| 1 | 1 | | II |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 441 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | to develop a plan to reorganize Federal wildland fire response, and |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | for other purposes. |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025 |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | Mr. S |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | HEEHY(for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | trition, and Forestry |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | of the Interior to develop a plan to reorganize Federal |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | wildland fire response, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fit for Purpose Wild-4 |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | fire Readiness Act of 2025’’. 5 |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE RESPONSE REORGANIZA-6 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | TION. 7 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | (a) I |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture and 8 |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | the Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this Act as 9 |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:37 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S441.IS S441 |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | •S 441 IS |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall jointly develop a plan to consoli-1 |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | date the authorities of the Secretaries relating to Federal 2 |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | wildland fire preparedness, suppression, and recovery ef-3 |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | forts under an agency of the Department of the Interior, 4 |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | to be known as the ‘‘National Wildland Firefighting Serv-5 |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | ice’’. 6 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | (b) R |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | EQUIREMENTS.—The plan developed under sub-7 |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | section (a) shall include— 8 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | (1) a budget for the National Wildland Fire-9 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | fighting Service; 10 |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | (2) a description of the qualifications required 11 |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | for an individual to be appointed to be the Director 12 |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | of the National Wildland Firefighting Service, who 13 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | shall be appointed by the President, by and with the 14 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | advice and consent of the Senate; and 15 |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | (3) a description of the resources and authori-16 |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | ties necessary to consolidate Federal wildland fire 17 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | response efforts of the Secretaries in the National 18 |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | Wildland Firefighting Service. 19 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | (c) R |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 20 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall jointly sub-21 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | mit a report describing the plan developed under sub-22 |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | section (a) to— 23 |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | (1) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-24 |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | sources of the Senate; 25 |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:37 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S441.IS S441 |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | •S 441 IS |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | (2) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 1 |
|---|
| 62 | 62 | | and Forestry of the Senate; 2 |
|---|
| 63 | 63 | | (3) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 3 |
|---|
| 64 | 64 | | House of Representatives; and 4 |
|---|
| 65 | 65 | | (4) the Committee on Agriculture of the House 5 |
|---|
| 66 | 66 | | of Representatives. 6 |
|---|
| 67 | 67 | | Æ |
|---|
| 68 | 68 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:37 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S441.IS S441 |
|---|
| 69 | 69 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
|---|