119-hr4671

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4671 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4671

 To direct the Secretary of the Interior to develop a Wildland Fire 
 Management Casualty Assistance Program, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 23, 2025

 Mr. Harder of California (for himself and Mr. Scott Franklin of 
 Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To direct the Secretary of the Interior to develop a Wildland Fire 
 Management Casualty Assistance Program, 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 ``Ensuring Casualty Assistance for our 
Firefighters Act''.

SEC. 2. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

    (a) Development of Program.--Not later than 6 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
develop a Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program 
(referred to in this section as the ``Program'') to provide assistance 
to the next-of-kin of--

    (1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, suffer 
 illness or are critically injured or killed; and

    (2) wildland fire support personnel critically injured or 
 killed in the line of duty.

    (b) Aspects of Program.--The Program shall address the following:

    (1) The initial and any subsequent notifications to the 
 next-of-kin of a firefighter or wildland fire support personnel 
 who--
        (A) is killed in the line of duty; or
        (B) requires hospitalization or treatment at a 
 medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 
 illness.

    (2) The reimbursement of next-of-kin for expenses 
 associated with travel to visit a firefighter or wildland fire 
 support personnel who--
        (A) is killed in the line of duty; or
        (B) requires hospitalization or treatment at a 
 medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 
 illness.

    (3) The qualifications, assignment, training, duties, 
 supervision, and accountability for the performance of casualty 
 assistance responsibilities.

    (4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance officers, 
 including notification to survivors of critical injury or 
 illness in the line of duty and next-of-kin of the reassignment 
 of such officers to other duties.

    (5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case management 
 procedures for casualty assistance, including rapid access by 
 survivors of firefighters or wildland fire support personnel 
 and casualty assistance officers to expert case managers and 
 counselors.

    (6) The provision, through a computer accessible website 
 and other means and at no cost to survivors and next-of-kin of 
 firefighters or wildland fire support personnel, of 
 personalized, integrated information on the benefits and 
 financial assistance available to such survivors from the 
 Federal Government.

    (7) The provision of information to survivors and next-of-
 kin of firefighters or wildland fire support personnel on 
 mechanisms for registering complaints about, or requests for, 
 additional assistance related to casualty assistance.

    (8) Liaison with the Department of the Interior, the 
 Department of Justice, and the Social Security Administration 
 to ensure prompt and accurate resolution of issues relating to 
 benefits administered by those agencies for survivors of 
 firefighters or wildland fire support personnel.

    (9) Data collection, in consultation with the United States 
 Fire Administration and the National Institute for Occupational 
 Safety and Health, regarding the incidence and quality of 
 casualty assistance provided to survivors of firefighters or 
 wildland fire support personnel.
            (c) Line of Duty Death Benefits.--The Program shall not affect 
existing authorities for Line of Duty Death benefits for Federal 
firefighters and wildland fire support personnel.
            (d) Next-of-Kin Defined.--In this section, the term ``next-of-kin'' 
means person or persons in the highest category of priority as 
determined by the following list (categories appear in descending order 
of priority):

    (1) Surviving legal spouse.

    (2) Children (whether by current or prior marriage) age 18 
 years or older in descending precedence by age.

    (3) Father or mother, unless by court order custody has 
 been vested in another (adoptive parent takes precedence over 
 natural parent).

    (4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or older in 
 descending precedence by age.

    (5) Grandfather or grandmother.

    (6) Any other relative (precedence to be determined in 
 accordance with the civil law of descent of the deceased former 
 member's State of domicile at time of death).
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