H.R. 4488 (111th): National Wildfire Infrastructure Improvement and Cost Containment Act

Introduced:
Jan 21, 2010 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA51]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced on January 21, 2010, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Jan 21, 2010
Cosponsors
3 cosponsors (2R, 1D) (show)
Committees

House Agriculture

House Armed Services

House Natural Resources

House Oversight and Government Reform

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To implement updated pay and personnel policies in order to improve the recruitment and retention of qualified Federal wildland firefighters and to reduce the Government's reliance on the more costly services of non-Federal wildfire resources.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Jan 21, 2010.
21 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

1/21/2010--Introduced.
National Wildfire Infrastructure Improvement and Cost Containment Act - Amends federal civil service law to raise the age for mandatory separation of a wildland firefighter from 57 to 65 years of age, or until her or she is certified by a licensed physician as being unable to successfully complete all applicable physical standards testing. Prohibits the use of funds appropriated to a federal department or agency to contract for the performance of firefighting or security guard functions that are performed, as of this Act's enactment, by a federal employee of any such department or agency.
Directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in cooperation with the federal land management agencies, to commence development of a separate wildland firefighter occupational series that will more accurately reflect the variety of duties performed by wildland firefighters. Requires a wildland firefighter's hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day to be considered overtime work. Makes time the firefighter is away from his or her official duty station assigned to an emergency incident, in support of an emergency incident, or pre-positioned for emergency response, compensable as work time. Includes hazardous duty differentials as basic pay for retirement purposes. Prohibits OPM from excluding wildland firefighters from government employees' life insurance coverage. Permits, under specified circumstances: (1) the continuation of health benefits for a wildland firefighter between wildfire seasons; and (2) anyone subject to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) as a firefighter to have any qualifying firefighter service treated as creditable service, regarding service performed between 1989 and this Act's enactment. Provides for investigations of firefighter fatalities by the Inspectors General of the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior. Repeals a requirement for an independent investigation of Forest Service firefighter deaths caused by wildfire entrapment or burnover.

House Republican Conference Summary

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No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

Slip Laws

Slip laws refer to enacted bills and joint resolutions in their original form as enacted by Congress, that is, before other laws amend them. Slip laws are cited as “Public Law XXX-YYY”, where XXX is the number of the Congress in which the bill or resolution was introduced.

  • Public Law 107-203

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)

Other Citations

  • 5 U.S.C. Chapter 51