the 15
385	385	results of the assessment conducted under 16
386	386	clause (i). 17
387	387	‘‘(iii) A
388	388	DMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS .— 18
389	389	After publishing the report required under 19
390	390	clause (ii), the Secretary of Agriculture 20
391	391	and the Secretary of the Interior, in con-21
392	392	sultation with the Director of the Office of 22
393	393	Personnel Management, may, in the sole 23
394	394	and exclusive discretion of the Secretaries 24
395	395	acting jointly, administratively adjust the 25
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399	399	amount of premium pay paid under this 1
400	400	subsection (or take other administrative 2
401	401	action) to ensure that the average annual 3
402	402	amount of total compensation paid to cov-4
403	403	ered employees, by grade, is more con-5
404	404	sistent with such amount that was paid to 6
405	405	those employees in fiscal year 2023. 7
406	406	‘‘(iv) C
407	407	ONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICA -8
408	408	TION.—Not later than 3 days after an ad-9
409	409	justment made, or other administrative ac-10
410	410	tion taken, under clause (iii) becomes final, 11
411	411	the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-12
412	412	retary of the Interior shall jointly submit 13
413	413	to the appropriate committees of Congress 14
414	414	a notification regarding that adjustment or 15
415	415	other administrative action, as applicable. 16
416	416	‘‘(d) T
417	417	REATMENT OFINCIDENTRESPONSEPREMIUM 17
418	418	P
419	419	AY.—Incident response premium pay under this sec-18
420	420	tion— 19
421	421	‘‘(1) is not considered part of the basic pay of 20
422	422	a covered employee for any purpose; 21
423	423	‘‘(2) may not be considered in determining the 22
424	424	lump-sum payment of a covered employee for accu-23
425	425	mulated and accrued annual leave under section 24
426	426	5551 or section 5552; 25
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430	430	‘‘(3) may not be used in determining pay under 1
431	431	section 8114; 2
432	432	‘‘(4) may not be considered in determining pay 3
433	433	for hours of paid leave or other paid time off during 4
434	434	which the premium pay is not payable; and 5
435	435	‘‘(5) shall be disregarded in determining the 6
436	436	minimum wage and overtime pay to which a covered 7
437	437	employee is entitled under the Fair Labor Standards 8
438	438	Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).’’. 9
439	439	(b) A
440	440	DDITIONALPREMIUMPAYAMENDMENTS.— 10
441	441	Subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, 11
442	442	is amended— 12
443	443	(1) in section 5544— 13
444	444	(A) by amending the section heading to 14
445	445	read as follows: ‘‘
446	446	WAGE-BOARD OVERTIME , 15
447	447	SUNDAY RATES , AND OTHER PREMIUM 16
448	448	PAY’’; and 17
449	449	(B) by adding at the end the following: 18
450	450	‘‘(d) A prevailing rate employee described in section 19
451	451	5342(a)(2)(A) shall receive incident response premium 20
452	452	pay under the same terms and conditions that apply to 21
453	453	a covered employee under section 5545c if that em-22
454	454	ployee— 23
455	455	‘‘(1) is employed by the Forest Service or the 24
456	456	Department of the Interior; and 25
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460	460	‘‘(2)(A) is a wildland firefighter, as defined in 1
461	461	section 5332a(a); or 2
462	462	‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency to 3
463	463	perform wildland fire incident-related duties during 4
464	464	the period the employee is deployed to respond to a 5
465	465	qualifying incident (as defined in section 6
466	466	5545c(a)).’’; and 7
467	467	(2) in section 5547(a), in the matter preceding 8
468	468	paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘5545c,’’ after 9
469	469	‘‘5545a,’’. 10
470	470	(c) C
471	471	LERICALAMENDMENTS.—The table of sections 11
472	472	for subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States 12
473	473	Code, is amended— 13
474	474	(1) by amending the item relating to section 14
475	475	5544 to read as follows: 15
476	476	‘‘5544. Wage-board overtime, Sunday rates, and other premium pay.’’;
477	477	and 16
478	478	(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-17
479	479	tion 5545b the following: 18
480	480	‘‘5545c. Incident response premium pay for employees engaged in wildland fire-
481	481	fighting.’’.
482	482	(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 19
483	483	this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 20
484	484	applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 21
485	485	last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-22
486	486	porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-23
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489	489	•HR 743 IH
490	490	ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 1
491	491	Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 2
492	492	as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 3
493	493	2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 4
494	494	Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 5
495	495	83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-6
496	496	priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 7
497	497	SEC. 4. SPECIAL LIMITATIONS ON PAY FOR WILDLAND 8
498	498	FIREFIGHTERS. 9
499	499	(a) I
500	500	NGENERAL.—Title 5, United States Code, is 10
501	501	amended— 11
502	502	(1) by inserting after section 5547 the fol-12
503	503	lowing: 13
504	504	‘‘§ 5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for em-14
505	505	ployees engaged in wildland firefighting 15
506	506	‘‘(a) In this section— 16
507	507	‘‘(1) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-17
508	508	ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 18
509	509	the Interior who— 19
510	510	‘‘(A) qualifies as a wildland firefighter 20
511	511	based on the definitions of ‘firefighter’ and 21
512	512	‘wildland firefighter’ in section 5332a(a); or 22
513	513	‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency 23
514	514	to perform wildland fire incident related duties 24
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517	517	•HR 743 IH
518	518	during the period such employee is assigned to 1
519	519	a qualifying incident; 2
520	520	‘‘(2) the term ‘covered services’ means services 3
521	521	performed by an employee that are determined by 4
522	522	the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Ag-5
523	523	riculture, as applicable, to primarily involve emer-6
524	524	gency wildfire suppression activities, including any 7
525	525	periods of duty when the employee is sleeping or 8
526	526	resting during an extended period of deployment to 9
527	527	engage in those activities; 10
528	528	‘‘(3) the term ‘emergency wildland fire suppres-11
529	529	sion activities’ means initial-response and extended- 12
530	530	response activities that directly relate to suppression 13
531	531	of a wildfire, including activities associated with a 14
532	532	severity incident but excluding activities associated 15
533	533	with a prescribed fire incident (as those terms are 16
534	534	defined section 5545c); and 17
535	535	‘‘(4) the term ‘premium pay’ means the pre-18
536	536	mium pay paid under the provisions of law cited in 19
537	537	section 5547(a), except as otherwise provided in sub-20
538	538	section (h). 21
539	539	‘‘(b) Any premium pay earned by a covered employee 22
540	540	for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating the 23
541	541	aggregate of such employee’s basic pay and premium pay 24
542	542	for purposes of applying a limitation under section 5547. 25
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545	545	•HR 743 IH
546	546	‘‘(c) Any premium pay that is disregarded under sub-1
547	547	section (b) shall be disregarded in calculating such em-2
548	548	ployee’s aggregate pay for purposes of applying the limita-3
549	549	tion in section 5307. 4
550	550	‘‘(d) Pay that is disregarded under subsection (b) 5
551	551	may not be paid to the extent it would cause the aggregate 6
552	552	of the employee’s basic pay, premium pay, and hazard pay 7
553	553	under section 5545(d) payable in the applicable calendar 8
554	554	year to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position 9
555	555	at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313, 10
556	556	as in effect at the end of such calendar year. Any premium 11
557	557	pay that is subject to a biweekly limitation under section 12
558	558	5547(c) must be paid first before other premium pay in 13
559	559	applying the level II limitation. 14
560	560	‘‘(e) Application of the limit in subsection (d) or sub-15
561	561	section (h) to a covered employee may be waived at the 16
562	562	sole and exclusive discretion of the Secretary of the Inte-17
563	563	rior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as applicable. Before 18
564	564	authorizing such a waiver for employees of their respective 19
565	565	agencies, each Secretary, after consulting with the other 20
566	566	Secretary, shall prescribe criteria that will be applied in 21
567	567	making a determination to grant a waiver. 22
568	568	‘‘(f) Any additional pay resulting from application of 23
569	569	this section may not be used in computing a lump-sum 24
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572	572	•HR 743 IH
573	573	payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave under 1
574	574	section 5551 or section 5552. 2
575	575	‘‘(g) The Departments of the Interior and Agri-3
576	576	culture shall maintain records that document uses of the 4
577	577	authority provided by this section. 5
578	578	‘‘(h)(1) For prevailing rate employees described in 6
579	579	section 5342(a)(2)(A) who meet the requirements in sub-7
580	580	section (a)(l) to qualify as a covered employee, premium 8
581	581	pay may not be paid to the extent it would cause the ag-9
582	582	gregate of the employee’s basic pay and premium pay in 10
583	583	the applicable calendar year to exceed the rate of basic 11
584	584	pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive 12
585	585	Schedule under section 5313, as in effect at the end of 13
586	586	such calendar year. 14
587	587	‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, the term 15
588	588	‘basic pay’ means wages, environmental differential pay, 16
589	589	and night shift differential pay, and the term ‘premium 17
590	590	pay’ means overtime pay, Sunday premium pay, and holi-18
591	591	day premium pay.’’; and 19
592	592	(2) in section 5541(2)(xi), by inserting ‘‘, sec-20
593	593	tion 5547a(h),’’ after ‘‘section 5544’’. 21
594	594	(b) C
595	595	ALENDARYEAR2025.—For the purpose of ap-22
596	596	plying section 5547 and section 1701 of division B of Pub-23
597	597	lic Law 117–43 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) in calendar year 24
598	598	2025, incident standby premium pay shall be included in 25
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601	601	•HR 743 IH
602	602	premium pay that is subject to the limits established in 1
603	603	those sections. 2
604	604	(c) E
605	605	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3
606	606	subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first 4
607	607	pay period that has a payment date in January 2026. Sub-5
608	608	section (b) shall be effective on the first day of the first 6
609	609	applicable pay period beginning on or after October 1, 7
610	610	2025. 8
611	611	(d) C
612	612	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 9
613	613	for chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, is further 10
614	614	amended by inserting after the item for section 5547 the 11
615	615	following new item: 12
616	616	‘‘5547a. Special limitations on premium pay for employees engaged in wildland
617	617	firefighting.’’.
618	618	SEC. 5. REST AND RECUPERATION LEAVE FOR EMPLOYEES
619	619	13
620	620	ENGAGED IN WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING. 14
621	621	(a) I
622	622	NGENERAL.—Title 5, United States Code, is 15
623	623	amended by inserting after section 6329d the following: 16
624	624	‘‘§ 6329e. Rest and recuperation leave for employees 17
625	625	engaged in wildland firefighting 18
626	626	‘‘(a) In this section— 19
627	627	‘‘(1) the term ‘applicable Secretary’ means the 20
628	628	Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the In-21
629	629	terior; 22
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632	632	•HR 743 IH
633	633	‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-1
634	634	ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 2
635	635	the Interior who— 3
636	636	‘‘(A) qualifies as a ‘wildland firefighter’ 4
637	637	based on the definitions of ‘firefighter’ and 5
638	638	‘wildland firefighter’ in section 5332a(a) (apply-6
639	639	ing the definition of ‘employee’ in section 7
640	640	6301(2) in lieu of the definition of ‘employee’ in 8
641	641	section 5331(a)); or 9
642	642	‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency 10
643	643	to perform wildland fire incident related duties 11
644	644	during the period such employee is assigned to 12
645	645	a qualifying incident; and 13
646	646	‘‘(3) the term ‘qualifying incident’ has the 14
647	647	meaning given that term in section 5545c(a)(5). 15
648	648	‘‘(b) A covered employee may receive paid rest and 16
649	649	recuperation leave following the completion of service 17
650	650	under a qualifying incident, subject to policies established 18
651	651	at the sole and exclusive discretion of the Secretary of the 19
652	652	Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, as applicable. 20
653	653	Each Secretary shall prescribe such policies after con-21
654	654	sulting with the other Secretary. 22
655	655	‘‘(c) Rest and recuperation leave granted under this 23
656	656	section shall be used during scheduled hours within the 24
657	657	covered employee’s tour of duty established for leave- 25
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660	660	•HR 743 IH
661	661	charging purposes and shall be paid in the same manner 1
662	662	as annual leave. Rest and recuperation leave must be used 2
663	663	immediately after a qualifying incident and may not be 3
664	664	set aside for later use. A covered employee may not receive 4
665	665	any payment for unused rest and recuperation leave. 5
666	666	‘‘(d) A covered employee with an intermittent work 6
667	667	schedule shall be excused from duty during the same pe-7
668	668	riod of time that other covered employees in the same cir-8
669	669	cumstances are entitled to rest and recuperation leave and 9
670	670	shall receive a payment as if the covered employee with 10
671	671	an intermittent work schedule were entitled to rest and 11
672	672	recuperation leave under subsections (b) and (c).’’. 12
673	673	(b) E
674	674	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 13
675	675	subsection (a) shall be effective on the first day of the 14
676	676	first applicable pay period beginning on or after October 15
677	677	1, 2025. 16
678	678	(c) C
679	679	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 17
680	680	for subchapter II of chapter 63 of title 5, United States 18
681	681	Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 19
682	682	section 6329d the following new item: 20
683	683	‘‘6329e. Rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland fire-
684	684	fighting.’’.
685	685	SEC. 6. HEALTH PROVISIONS.
686	686	21
687	687	(a) D
688	688	ATABASE; RECOMMENDATIONS .—Not later than 22
689	689	one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secre-23
690	690	taries shall— 24
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693	693	•HR 743 IH
694	694	(1) establish and maintain a publicly accessible, 1
695	695	searchable database on a website, to be called the 2
696	696	‘‘Federal Wildland Firefighter Cancer and Cardio-3
697	697	vascular Disease Database’’, to track chronic disease 4
698	698	caused by on-the-job environmental exposure over 5
699	699	the lifetimes of current and former Federal wildland 6
700	700	firefighters; 7
701	701	(2) update such database not less than on a 8
702	702	yearly basis; and 9
703	703	(3) develop and adhere to recommendations on 10
704	704	mitigation strategies to minimize exposure to envi-11
705	705	ronmental hazards for Federal wildland firefighters. 12
706	706	(b) M
707	707	ENTALHEALTH.— 13
708	708	(1) M
709	709	ENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM .—Not later 14
710	710	than January 1, 2026, the Secretaries shall establish 15
711	711	and carry out a program for Federal wildland fire-16
712	712	fighters for mental health awareness and support. 17
713	713	Such program shall include the following: 18
714	714	(A) A mental health awareness campaign. 19
715	715	(B) A mental health education and train-20
716	716	ing program that includes an on-boarding cur-21
717	717	riculum. 22
718	718	(C) An extensive peer-to-peer mental 23
719	719	health support network for Federal wildland 24
720	720	firefighters and their immediate family. 25
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724	724	(D) Expansion of the Critical Incident 1
725	725	Stress Management Program, to develop and 2
726	726	retain a larger pool of qualified mental health 3
727	727	professionals who are familiar with the experi-4
728	728	ences of the emergency response workforce. The 5
729	729	Program shall monitor and track mental health 6
730	730	in the profession to better understand the scope 7
731	731	of the issue and provide ongoing assistance and 8
732	732	professional long-term care to patients. 9
733	733	(E) Establish and carry out a new and dis-10
734	734	tinct mental health support service specific to 11
735	735	Federal wildland firefighters and their imme-12
736	736	diate family, with culturally relevant and trau-13
737	737	ma informed mental health professionals who 14
738	738	are readily available, and not subject to any 15
739	739	limit on the number of sessions or service pro-16
740	740	vided. 17
741	741	(2) M
742	742	ENTAL HEALTH LEAVE .—Each Federal 18
743	743	wildland firefighter shall be entitled to 7 consecutive 19
744	744	days of leave, without loss or reduction in pay, dur-20
745	745	ing any calendar year. Leave provided under this 21
746	746	paragraph shall not— 22
747	747	(A) accumulate for use in succeeding 23
748	748	years; and 24
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751	751	•HR 743 IH
752	752	(B) be considered to be annual or vacation 1
753	753	leave for purposes of section 5551 or 5552 of 2
754	754	title 5, United States Code, or for any other 3
755	755	purpose. 4
756	756	(c) C
757	757	OORDINATION.—In carrying out subsections (a) 5
758	758	and (b), the Secretaries may enter into partnerships or 6
759	759	cooperative agreements with other Federal agencies, uni-7
760	760	versities, or non-profit institutions. 8
761	761	(d) OWCP.—The Office of Workers’ Compensation 9
762	762	Programs within the Department of Labor shall— 10
763	763	(1) recognize post-traumatic stress disorder and 11
764	764	psychological stress-related injuries or illnesses cor-12
765	765	related to fire protection, suppression, and incident 13
766	766	support activities, and ensure long-term coverage for 14
767	767	the duration of the illnesses; and 15
768	768	(2) expand the Special Claims Unit to ensure 16
769	769	adequate unit staffing levels are sufficient to expe-17
770	770	dite the claims process and shorten response times 18
771	771	to wildland firefighter and incident support per-19
772	772	sonnel injured or effected on the job in order to al-20
773	773	leviate the psychological and financial burdens 21
774	774	placed on the patient and their families. 22
775	775	SEC. 7. RETIREMENT FOR FIREFIGHTERS. 23
776	776	(a) D
777	777	EPOSITSERVICE.—Notwithstanding any other 24
778	778	provision of law, any service performed by an individual 25
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781	781	•HR 743 IH
782	782	as a Federal wildland firefighter on or after January 1, 1
783	783	1989, for which retirement deductions under chapter 84 2
784	784	of title 5, United States Code, have not been made shall 3
785	785	be creditable under such chapter, but only if such fire-4
786	786	fighter— 5
787	787	(1) submits a written election to the Director; 6
788	788	and 7
789	789	(2) the deposit requirements of section 8411(f) 8
790	790	of such title had been met with respect to such serv-9
791	791	ice. 10
792	792	(b) D
793	793	ISABILITYANNUITY.—Beginning on the date of 11
794	794	enactment of this Act, any Federal wildland firefighter 12
795	795	who suffers from a disease described in section 13
796	796	8143b(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, due to environ-14
797	797	mental job-related exposure, including smoke inhalation, 15
798	798	silicate inhalation, and firefighting toxic exposure, shall be 16
799	799	considered to be disabled for purposes of section 8451 of 17
800	800	such title. Such section 8451 shall be applied to any such 18
801	801	firefighter by substituting ‘‘12 months’’ for ‘‘18 months’’. 19
802	802	(c) I
803	803	NCLUDINGOVERTIME ASBASICPAY.—Section 20
804	804	8331(3) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 21
805	805	(1) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 22
806	806	the end; 23
807	807	(2) in subparagraph (I), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 24
808	808	after the semicolon; 25
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812	812	(3) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the fol-1
813	813	lowing: 2
814	814	‘‘(J) with respect to a Federal wildland 3
815	815	firefighter (as that term is defined in section 4
816	816	1(b) of the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter 5
817	817	Classification and Pay Parity Act), overtime 6
818	818	pay received on or after the date of enactment 7
819	819	of this subparagraph;’’; and 8
820	820	(4) in the undesignated matter following sub-9
821	821	paragraph (J) (as added by paragraph (3)), by strik-10
822	822	ing ‘‘subparagraphs (B) through (I) of this para-11
823	823	graph’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (B) through 12
824	824	(J) of this paragraph,’’. 13
825	825	(d) S
826	826	EPARATENORMAL-COSTPERCENTAGE.—Sec-14
827	827	tion 8423(a)(1)(B)(i) of title 5, United States Code, is 15
828	828	amended by inserting after ‘‘firefighters,’’ the following: 16
829	829	‘‘Federal wildland firefighter (as that term is defined in 17
830	830	section 1 of the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classifica-18
831	831	tion and Pay Parity Act),’’. 19
832	832	SEC. 8. PAY PARITY FOR FEDERAL STRUCTURAL FIRE-20
833	833	FIGHTERS. 21
834	834	(a) I
835	835	NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 22
836	836	date of enactment of this Act, any pay, benefits, and bo-23
837	837	nuses provided to any Federal structural firefighter shall 24
838	838	be comparable with the pay, benefits, and bonuses pro-25
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841	841	•HR 743 IH
842	842	vided for Federal wildland firefighters under this Act and 1
843	843	the amendments made by this Act. Not later than 1 year 2
844	844	after the date the pay scale is established under section 3
845	845	5332a of title 5, United States Code, as added by section 4
846	846	2 of this Act, the Director shall submit a report to Con-5
847	847	gress on whether pay for such Federal structural fire-6
848	848	fighters is competitive with Federal wildland firefighters. 7
849	849	(b) F
850	850	EDERALSTRUCTURAL FIREFIGHTER DE-8
851	851	FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘Federal structural fire-9
852	852	fighter’’— 10
853	853	(1) has the meaning given the term ‘‘fire-11
854	854	fighter’’ in section 8401 of chapter 84 of title 5, 12
855	855	United States Code; and 13
856	856	(2) does not include any Federal wildland fire-14
857	857	fighter. 15
858	858	SEC. 9. PAY ADJUSTMENTS AND OTHER MATTERS. 16
859	859	(a) A
860	860	NNUALADJUSTMENTS.—Notwithstanding any 17
861	861	other provision of law, beginning in the first pay period 18
862	862	beginning on or after the date that the pay scale is estab-19
863	863	lished under section 5332a of title 5, United States Code, 20
864	864	as added by section 2 of this Act, and annually thereafter, 21
865	865	the basic rate of pay for each Federal wildland firefighter 22
866	866	occupying a position within such pay scale shall be in-23
867	867	creased by not less than the percentage equal to the per-24
868	868	cent change in the Consumer Price Index (all items— 25
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871	871	•HR 743 IH
872	872	United States city average), published monthly by the Bu-1
873	873	reau of Labor Statistics, for December of the preceding 2
874	874	year over such Consumer Price Index for the December 3
875	875	of the year prior to the preceding year, adjusted to the 4
876	876	nearest one-tenth of 1 percent. 5
877	877	(b) C
878	878	OMPENSATIONCOMPARABLE TONON-FEDERAL 6
879	879	F
880	880	IREFIGHTERS.—Not later than 1 year after the date the 7
881	881	pay scale is established under section 5332a of title 5, 8
882	882	United States Code, as added by section 2 of this Act, 9
883	883	the Secretaries shall submit a report to Congress on 10
884	884	whether pay, benefits, and bonuses provided to Federal 11
885	885	wildland firefighters are comparable to the pay, benefits, 12
886	886	and bonuses provided for non-Federal firefighters in the 13
887	887	State or locality where Federal wildland firefighters are 14
888	888	based. 15
889	889	(c) H
890	890	AZARDOUSDUTYPAY.—Each Federal wildland 16
891	891	firefighter carrying out work completed during prescribed 17
892	892	fire, parachuting, tree climbing over 20 feet, hazard tree 18
893	893	removal, and other hazardous work as identified by the 19
894	894	Secretaries, shall be entitled to be paid the appropriate 20
895	895	differential under section 5545(d) of title 5, United States 21
896	896	Code, as if such employee was covered by such section. 22
897	897	The Director may prescribe regulations to carry out this 23
898	898	subsection. 24
899	899	(d) O
900	900	THERMATTERS.— 25
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904	904	(1) RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION BONUS .— 1
905	905	In order to promote the recruitment and retention of 2
906	906	Federal wildland firefighters, the Director, in coordi-3
907	907	nation with the Secretaries, shall establish a pro-4
908	908	gram under which a recruitment or retention bonus 5
909	909	of not less than $1,000 may be paid to a Federal 6
910	910	wildland firefighter in an amount as determined ap-7
911	911	propriate by the Director and the Secretaries. The 8
912	912	minimum amount of such bonus in the previous sen-9
913	913	tence shall be increased each year by the Consumer 10
914	914	Price Index in the manner prescribed under sub-11
915	915	section (a). Any bonus under this subsection— 12
916	916	(A) shall be paid to any primary or sec-13
917	917	ondary Federal wildland firefighter upon the 14
918	918	date that such firefighter successfully completes 15
919	919	a work capacity test; and 16
920	920	(B) may not be paid to any such fire-17
921	921	fighter more than once per calendar year. 18
922	922	(2) H
923	923	OUSING ALLOWANCE .—The Secretaries 19
924	924	shall provide a housing allowance to any Federal 20
925	925	wildland firefighter deployed to a location more than 21
926	926	50 miles from their primary residence. Such allow-22
927	927	ance shall be in an amount determined appropriate 23
928	928	by the Secretaries and adjusted based on the cost of 24
929	929	housing in the area of deployment. 25
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933	933	(3) CAREER TRANSITION.— 1
934	934	(A) I
935	935	N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 2
936	936	after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-3
937	937	retaries shall establish, maintain, coordinate, 4
938	938	and operate a voluntary tuition assistance pro-5
939	939	gram for Federal wildland firefighters occu-6
940	940	pying a permanent position that encompass a 7
941	941	broad range of educational experiences (either 8
942	942	in-person or through distance-learning), includ-9
943	943	ing academic skills development, vocational pro-10
944	944	grams, career and technical programs, and pro-11
945	945	grams leading to the award of undergraduate 12
946	946	and graduate degrees. 13
947	947	(B) A
948	948	MOUNT.—The program under sub-14
949	949	paragraph (A) shall provide, not more than 15
950	950	once during each calendar year, a payment of 16
951	951	not less than $4,000 to each Federal wildland 17
952	952	firefighter who elects to participate in the pro-18
953	953	gram. 19
954	954	(C) R
955	955	EVIEW.—The Secretaries shall con-20
956	956	duct an annual review of whether the amount 21
957	957	provided under subparagraph (B) is adequate, 22
958	958	in consideration of inflation and other effects. 23
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961	961	•HR 743 IH
962	962	SEC. 10. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY ASSIST-1
963	963	ANCE PROGRAM. 2
964	964	(a) D
965	965	EVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 6 3
966	966	months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 4
967	967	Secretary of the Interior shall develop a Wildland Fire 5
968	968	Management Casualty Assistance Program (referred to in 6
969	969	this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide assistance to 7
970	970	the next-of-kin of— 8
971	971	(1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, 9
972	972	suffer illness or are critically injured or killed; and 10
973	973	(2) wildland fire support personnel critically in-11
974	974	jured or killed in the line of duty. 12
975	975	(b) A
976	976	SPECTS OFPROGRAM.—The Program shall ad-13
977	977	dress the following: 14
978	978	(1) The initial and any subsequent notifications 15
979	979	to the next-of-kin of a firefighter or wildland fire 16
980	980	support personnel who— 17
981	981	(A) is killed in the line of duty; or 18
982	982	(B) requires hospitalization or treatment 19
983	983	at a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury 20
984	984	or illness. 21
985	985	(2) The reimbursement of next-of-kin for ex-22
986	986	penses associated with travel to visit a firefighter or 23
987	987	wildland fire support personnel who— 24
988	988	(A) is killed in the line of duty; or 25
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992	992	(B) requires hospitalization or treatment 1
993	993	at a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury 2
994	994	or illness. 3
995	995	(3) The qualifications, assignment, training, du-4
996	996	ties, supervision, and accountability for the perform-5
997	997	ance of casualty assistance responsibilities. 6
998	998	(4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance 7
999	999	officers, including notification to survivors of critical 8
1000	1000	injury or illness in the line of duty and next-of-kin 9
1001	1001	of the reassignment of such officers to other duties. 10
1002	1002	(5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case 11
1003	1003	management procedures for casualty assistance, in-12
1004	1004	cluding rapid access by survivors of firefighters or 13
1005	1005	wildland fire support personnel and casualty assist-14
1006	1006	ance officers to expert case managers and coun-15
1007	1007	selors. 16
1008	1008	(6) The provision, through a computer acces-17
1009	1009	sible website and other means and at no cost to sur-18
1010	1010	vivors and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire 19
1011	1011	support personnel, of personalized, integrated infor-20
1012	1012	mation on the benefits and financial assistance avail-21
1013	1013	able to such survivors from the Federal Government. 22
1014	1014	(7) The provision of information to survivors 23
1015	1015	and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-24
1016	1016	port personnel on mechanisms for registering com-25
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1020	1020	plaints about, or requests for, additional assistance 1
1021	1021	related to casualty assistance. 2
1022	1022	(8) Liaison with the Department of the Inte-3
1023	1023	rior, the Department of Justice, and the Social Se-4
1024	1024	curity Administration to ensure prompt and accurate 5
1025	1025	resolution of issues relating to benefits administered 6
1026	1026	by those agencies for survivors of firefighters or 7
1027	1027	wildland fire support personnel. 8
1028	1028	(9) Data collection, in consultation with the 9
1029	1029	United States Fire Administration and the National 10
1030	1030	Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, re-11
1031	1031	garding the incidence and quality of casualty assist-12
1032	1032	ance provided to survivors of firefighters or wildland 13
1033	1033	fire support personnel. 14
1034	1034	(c) L
1035	1035	INE OFDUTYDEATHBENEFITS.—The Pro-15
1036	1036	gram shall not affect existing authorities for Line of Duty 16
1037	1037	Death benefits for Federal firefighters and wildland fire 17
1038	1038	support personnel. 18
1039	1039	(d) N
1040	1040	EXT-OF-KINDEFINED.—In this section, the 19
1041	1041	term ‘‘next-of-kin’’ means person or persons in the highest 20
1042	1042	category of priority as determined by the following list 21
1043	1043	(categories appear in descending order of priority): 22
1044	1044	(1) Surviving legal spouse. 23
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1048	1048	(2) Children (whether by current or prior mar-1
1049	1049	riage) age 18 years or older in descending prece-2
1050	1050	dence by age. 3
1051	1051	(3) Father or mother, unless by court order 4
1052	1052	custody has been vested in another (adoptive parent 5
1053	1053	takes precedence over natural parent); 6
1054	1054	(4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or 7
1055	1055	older in descending precedence by age. 8
1056	1056	(5) Grandfather or grandmother. 9
1057	1057	(6) Any other relative (precedence to be deter-10
1058	1058	mined in accordance with the civil law of descent of 11
1059	1059	the deceased former member’s State of domicile at 12
1060	1060	time of death). 13
1061	1061	SEC. 11. CONTINUING ACCRUAL OF SERVICE FOR FIRE-14
1062	1062	FIGHTERS. 15
1063	1063	(a) F
1064	1064	EDERALEMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENTSYSTEM.— 16
1065	1065	Section 8401(14) of title 5, United States Code, is amend-17
1066	1066	ed to read as follows: 18
1067	1067	‘‘(14) the term ‘firefighter’ means— 19
1068	1068	‘‘(A) an employee, the duties of whose po-20
1069	1069	sition— 21
1070	1070	‘‘(i) are primarily to perform work di-22
1071	1071	rectly connected with the control and extin-23
1072	1072	guishment of non-wildland fires; and 24
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1076	1076	‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-1
1077	1077	ployment opportunities should be limited to 2
1078	1078	young and physically vigorous individuals, 3
1079	1079	as determined by the Director considering 4
1080	1080	the recommendations of the employing 5
1081	1081	agency; 6
1082	1082	‘‘(B) an employee, the duties of whose po-7
1083	1083	sition— 8
1084	1084	‘‘(i) are primarily to perform work di-9
1085	1085	rectly connected with the control and extin-10
1086	1086	guishment of wildland fires; and 11
1087	1087	‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em-12
1088	1088	ployment opportunities should be limited to 13
1089	1089	young and physically vigorous individuals, 14
1090	1090	as determined by the Director considering 15
1091	1091	the recommendations of the employing 16
1092	1092	agency; 17
1093	1093	‘‘(C) an employee who— 18
1094	1094	‘‘(i) is transferred directly to a super-19
1095	1095	visory or administrative position after per-20
1096	1096	forming duties described in subparagraph 21
1097	1097	(A) for at least 3 years; and 22
1098	1098	‘‘(ii) while serving in such supervisory 23
1099	1099	or administrative position, has no break in 24
1100	1100	service; or 25
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1103	1103	•HR 743 IH
1104	1104	‘‘(D) an employee who— 1
1105	1105	‘‘(i) occupies a supervisory or admin-2
1106	1106	istrative position after performing duties 3
1107	1107	described in subparagraph (B) for not less 4
1108	1108	than 3 years; and 5
1109	1109	‘‘(ii) has not more than 24 months in 6
1110	1110	total time of breaks in service;’’. 7
1111	1111	(b) S
1112	1112	ERVICEBEFOREDATE OFENACTMENT.— 8
1113	1113	(1) I
1114	1114	N GENERAL.—Subject to the requirements 9
1115	1115	under paragraph (2), service performed before the 10
1116	1116	date of enactment of this Act by an individual who, 11
1117	1117	on the date of enactment of this Act, is an employee 12
1118	1118	(as defined in section 8401(11) of title 5, United 13
1119	1119	States Code) shall, for the purposes of chapter 84 of 14
1120	1120	title 5, United States Code, be treated as service 15
1121	1121	performed by a firefighter if— 16
1122	1122	(A) such service was performed during the 17
1123	1123	period beginning on October 1, 2003, and end-18
1124	1124	ing on the day before the date of enactment of 19
1125	1125	this Act; 20
1126	1126	(B) at the time of performing such serv-21
1127	1127	ice— 22
1128	1128	(i) the individual did not meet the re-23
1129	1129	quirements to be a firefighter under sec-24
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1133	1133	tion 8401(14) of title 5, United States 1
1134	1134	Code, because of a break in service; and 2
1135	1135	(ii) would have met the requirements 3
1136	1136	to be a firefighter under section 4
1137	1137	8401(14)(D) of title 5, United States 5
1138	1138	Code, as amended by this Act; and 6
1139	1139	(C) appropriate deductions and 7
1140	1140	withholdings under sections 8422 and 8423 of 8
1141	1141	title 5, United States Code, were made during 9
1142	1142	such service. 10
1143	1143	(2) C
1144	1144	REDIT FOR SERVICE .—To receive credit 11
1145	1145	for eligible service under paragraph (1), the applica-12
1146	1146	ble individual shall— 13
1147	1147	(A) before the date on which the individual 14
1148	1148	separates from service in the agency in which 15
1149	1149	the individual holds a position on the date of 16
1150	1150	enactment of this Act, submit a written election 17
1151	1151	to the agency employing the individual; 18
1152	1152	(B) if the individual is not employed by the 19
1153	1153	agency that employed the individual when the 20
1154	1154	service described in paragraph (1) was per-21
1155	1155	formed, submit a written election to such agen-22
1156	1156	cy; and 23
1157	1157	(C) remit to the agency that employed the 24
1158	1158	individual when such service was performed the 25
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1162	1162	additional amount that would have been de-1
1163	1163	ducted during the period of prior service under 2
1164	1164	section 8422 of title 5, United States Code, 3
1165	1165	from the pay of the individual if the amend-4
1166	1166	ments made by subsection (a) had been in ef-5
1167	1167	fect during the prior service, plus any applicable 6
1168	1168	interest computed under section 8334(e) of title 7
1169	1169	5, United States Code. 8
1170	1170	(3) G
1171	1171	OVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS .—If an indi-9
1172	1172	vidual remits payment under paragraph (2)(C) with 10
1173	1173	respect to service described in paragraph (1), the 11
1174	1174	agency that employed the individual when such serv-12
1175	1175	ice was performed shall remit to the Office of Per-13
1176	1176	sonnel Management (for deposit in the Treasury of 14
1177	1177	the United States to the credit of the Civil Service 15
1178	1178	Retirement and Disability Fund) the total additional 16
1179	1179	amount of Federal contributions that would have 17
1180	1180	been paid under section 8423 of title 5, United 18
1181	1181	States Code, if the amendments made by subsection 19
1182	1182	(a) had been in effect during the prior service, plus 20
1183	1183	any applicable interest computed in accordance with 21
1184	1184	section 8334(e) of title 5, United States Code. 22
1185	1185	(4) N
1186	1186	OTIFICATION AND ASSISTANCE REQUIRE -23
1187	1187	MENTS.—The Director of the Office of Personnel 24
1188	1188	Management shall— 25
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1192	1192	(A) take such action as may be necessary 1
1193	1193	and appropriate to inform individuals entitled 2
1194	1194	to have any service credited under this sub-3
1195	1195	section, or to have any annuity computed under 4
1196	1196	this subsection, of the entitlement to the credit 5
1197	1197	or computation; and 6
1198	1198	(B) upon request, assist any individual de-7
1199	1199	scribed in subparagraph (A) in obtaining such 8
1200	1200	information in the possession of the Secretary 9
1201	1201	of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, 10
1202	1202	as applicable, as may be necessary to verify the 11
1203	1203	entitlement of the individual to have any service 12
1204	1204	credited, or to have any annuity computed, pur-13
1205	1205	suant to this subsection. 14
1206	1206	(5) R
1207	1207	ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in this 15
1208	1208	section shall be construed to permit or require the 16
1209	1209	making of any contribution to the Thrift Savings 17
1210	1210	Fund that would not otherwise have been permitted 18
1211	1211	or required but for the enactment of this section. 19
1212	1212	Æ
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