Direct Hire To Fight Fires
Latest action · Oct 22, 2024 Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 118-714, Part I.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 18, 2023
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Direct Hire To Fight Fires
This bill provides permanent direct-hire authority to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior to fill wildland firefighter and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service and Interior agencies.
The bill also requires USDA and Interior to implement policies to recruit and retain wildland firefighters and related personnel, such as by streamlining the hiring process and reducing barriers for firefighters transferring between agencies.
Further, the bill requires USDA and Interior to annually report related data to Congress, including the number of firefighters needed for the coming year, the number of firefighting vacancies in each state, and existing barriers to filling such vacancies. The report must also be made available on a public website.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 18, 2023 to May 21, 2024; 1 is an original cosponsor, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-CA | Doug LaMalfa | Original | May 18, 2023 |
| R-CA | Kevin Kiley | Jun 21, 2023 | |
| R-CA | Ken Calvert | May 21, 2024 |
Committees 3
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Oversight and Government Reform Committee | Referred May 18, 2023 |
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred May 18, 2023Discharged Jul 26, 2023Markup Jul 26, 2023Reported Oct 22, 2024 |
| Federal Lands Subcommittee | Referred May 22, 2023Hearings May 23, 2023Discharged Jul 26, 2023 | |
| House | Agriculture Committee | Referred May 18, 2023 |
| Forestry and Horticulture Subcommittee | Referred Jun 23, 2023 |
Actions 9
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 22, 2024Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 118-714, Part I.
- Jul 26, 2023Subcommittee on Federal Lands Discharged.
- Jul 26, 2023Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jul 26, 2023Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 32 - 0.
- Jun 23, 2023Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry.
- May 23, 2023Subcommittee Hearings Held.
- May 22, 2023Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
- May 18, 2023Introduced in House
- May 18, 2023Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Committee report
Congressional Budget Office cost estimate
- Dec 5, 2024H.R. 3499, Direct Hire To Fight FiresAs reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on October 22, 2024
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 169, no. 84, May 18, 2023, page H2458.
Printed hearings 1
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serial No. 118-30 | H.R. 188; H.R. 934; H.R. 1450; H.R. 1726; H.R. 3389; H.R. 3396; H.R. 3499; H.R. 3522; AND H.R.____, ‘‘FOREST SERVICE FLEXIBLE HOUSING PARTNERSHIPS ACT OF 2023’’72 pages | Natural Resources Committee | May 23, 2023 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 3268 | Direct Hire to Fight Fires Act of 2023 | Related bill | Nov 9, 2023 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland firefighting and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Direct Hire To Fight Fires
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of the Interior
- Employee hiring
- Federal officials
- Fires
- First responders and emergency personnel
- Forests, forestry, trees
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government information and archives
- Government Operations and Politics
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 18, 2023Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
