Wildland Firefighter Fairness Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1683 To correct problems pertaining to human resources for career and volunteer personnel engaged in wildland fire and structure fire. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To correct problems pertaining to human resources for career and volunteer personnel engaged in wildland fire and structure fire. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Wildland Firefighter Fairness Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Single qualification and certification system. Sec. 3. Personnel flexibility relating to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Sec. 4. Extension of service limits for seasonal hires. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1683 IS Sec. 5. Civil service retention rights. Sec. 6. Computation of pay. SEC. 2. SINGLE QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION SYS- 1 TEM. 2 (a) MERGING 2 SYSTEMS.—The Secretary of the In- 3 terior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall work with 4 States and the Workforce Development Committee of the 5 National Wildfire Coordinating Group to merge the Inci- 6 dent Qualification System and the Incident Qualification 7 and Certification System into a single system by Sep- 8 tember 30, 2027. 9 (b) ELIMINATION OF BUREAU ADD-ON REQUIRE- 10 MENTS.—On and after October 1, 2023, the Secretary of 11 the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may not re- 12 quire a person to demonstrate additional competencies to 13 obtain, make use of, or maintain a qualification or certifi- 14 cation for a fire position, regardless of which jurisdictional 15 agency employs the person. 16 SEC. 3. PERSONNEL FLEXIBILITY RELATING TO THE ROB- 17 ERT T. STAFFORD DISASTER RELIEF AND 18 EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT. 19 (a) DEFINITION OF TIME-LIMITED APPOINTMENT.— 20 Section 9601 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 21 by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(2) the term ‘time-limited appointment’ in- 23 cludes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1683 IS ‘‘(A) a temporary appointment and a term 1 appointment, as defined by the Office of Per- 2 sonnel Management; 3 ‘‘(B) an appointment pursuant to section 4 306(b)(1) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 5 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 6 U.S.C. 5149(b)(1)); and 7 ‘‘(C) an appointment pursuant to subtitle 8 E of title I of the National and Community 9 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12611 et 10 seq.).’’. 11 (b) COMPETITIVE SERVICE; TIME-LIMITED APPOINT- 12 MENTS.—Section 9602 of title 5, United States Code, is 13 amended— 14 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 15 as subsections (d) through (g), respectively; 16 (2) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 17 paragraph (1)— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and in- 19 serting ‘‘APPOINTMENTS TO LAND MANAGE- 20 MENT AGENCIES.—Notwithstanding’’; and 21 (B) by inserting ‘‘described in section 22 9601(2)(A)’’ after ‘‘time-limited appointment’’; 23 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1683 IS ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE ROBERT T. STAF- 1 FORD DISASTER RELIEF AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE 2 ACT.—Notwithstanding chapter 33 or any other provision 3 of law relating to the examination, certification, and ap- 4 pointment of individuals in the competitive service— 5 ‘‘(1) an employee appointed under the authority 6 described in section 9601(2)(B) and serving under a 7 full-time, time-limited appointment is eligible to 8 compete for a permanent appointment in the com- 9 petitive service at the Federal Emergency Manage- 10 ment Agency or any other agency (as defined in sec- 11 tion 101 of title 31) under the internal merit pro- 12 motion procedures of the applicable agency if— 13 ‘‘(A) the employee has served under one or 14 more time-limited appointments for at least 2 15 years without a break in service; and 16 ‘‘(B) the performance of the employee has 17 been at an acceptable level of performance 18 throughout the one or more time-limited ap- 19 pointment periods referred to in subparagraph 20 (A); and 21 ‘‘(2) an employee appointed under the authority 22 described in section 9601(2)(B) and serving under 23 an intermittent, time-limited appointment is eligible 24 for a permanent appointment in the competitive 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1683 IS service at the Federal Emergency Management 1 Agency or any other agency (as defined in section 2 101 of title 31) under the internal merit promotion 3 procedures of the applicable agency if— 4 ‘‘(A) the employee has served under one or 5 more time-limited appointments; 6 ‘‘(B) the employee has been deployed at 7 least 522 days; 8 ‘‘(C) the employee has not declined any de- 9 ployments while in an ‘available’ status; and 10 ‘‘(D) the performance of the employee has 11 been at an acceptable level of performance 12 throughout the one or more time-limited ap- 13 pointments referred to in subparagraph (A). 14 ‘‘(c) APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE NATIONAL AND 15 COMMUNITY SERVICE ACT OF 1990.— 16 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE.—Notwith- 17 standing section 160(a) of the National and Commu- 18 nity Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12620(a)), in 19 this subsection, the term ‘employee’ includes individ- 20 uals appointed under subtitle E of title I of that Act 21 (42 U.S.C. 16211 et seq.). 22 ‘‘(2) COMPETITION FOR PERMANENT APPOINT- 23 MENT.—Notwithstanding chapter 33 or any other 24 provision of law relating to the examination, certifi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1683 IS cation, and appointment of individuals in the com- 1 petitive service, a member of the National Civilian 2 Community Corps appointed under subtitle E of title 3 I of the National and Community Service Act of 4 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12611 et seq.) who serves 2 con- 5 secutive terms is eligible to compete for a permanent 6 appointment in the competitive service at the Fed- 7 eral Emergency Management Agency or any other 8 agency (as defined in section 101 of title 31) under 9 the internal merit promotion procedures during the 10 2-year period beginning on the date of the expiration 11 of the appointment under section 160(a) of the Na- 12 tional and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 13 U.S.C. 12620(a)), if the performance of the em- 14 ployee has been at an acceptable level of perform- 15 ance throughout the period.’’; 16 (4) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by para- 17 graph (1)), by striking ‘‘In determining’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘WAIVER OF AGE REQUIREMENTS.—In deter- 19 mining’’; 20 (5) in subsection (e) (as redesignated by para- 21 graph (1)), by striking ‘‘An individual’’ and insert- 22 ing ‘‘TENURE AND STATUS.—An individual’’; 23 (6) in subsection (f) (as redesignated by para- 24 graph (1)), in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1683 IS (A) by striking ‘‘A former’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘FORMER EMPLOYEES.—A former’’; and 2 (B) by inserting ‘‘or the Federal Emer- 3 gency Management Agency’’ after ‘‘manage- 4 ment agency’’; and 5 (7) in subsection (g) (as redesignated by para- 6 graph (1)), by striking ‘‘The Office’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘REGULATIONS.—The Office’’. 8 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF SERVICE LIMITS FOR SEASONAL 9 HIRES. 10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 11 (1) the term ‘‘covered Secretary’’ means— 12 (A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 13 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture; 14 (2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 15 the Office of Personnel Management; and 16 (3) the term ‘‘pilot program’’ means the pilot 17 program established under subsection (b). 18 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Director shall establish 19 a pilot program for seasonal or temporary Federal employ- 20 ees, the duties of which primarily involve being a fire- 21 fighter. 22 (c) EXPANSION OF SERVICE YEAR LIMITATIONS.— 23 Under the pilot program, each covered Secretary may ex- 24 pand a service year limitation to enable a seasonal fire- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1683 IS fighter to be employed for a period that exceeds 1,040 1 hours in a given year if the covered Secretary determines 2 the expansion to be necessary to stage fire crews earlier 3 or later in a year to accommodate longer fire seasons. 4 (d) STANDARDS.—The Director, in cooperation with 5 each covered Secretary, shall establish standards and 6 guidelines for the pilot program. 7 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 8 on which the pilot program is established, the Director 9 shall submit a report that describes the use and impact 10 of the pilot program to— 11 (1) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re- 12 sources and the Committee on Homeland Security 13 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 14 (2) the Committee on Natural Resources and 15 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 16 House of Representatives. 17 (f) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi- 18 nate on the date that is 5 years after the date on which 19 the pilot program is established. 20 SEC. 5. CIVIL SERVICE RETENTION RIGHTS. 21 Section 8151 of title 5, United States Code, is 22 amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the fol- 23 lowing: 24 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1683 IS ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered employee’ means an 2 employee who— 3 ‘‘(i) served in a position in the Forest 4 Service or the Department of the Interior 5 as a wildland firefighter; and 6 ‘‘(ii) sustained an injury while in the 7 performance of duty, as determined by the 8 Director of the Office of Personnel Man- 9 agement, that prevents the employee from 10 performing the physical duties of a fire- 11 fighter; 12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘equivalent position’ includes 13 a position for a covered employee that— 14 ‘‘(i) allows the covered employee to re- 15 ceive the same retirement benefits under 16 subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 17 that the covered employee would have re- 18 ceived in the former position had the cov- 19 ered employee not been injured or disabled; 20 and 21 ‘‘(ii) does not require the covered em- 22 ployee to complete any more years of serv- 23 ice than the covered employee would have 24 been required to complete to receive the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1683 IS benefits described in clause (i) had the cov- 1 ered employee not been injured or disabled; 2 and 3 ‘‘(C) the term ‘firefighter’ has the meaning 4 given the term in section 8331. 5 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Under regulations issued 6 by the Office of Personnel Management— 7 ‘‘(A) the department or agency that was 8 the last employer shall immediately and uncon- 9 ditionally accord the employee, if the injury or 10 disability has been overcome within 1 year after 11 the date of commencement of compensation or 12 from the time compensable disability recurs if 13 the recurrence begins after the injured em- 14 ployee resumes regular full-time employment 15 with the United States, the right to resume the 16 former position of the employee or an equiva- 17 lent position, as well as all other attendant 18 rights that the employee would have had, or ac- 19 quired, in the former position of the employee 20 had the employee not been injured or disabled, 21 including the rights to tenure, promotion, and 22 safeguards in reductions-in-force procedures; 23 ‘‘(B) the department or agency that was 24 the last employer shall, if the injury or dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 1683 IS ability is overcome within a period of more than 1 1 year after the date of commencement of com- 2 pensation, make all reasonable efforts to place, 3 and accord priority to placing, the employee in 4 the former position of the employee or an equiv- 5 alent position within the department or agency, 6 or within any other department or agency; and 7 ‘‘(C) a covered employee who was injured 8 during the 20-year period ending on the date of 9 enactment of the Wildland Firefighter Fairness 10 Act may not receive the same retirement bene- 11 fits described in paragraph (1)(B)(ii) unless the 12 covered employee first makes a payment to the 13 Forest Service or the Department of the Inte- 14 rior, as applicable, equal to the amount that 15 would have been deducted from pay under sec- 16 tion 8334 or 8442, as applicable, had the cov- 17 ered employee not been injured or disabled.’’. 18 SEC. 6. COMPUTATION OF PAY. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8114 of title 5, United 20 States Code, is amended by striking subsection (e) and 21 inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(e) OVERTIME.— 23 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 24 ‘covered overtime pay’ means pay received by an em- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1683.IS S1683 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 1683 IS ployee who serves in a position in the Forest Service 1 or the Department of the Interior as a wildland fire- 2 fighter while engaged in wildland fire suppression 3 activity. 4 ‘‘(2) OVERTIME.—The value of subsistence and 5 quarters, and of any other form of remuneration in 6 kind for services if its value can be estimated in 7 money, and covered overtime pay and premium pay 8 under section 5545(c)(1) of this title are included as 9 part of the pay, but account is not taken o [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]