119-hr204

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 204 Referred in Senate

    (RFS) ]

<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 204

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 January 22, 2025

 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
 Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 AN ACT

 To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
 Interior submit accurate reports regarding hazardous fuels reduction 
 activities, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Accurately Counting Risk Elimination 
Solutions Act'' or the ``ACRES Act''.

SEC. 2. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION REPORTS.

    (a) Inclusion of Hazardous Fuels Reduction Report in Materials 
Submitted in Support of the President's Budget.--

    (1) In general.--Beginning with the first fiscal year that 
 begins after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each 
 fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary concerned shall include 
 in the materials submitted in support of the President's budget 
 pursuant to 

section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a 
 report on the number of acres of Federal land on which the 
 Secretary concerned carried out hazardous fuels reduction 
 activities during the preceding fiscal year.

    (2) Requirements.--For purposes of the report required 
 under paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary concerned shall--
        (A) in determining the number of acres of Federal 
 land on which the Secretary concerned carried out 
 hazardous fuels reduction activities during the period 
 covered by the report--
            (i) record acres of Federal land on which 
 hazardous fuels reduction activities were 
 completed during such period; and
            (ii) record each acre described in clause
            (i) once in the report, regardless of whether 
 multiple hazardous fuels reduction activities 
 were carried out on such acre during such 
 period; and
        (B) with respect to the acres of Federal land 
 recorded in the report, include information on--
            (i) which such acres are located in the 
 wildland-urban interface;
            (ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, 
 moderate, or low) on the first and last day of 
 the period covered by the report;
            (iii) the types of hazardous fuels 
 activities completed for such acres, 
 delineating between whether such activities 
 were conducted--
            (I) in a wildfire managed for 
 resource benefits; or
            (II) through a planned project;
            (iv) the cost per acre of hazardous fuels 
 activities carried out during the period 
 covered by the report;
            (v) the region or system unit in which the 
 acres are located; and
            (vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous 
 fuels reduction activities on reducing the risk 
 of wildfire.

    (3) Transparency.--The Secretary concerned shall make each 
 report submitted under paragraph

    (1) publicly available on the 
 website of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of 
 the Interior, as applicable.

    (b) Accurate Data Collection.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned shall 
 implement standardized procedures for tracking data related to 
 hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out by the 
 Secretary concerned.

    (2) Elements.--The standardized procedures required under 
 paragraph

    (1) shall include--
        (A) regular, standardized data reviews of the 
 accuracy and timely input of data used to track 
 hazardous fuels reduction activities;
        (B) verification methods that validate whether such 
 data accurately correlates to the hazardous fuels 
 reduction activities carried out by the Secretary 
 concerned;
            (C) an analysis of the short- and long-term 
 effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction 
 activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and
            (D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities that 
 occur partially within the wildland-urban interface, 
 methods to distinguish which acres are located within 
 the wildland-urban interface and which acres are 
 located outside the wildland-urban interface.

    (3) Report.--Not later than 2 weeks after implementing the 
 standardized procedures required under paragraph

    (1) , the 
 Secretary concerned shall submit to Congress a report that 
 describes--
        (A) such standardized procedures; and
        (B) program and policy recommendations to Congress 
 to address any limitations in tracking data related to 
 hazardous fuels reduction activities under this 
 subsection.
            (c) GAO Study.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall--

    (1) conduct a study on the implementation of this Act, 
 including any limitations with respect to--
        (A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction activities 
 under subsection

    (a) ; or
        (B) tracking data related to hazardous fuels 
 reduction activities under subsection

    (b) ; and

    (2) submit to Congress a report that describes the results 
 of the study under paragraph

    (1) .
            (d) === Definitions. ===
-In this Act:

    (1) Hazardous fuels reduction activity.--The term 
 ``hazardous fuels reduction activity''--
        (A) means any vegetation management activity to 
 reduce the risk of wildfire, including mechanical 
 treatments and prescribed burning; and
        (B) does not include the awarding of contracts to 
 conduct hazardous fuels reduction activities.

    (2) Federal lands.--The term ``Federal lands'' means lands 
 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or the 
 Secretary of Agriculture.

    (3) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned'' 
 means--
        (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
 National Forest System lands; and
        (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to 
 public lands and units of the National Park System.

    (4) Wildland-urban interface.--The term ``wildland-urban 
 interface'' has the meaning given the term in 

section 101 of 
 the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).

    (e) No Additional Funds Authorized.--No additional funds are 
authorized to carry out the requirements of this Act, and the 
activities authorized by this Act are subject to the availability of 
appropriations made in advance for such purposes.

 Passed the House of Representatives January 21, 2025.

 Attest:

 KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,

 Clerk.