119-hr435

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 435 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 435

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 15, 2025

 Mr. Issa (for himself, Mr. Kiley of California, and Mr. Obernolte) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Oversight and Government Reform, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

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.

 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 ``Direct Hire To Fight Fires''.

SEC. 2. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY TO APPOINT INDIVIDUALS TO FEDERAL 
 WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING AND FIREFIGHTING SUPPORT POSITIONS 
 IN THE FOREST SERVICE OR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 96 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``

Sec. 9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal 
 wildland firefighting and firefighting support positions 
 in the Forest Service and Department of the Interior
 ``

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
of the Interior may appoint, without regard to the provisions of 
sections 3309 through 3318 of this title, and part 211 and part 337 of 
subpart A of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, qualified candidates 
to any position described in subsection

    (b) in the Forest Service or 
the Department of the Interior, respectively.
 ``

    (b) Positions.--A position described in this subsection is any 
Federal wildland firefighting position, or any position in support of 
such firefighting position, within any of the following occupational 
series (or any successor series):
 ``

    (1) Forestry Technician Series, GS-0462.
 ``

    (2) Aircraft Operation Series, GS-2181.
 ``

    (3) Miscellaneous Administration and Program Series, GS-
 0301, that supports firefighting and is eligible for primary or 
 secondary firefighter retirement coverage.
 ``

    (4) General Natural Resources Management and Biological 
 Sciences Series, GS-0401, that supports firefighting and is 
 eligible for primary or secondary firefighter retirement 
 coverage.
 ``

    (5) Aviation Management Specialist Series, GS-2101.
 ``

    (6) Engineering Equipment Operator, WG, WL, or WS-5716, 
 that supports firefighting and is eligible for primary or 
 secondary firefighter retirement coverage.
 ``

    (7) Dispatching Series, GS-2151, that supports 
 firefighting and is eligible for primary or secondary 
 firefighter retirement coverage.
 ``

    (8) Equipment Specialist, GS-1670.
 ``

    (9) Any additional occupational series developed 
 specifically for wildland firefighting.''.

    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for such chapter is 
amended by adding after the item relating to 

section 9602 the 
following:

``9603. Direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal 
 wildland firefighting and firefighting 
 support positions in the Forest Service and 
 Department of the Interior.''.

SEC. 3. STREAMLINING AND TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING 
 HIRING AT THE FOREST SERVICE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE 
 INTERIOR.

    (a) Streamlined Hiring.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, in consultation with the 
Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall implement 
policies to recruit and retain wildland firefighters that--

    (1) reduce the amount of time required to hire wildland 
 firefighters and wildland firefighting support personnel;

    (2) address and eliminate redundancies in the Federal 
 hiring process for wildland firefighters and wildland 
 firefighting support personnel;

    (3) streamline the process for hiring wildland firefighters 
 and wildland firefighting support personnel who were employed 
 by the agencies in prior years; and

    (4) reduce barriers for wildland firefighters transferring 
 between agencies.

    (b) Transparency.--

    (1) In general.--Beginning 1 year after the date of the 
 enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretaries 
 shall each submit a report to the relevant Congressional 
 Committees that includes the information described in paragraph

    (2) not later than February 1st of each calendar year.

    (2) Requirements.--As part of the report submitted under 
 paragraph

    (1) , the Secretaries shall include information 
 regarding--
        (A) the number of wildland firefighters and 
 wildland firefighting support personnel the agency 
 anticipates it will need for that calendar year, 
 delineated by position;
        (B) the number of hiring events the agency is 
 planning to hold that calendar year;
            (C) the number of wildland firefighters and 
 wildland firefighting support personnel currently 
 employed by the agency, delineated by position;
            (D) the number of wildland firefighting vacancies 
 by State;
        (E) any barriers the agency is facing to meet the 
 hiring goal outlined in subsection

    (a) ;
        (F) the implementation of the direct hiring 
 authority provided in 

section 2;
        (G) the implementation of the streamlined hiring 
 policies developed under subsection

    (a) ; and
        (H) recommendations to Congress to further improve 
 the recruitment and retention of wildland firefighters 
 and wildland firefighting support personnel.

    (3) Public availability.--The Secretaries shall each 
 annually publish the report submitted under paragraph

    (1) on a 
 publicly available website.

    (4) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:
        (A) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means--
            (i) the Forest Service, with respect to 
 National Forest System lands; and
            (ii) the Department of the Interior, with 
 respect to lands under the jurisdiction of the 
 Secretary of the Interior.
        (B) Relevant congressional committees.--The term 
 ``relevant Congressional Committees'' means--
            (i) the Committees on Oversight and 
 Government Reform, Agriculture, and Natural 
 Resources of the House of Representatives; and
            (ii) the Committees on Homeland Security 
 and Governmental Affairs, Agriculture, 
 Nutrition, and Forestry and Energy and Natural 
 Resources of the Senate.
            (C) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means 
 the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
 Interior.
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