Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB135 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 135
5	5	To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for special base rates
6	6	of pay for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY16, 2025
9	9	Mr. P
10	10	ADILLA(for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.
11	11	S
12	12	HEEHY, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
14	14	Governmental Affairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for special
17	17	base rates of pay for wildland firefighters, and for other
18	18	purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildland Firefighter 4
23	23	Paycheck Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
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27	27	SEC. 2. SPECIAL BASE RATES OF PAY FOR WILDLAND FIRE-1
28	28	FIGHTERS. 2
29	29	(a) I
30	30	NGENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 53 of 3
31	31	title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 4
32	32	section 5332 the following: 5
33	33	‘‘§ 5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland fire-6
34	34	fighters 7
35	35	‘‘(a) D
36	36	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
37	37	‘‘(1) the term ‘firefighter’ means an employee 9
38	38	who— 10
39	39	‘‘(A) is a firefighter within the meaning of 11
40	40	section 8331(21) or section 8401(14); 12
41	41	‘‘(B) in the case of an employee who holds 13
42	42	a supervisory or administrative position and is 14
43	43	subject to subchapter III of chapter 83, but 15
44	44	who does not qualify to be considered a fire-16
45	45	fighter within the meaning of section 8331(21), 17
46	46	would otherwise qualify if the employee had 18
47	47	transferred directly to that position after serv-19
48	48	ing as a firefighter within the meaning of that 20
49	49	section; 21
50	50	‘‘(C) in the case of an employee who holds 22
51	51	a supervisory or administrative position and is 23
52	52	subject to chapter 84, but who does not qualify 24
53	53	to be considered a firefighter within the mean-25
54	54	ing of section 8401(14), would otherwise qualify 26
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58	58	if the employee had transferred directly to that 1
59	59	position after performing duties described in 2
60	60	section 8401(14)(A) for at least 3 years; or 3
61	61	‘‘(D) in the case of an employee who is not 4
62	62	subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap-5
63	63	ter 84, holds a position that the Office of Per-6
64	64	sonnel Management determines would satisfy 7
65	65	subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) if the employee 8
66	66	were subject to subchapter III of chapter 83 or 9
67	67	chapter 84; 10
68	68	‘‘(2) the term ‘General Schedule base rate’ 11
69	69	means an annual rate of basic pay established under 12
70	70	section 5332 before any additions, such as a locality- 13
71	71	based comparability payment under section 5304 or 14
72	72	5304a or a special rate supplement under section 15
73	73	5305; 16
74	74	‘‘(3) the term ‘special base rate’ means an an-17
75	75	nual rate of basic pay payable to a wildland fire-18
76	76	fighter, before any additions or reductions, that re-19
77	77	places the General Schedule base rate otherwise ap-20
78	78	plicable to the wildland firefighter and that is ad-21
79	79	ministered in the same manner as a General Sched-22
80	80	ule base rate; and 23
81	81	‘‘(4) the term ‘wildland firefighter’ means a 24
82	82	firefighter— 25
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86	86	‘‘(A) who is employed by the Forest Serv-1
87	87	ice or the Department of the Interior; and 2
88	88	‘‘(B) the duties of the position of whom re-3
89	89	late primarily to wildland fires, as opposed to 4
90	90	structure fires. 5
91	91	‘‘(b) S
92	92	PECIALBASERATES OFPAY.— 6
93	93	‘‘(1) E
94	94	NTITLEMENT TO SPECIAL RATE .—Not-7
95	95	withstanding section 5332, a wildland firefighter is 8
96	96	entitled to a special base rate at grades 1 through 9
97	97	15, which shall— 10
98	98	‘‘(A) replace the otherwise applicable Gen-11
99	99	eral Schedule base rate for the wildland fire-12
100	100	fighter; 13
101	101	‘‘(B) be basic pay for all purposes, includ-14
102	102	ing the purpose of computing a locality-based 15
103	103	comparability payment under section 5304 or 16
104	104	5304a; and 17
105	105	‘‘(C) be computed as described in para-18
106	106	graph (2) and adjusted at the time of adjust-19
107	107	ments in the General Schedule. 20
108	108	‘‘(2) C
109	109	OMPUTATION.— 21
110	110	‘‘(A) I
111	111	N GENERAL.—The special base rate 22
112	112	for a wildland firefighter shall be derived by in-23
113	113	creasing the otherwise applicable General 24
114	114	Schedule base rate for the wildland firefighter 25
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118	118	by the following applicable percentage for the 1
119	119	grade of the wildland firefighter and rounding 2
120	120	the result to the nearest whole dollar: 3
121	121	‘‘(i) For GS–1, 42 percent. 4
122	122	‘‘(ii) For GS–2, 39 percent. 5
123	123	‘‘(iii) For GS–3, 36 percent. 6
124	124	‘‘(iv) For GS–4, 33 percent. 7
125	125	‘‘(v) For GS–5, 30 percent. 8
126	126	‘‘(vi) For GS–6, 27 percent. 9
127	127	‘‘(vii) For GS–7, 24 percent. 10
128	128	‘‘(viii) For GS–8, 21 percent. 11
129	129	‘‘(ix) For GS–9, 18 percent. 12
130	130	‘‘(x) For GS–10, 15 percent. 13
131	131	‘‘(xi) For GS–11, 12 percent. 14
132	132	‘‘(xii) For GS–12, 9 percent. 15
133	133	‘‘(xiii) For GS–13, 6 percent. 16
134	134	‘‘(xiv) For GS–14, 3 percent. 17
135	135	‘‘(xv) For GS–15, 1.5 percent. 18
136	136	‘‘(B) H
137	137	OURLY, DAILY, WEEKLY, OR BI-19
138	138	WEEKLY RATES.—When the special base rate 20
139	139	with respect to a wildland firefighter is ex-21
140	140	pressed as an hourly, daily, weekly, or biweekly 22
141	141	rate, the special base rate shall be computed 23
142	142	from the appropriate annual rate of basic pay 24
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146	146	derived under subparagraph (A) in accordance 1
147	147	with the rules under section 5504(b).’’. 2
148	148	(b) C
149	149	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3
150	150	for subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States 4
151	151	Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 5
152	152	section 5332 the following: 6
153	153	‘‘5332a. Special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters.’’.
154	154	(c) PREVAILINGRATEEMPLOYEES.—Section 5343 7
155	155	of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at 8
156	156	the end the following: 9
157	157	‘‘(g)(1) For a prevailing rate employee described in 10
158	158	section 5342(a)(2)(A) who is a wildland firefighter, as de-11
159	159	fined in section 5332a(a), the Secretary of Agriculture or 12
160	160	the Secretary of the Interior (as applicable) shall increase 13
161	161	the wage rates of that employee by an amount (determined 14
162	162	at the sole and exclusive discretion of the applicable Sec-15
163	163	retary after consultation with the other Secretary) that is 16
164	164	generally consistent with the percentage increases given 17
165	165	to wildland firefighters in the General Schedule under sec-18
166	166	tion 5332a. 19
167	167	‘‘(2) An increased wage rate under paragraph (1) 20
168	168	shall be basic pay for the same purposes as the wage rate 21
169	169	otherwise established under this section. 22
170	170	‘‘(3) An increase under this subsection may not cause 23
171	171	the wage rate of an employee to increase to a rate that 24
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175	175	would produce an annualized rate in excess of the annual 1
176	176	rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule.’’. 2
177	177	(d) E
178	178	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3
179	179	this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 4
180	180	applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 5
181	181	last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-6
182	182	porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-7
183	183	ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 8
184	184	Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 9
185	185	as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 10
186	186	2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 11
187	187	Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 12
188	188	83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-13
189	189	priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 14
190	190	SEC. 3. WILDLAND FIRE INCIDENT RESPONSE PREMIUM 15
191	191	PAY. 16
192	192	(a) I
193	193	NGENERAL.—Subchapter V of chapter 55 of 17
194	194	title 5, United Sates Code, is amended by inserting after 18
195	195	section 5545b the following: 19
196	196	‘‘§ 5545c. Incident response premium pay for employ-20
197	197	ees engaged in wildland firefighting 21
198	198	‘‘(a) D
199	199	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 22
200	200	‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con-23
201	201	gress’ means— 24
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205	205	‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 1
206	206	and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 2
207	207	‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Nat-3
208	208	ural Resources of the Senate; 4
209	209	‘‘(C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-5
210	210	tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 6
211	211	‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 7
212	212	the Senate; 8
213	213	‘‘(E) the Committee on Oversight and Ac-9
214	214	countability of the House of Representatives; 10
215	215	‘‘(F) the Committee on Agriculture of the 11
216	216	House of Representatives; 12
217	217	‘‘(G) the Committee on Natural Resources 13
218	218	of the House of Representatives; and 14
219	219	‘‘(H) the Committee on Appropriations of 15
220	220	the House of Representatives; 16
221	221	‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-17
222	222	ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 18
223	223	the Interior who is— 19
224	224	‘‘(A) a wildland firefighter, as defined in 20
225	225	section 5332a(a); or 21
226	226	‘‘(B) certified by the applicable agency to 22
227	227	perform wildland fire incident-related duties 23
228	228	during the period that employee is deployed to 24
229	229	respond to a qualifying incident; 25
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233	233	‘‘(3) the term ‘incident response premium pay’ 1
234	234	means pay to which a covered employee is entitled 2
235	235	under subsection (c); 3
236	236	‘‘(4) the term ‘prescribed fire incident’ means a 4
237	237	wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 5
238	238	accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula-6
239	239	tions to meet specific objectives; 7
240	240	‘‘(5) the term ‘qualifying incident’— 8
241	241	‘‘(A) means— 9
242	242	‘‘(i) a wildfire incident, a prescribed 10
243	243	fire incident, or a severity incident; or 11
244	244	‘‘(ii) an incident that the Secretary of 12
245	245	Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior 13
246	246	determines is similar in nature to an inci-14
247	247	dent described in clause (i); and 15
248	248	‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 16
249	249	(including an initial attack fire) in which a 17
250	250	wildfire is contained within 36 hours; and 18
251	251	‘‘(6) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci-19
252	252	dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 20
253	253	in an area in which conditions indicate there is a 21
254	254	high risk of wildfires. 22
255	255	‘‘(b) E
256	256	LIGIBILITY.—A covered employee is eligible for 23
257	257	incident response premium pay under this section if— 24
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261	261	‘‘(1) the covered employee is deployed to re-1
262	262	spond to a qualifying incident; and 2
263	263	‘‘(2) the deployment described in paragraph (1) 3
264	264	is— 4
265	265	‘‘(A) outside of the official duty station of 5
266	266	the covered employee; or 6
267	267	‘‘(B) within the official duty station of the 7
268	268	covered employee and the covered employee is 8
269	269	assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or 9
270	270	other designated field location. 10
271	271	‘‘(c) E
272	272	NTITLEMENT TO INCIDENTRESPONSEPRE-11
273	273	MIUMPAY.— 12
274	274	‘‘(1) I
275	275	N GENERAL.—A covered employee who 13
276	276	satisfies the conditions under subsection (b) is enti-14
277	277	tled to premium pay for the period in which the cov-15
278	278	ered employee is deployed to respond to the applica-16
279	279	ble qualifying incident. 17
280	280	‘‘(2) C
281	281	OMPUTATION.— 18
282	282	‘‘(A) F
283	283	ORMULA.—Subject to subpara-19
284	284	graphs (B) and (C), premium pay under para-20
285	285	graph (1) shall be paid to a covered employee 21
286	286	at a daily rate of 450 percent of the hourly rate 22
287	287	of basic pay of the covered employee for each 23
288	288	day that the covered employee satisfies the re-24
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292	292	quirements under subsection (b), rounded to 1
293	293	the nearest whole cent. 2
294	294	‘‘(B) L
295	295	IMITATION.—Premium pay under 3
296	296	this subsection— 4
297	297	‘‘(i) with respect to a covered em-5
298	298	ployee for whom the annual rate of basic 6
299	299	pay is greater than that for step 10 of GS– 7
300	300	10, shall be paid at the daily rate estab-8
301	301	lished under subparagraph (A) for the ap-9
302	302	plicable rate for step 10 of GS–10 (where 10
303	303	the applicable rate is the rate in effect in 11
304	304	the same locality that is the basis for a lo-12
305	305	cality-based comparability payment payable 13
306	306	to the covered employee under section 14
307	307	5304); and 15
308	308	‘‘(ii) may not be paid to a covered em-16
309	309	ployee in a total amount that exceeds 17
310	310	$9,000 in any calendar year. 18
311	311	‘‘(C) A
312	312	DJUSTMENTS.— 19
313	313	‘‘(i) A
314	314	SSESSMENT.—The Secretary of 20
315	315	Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-21
316	316	rior shall assess the difference between the 22
317	317	average total amount of compensation that 23
318	318	was paid to covered employees, by grade, 24
319	319	in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. 25
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323	323	‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 180 1
324	324	days after the date that is 1 year after the 2
325	325	effective date of this section, the Secretary 3
326	326	of Agriculture and the Secretary of the In-4
327	327	terior shall jointly publish a report on the 5
328	328	results of the assessment conducted under 6
329	329	clause (i). 7
330	330	‘‘(iii) A
331	331	DMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS .— 8
332	332	After publishing the report required under 9
333	333	clause (ii), the Secretary of Agriculture 10
334	334	and the Secretary of the Interior, in con-11
335	335	sultation with the Director of the Office of 12
336	336	Personnel Management, may, in the sole 13
337	337	and exclusive discretion of the Secretaries 14
338	338	acting jointly, administratively adjust the 15
339	339	amount of premium pay paid under this 16
340	340	subsection (or take other administrative 17
341	341	action) to ensure that the average annual 18
342	342	amount of total compensation paid to cov-19
343	343	ered employees, by grade, is more con-20
344	344	sistent with such amount that was paid to 21
345	345	those employees in fiscal year 2023. 22
346	346	‘‘(iv) C
347	347	ONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICA -23
348	348	TION.—Not later than 3 days after an ad-24
349	349	justment made, or other administrative ac-25
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353	353	tion taken, under clause (iii) becomes final, 1
354	354	the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-2
355	355	retary of the Interior shall jointly submit 3
356	356	to the appropriate committees of Congress 4
357	357	a notification regarding that adjustment or 5
358	358	other administrative action, as applicable. 6
359	359	‘‘(d) T
360	360	REATMENT OFINCIDENTRESPONSEPREMIUM 7
361	361	P
362	362	AY.—Incident response premium pay under this sec-8
363	363	tion— 9
364	364	‘‘(1) is not considered part of the basic pay of 10
365	365	a covered employee for any purpose; 11
366	366	‘‘(2) may not be considered in determining the 12
367	367	lump-sum payment of a covered employee for accu-13
368	368	mulated and accrued annual leave under section 14
369	369	5551 or section 5552; 15
370	370	‘‘(3) may not be used in determining pay under 16
371	371	section 8114; 17
372	372	‘‘(4) may not be considered in determining pay 18
373	373	for hours of paid leave or other paid time off during 19
374	374	which the premium pay is not payable; and 20
375	375	‘‘(5) shall be disregarded in determining the 21
376	376	minimum wage and overtime pay to which a covered 22
377	377	employee is entitled under the Fair Labor Standards 23
378	378	Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).’’. 24
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382	382	(b) ADDITIONALPREMIUMPAYAMENDMENTS.— 1
383	383	Subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, 2
384	384	is amended— 3
385	385	(1) in section 5544— 4
386	386	(A) by amending the section heading to 5
387	387	read as follows: ‘‘
388	388	WAGE-BOARD OVERTIME , 6
389	389	SUNDAY RATES , AND OTHER PREMIUM 7
390	390	PAY’’; and 8
391	391	(B) by adding at the end the following: 9
392	392	‘‘(d) A prevailing rate employee described in section 10
393	393	5342(a)(2)(A) shall receive incident response premium 11
394	394	pay under the same terms and conditions that apply to 12
395	395	a covered employee under section 5545c if that em-13
396	396	ployee— 14
397	397	‘‘(1) is employed by the Forest Service or the 15
398	398	Department of the Interior; and 16
399	399	‘‘(2)(A) is a wildland firefighter, as defined in 17
400	400	section 5332a(a); or 18
401	401	‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable agency to 19
402	402	perform wildland fire incident-related duties during 20
403	403	the period the employee is deployed to respond to a 21
404	404	qualifying incident (as defined in section 22
405	405	5545c(a)).’’; and 23
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409	409	(2) in section 5547(a), in the matter preceding 1
410	410	paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘5545c,’’ after 2
411	411	‘‘5545a,’’. 3
412	412	(c) C
413	413	LERICALAMENDMENTS.—The table of sections 4
414	414	for subchapter V of chapter 55 of title 5, United States 5
415	415	Code, is amended— 6
416	416	(1) by amending the item relating to section 7
417	417	5544 to read as follows: 8
418	418	‘‘5544. Wage-board overtime, Sunday rates, and other premium pay.’’;
419	419	and 9
420	420	(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-10
421	421	tion 5545b the following: 11
422	422	‘‘5545c. Incident response premium pay for employees engaged in wildland fire-
423	423	fighting.’’.
424	424	(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 12
425	425	this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 13
426	426	applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 14
427	427	last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-15
428	428	porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-16
429	429	ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 17
430	430	Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 18
431	431	as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 19
432	432	2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 20
433	433	Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 21
434	434	83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-22
435	435	priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 23
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439	439	SEC. 4. REST AND RECUPERATION LEAVE FOR EMPLOYEES 1
440	440	ENGAGED IN WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING. 2
441	441	(a) I
442	442	NGENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 63 of 3
443	443	title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 4
444	444	end the following: 5
445	445	‘‘§ 6329e. Rest and recuperation leave for employees 6
446	446	engaged in wildland firefighting 7
447	447	‘‘(a) D
448	448	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
449	449	‘‘(1) the term ‘applicable Secretary’ means the 9
450	450	Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the In-10
451	451	terior, as applicable to a covered employee; 11
452	452	‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-12
453	453	ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 13
454	454	the Interior who— 14
455	455	‘‘(A) qualifies as a wildland firefighter 15
456	456	based on the definitions of the terms ‘fire-16
457	457	fighter’ and ‘wildland firefighter’ in section 17
458	458	5332a(a) (applying the definition of ‘employee’ 18
459	459	in section 6301(2) in lieu of the definition of 19
460	460	‘employee’ in section 5331(a)); or 20
461	461	‘‘(B) is certified by the applicable Sec-21
462	462	retary to perform wildland fire incident-related 22
463	463	duties during the period the employee is de-23
464	464	ployed to respond to a qualifying incident; and 24
465	465	‘‘(3) the term ‘qualifying incident’ has the 25
466	466	meaning given the term in section 5545c(a). 26
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468	468	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 17
469	469	•S 135 IS
470	470	‘‘(b) REST ANDRECUPERATIONLEAVE.— 1
471	471	‘‘(1) I
472	472	N GENERAL.—A covered employee may 2
473	473	receive paid rest and recuperation leave following the 3
474	474	completion of service in which the covered employee 4
475	475	is deployed to respond to a qualifying incident, sub-5
476	476	ject to the policies prescribed under this subsection. 6
477	477	‘‘(2) P
478	478	RESCRIPTION OF POLICIES .—The Sec-7
479	479	retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-8
480	480	rior shall, in the sole and exclusive discretion of the 9
481	481	Secretaries acting jointly, prescribe uniform policies 10
482	482	described in paragraph (1) after consulting with the 11
483	483	other applicable Secretary. 12
484	484	‘‘(3) C
485	485	ONTENT OF POLICIES.—The policies pre-13
486	486	scribed under paragraph (2) may include— 14
487	487	‘‘(A) a maximum period of days in which 15
488	488	a covered employee is deployed to respond to a 16
489	489	qualifying incident, which shall— 17
490	490	‘‘(i) begin on the date on which the 18
491	491	covered employee departs from the official 19
492	492	duty station of the covered employee and 20
493	493	end on the date on which the covered em-21
494	494	ployee returns to the official duty station 22
495	495	of the covered employee; and 23
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497	497	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 18
498	498	•S 135 IS
499	499	‘‘(ii) be followed by a minimum num-1
500	500	ber of days of rest and recuperation for the 2
501	501	covered employee; or 3
502	502	‘‘(B) a requirement that prohibits a cov-4
503	503	ered employee from working more than 16 5
504	504	hours per day on average over a 14-day period 6
505	505	during which the covered employee is deployed 7
506	506	to respond to a qualifying incident. 8
507	507	‘‘(c) U
508	508	SE OFLEAVE.— 9
509	509	‘‘(1) I
510	510	N GENERAL.—Rest and recuperation 10
511	511	leave granted under this section— 11
512	512	‘‘(A) shall be used during scheduled hours 12
513	513	within the tour of duty of the applicable covered 13
514	514	employee established for leave-charging pur-14
515	515	poses; 15
516	516	‘‘(B) shall be paid in the same manner as 16
517	517	annual leave; 17
518	518	‘‘(C) shall be used immediately after a 18
519	519	qualifying incident; and 19
520	520	‘‘(D) may not be set aside for later use. 20
521	521	‘‘(2) N
522	522	O PAYMENT.—A covered employee may 21
523	523	not receive any payment for unused rest and recu-22
524	524	peration leave granted under this section. 23
525	525	‘‘(d) I
526	526	NTERMITTENT WORKSCHEDULE.—A covered 24
527	527	employee with an intermittent work schedule— 25
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530	530	•S 135 IS
531	531	‘‘(1) shall be excused from duty during the 1
532	532	same period of time that other covered employees in 2
533	533	the same circumstances are entitled to rest and re-3
534	534	cuperation leave; and 4
535	535	‘‘(2) shall receive a payment as if the covered 5
536	536	employee were entitled to rest and recuperation leave 6
537	537	under subsection (b).’’. 7
538	538	(b) T
539	539	ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 8
540	540	The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 63 of 9
541	541	title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 10
542	542	the item relating to section 6329d the following: 11
543	543	‘‘6329e. Rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland fire-
544	544	fighting.’’.
545	545	SEC. 5. TRANSFER AUTHORITY.
546	546	12
547	547	Notwithstanding section 40803(c)(2) of the Infra-13
548	548	structure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 14
549	549	6592(c)(2)), not more than $5,000,000 of the unobligated 15
550	550	balances of amounts made available under the heading 16
551	551	‘‘
552	552	WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT ’’ under the heading 17
553	553	‘‘F
554	554	ORESTSERVICE’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT 18
555	555	OF AGRICULTURE’’ in title VI of division J of that Act 19
556	556	(Public Law 117–58; 135 Stat. 1410) pursuant to section 20
557	557	40803(c)(2)(B) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(2)(B)) 21
558	558	may, as necessary to continue uninterrupted the Federal 22
559	559	wildland firefighter base salary increase described in sec-23
560	560	tion 40803(d)(4)(B) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 24
561	561	VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Feb 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S135.IS S135
562	562	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 20
563	563	•S 135 IS
564	564	6592(d)(4)(B)), be transferred to and merged with the 1
565	565	amounts made available under the heading ‘‘
566	566	WILDLAND 2
567	567	FIRE MANAGEMENT ’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT- 3
568	568	WIDEPROGRAMS’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT 4
569	569	OF THE INTERIOR’’ in title VI of division J of that 5
570	570	Act (Public Law 117–58; 135 Stat. 1393). 6
571	571	Æ
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573	573	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS