Wildfire Resilient Communities Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1691 To provide mandatory funding to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System land, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To provide mandatory funding to the Secretary of Agri- culture to carry out hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System land, and for other purposes. 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Resilient 4 Communities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 6 PROJECTS ON NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM 7 LAND. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1691 IS (1) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; FIRE REGIME I; FIRE 1 REGIME II; FIRE REGIME III.—The terms ‘‘at-risk 2 community’’, ‘‘fire regime I’’, ‘‘fire regime II’’, and 3 ‘‘fire regime III’’ have the meanings given those 4 terms in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res- 5 toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 6 (2) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 7 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 8 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam- 9 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 10 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 11 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 12 on the condition that the method is ecologically ap- 13 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe- 14 cific basis. 15 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 17 Chief of the Forest Service. 18 (b) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION PROJECTS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 20 out hazardous fuels reduction projects on National 21 Forest System land. 22 (2) PROJECT PRIORITIES.—In carrying out 23 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall prioritize haz- 24 ardous fuels reduction projects that are— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1691 IS (A) conducted in areas that— 1 (i) are within or adjacent to— 2 (I) at-risk communities; or 3 (II) high-value watersheds; 4 (ii) have very high wildfire hazard po- 5 tential; or 6 (iii) are in fire regime I, fire regime 7 II, or fire regime III; or 8 (B) designed to integrate and simulta- 9 neously advance two or more of the goals estab- 10 lished in the report of the Secretary of Agri- 11 culture and the Secretary of the Interior enti- 12 tled ‘‘The National Strategy: the Final Phase of 13 the Development of the National Cohesive 14 Wildland Fire Management Strategy’’ and 15 dated April 2014— 16 (i) to create fire-adapted communities; 17 (ii) to restore and maintain resilient 18 landscapes; and 19 (iii) to achieve safe, effective fire re- 20 sponse. 21 (c) FUNDING.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—On the first October 1 fol- 23 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, out of any 24 funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1691 IS the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the 1 Secretary to carry out this section $1,000,000,000, 2 to remain available until expended. 3 (2) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.—The Sec- 4 retary shall be entitled to receive, shall accept, and 5 shall use to carry out this section the funds trans- 6 ferred under paragraph (1), without further appro- 7 priation. 8 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE AND PLANNING COSTS.— 9 Not more than 10 percent of funding made available 10 under paragraph (1) may be used for administrative 11 and planning costs. 12 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR AT-RISK 13 COMMUNITIES. 14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; COMMUNITY WILD- 16 FIRE PROTECTION PLAN.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com- 17 munity’’ and ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’ 18 have the meanings given those terms in section 101 19 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 20 U.S.C. 6511). 21 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 22 means the following: 23 (A) National Forest System land reserved 24 from the public domain. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1691 IS (B) The following land administered by the 1 Secretary of the Interior: 2 (i) Public lands (as defined in section 3 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man- 4 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 5 (ii) A unit of the National Park Sys- 6 tem. 7 (iii) A unit of the National Wildlife 8 Refuge System. 9 (iv) Land held in trust for an Indian 10 Tribe. 11 (3) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 12 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 13 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam- 14 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 15 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 16 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 17 on the condition that the method is ecologically ap- 18 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe- 19 cific basis. 20 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 21 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 22 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 23 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1691 IS (5) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 1 means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec- 2 retary of Agriculture. 3 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF MAP.—Not later than 180 4 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and periodi- 5 cally thereafter, the Secretaries shall develop and publish 6 a map depicting at-risk communities, including Tribal at- 7 risk communities. 8 (c) PLANNING AND PREPARING AT-RISK COMMU- 9 NITIES FOR WILDFIRE.—Subject to the availability of ap- 10 propriations, the Secretaries shall provide financial and 11 technical assistance to at-risk communities adjacent to 12 Federal land, including through States, to assist the at- 13 risk communities in planning and preparing for wildfire, 14 including— 15 (1) cosponsoring and supporting the expansion 16 of— 17 (A) the Firewise USA Program; 18 (B) the Ready, Set, Go program; 19 (C) the Living with Wildfire program; or 20 (D) programs similar to the programs re- 21 ferred to in subparagraphs (A) through (C) 22 that are designed to advance fire-adapted com- 23 munities; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1691 IS (2) supporting the development, updating, and 1 implementation of community wildfire protection 2 plans; 3 (3) carrying out risk assessments and creating 4 maps that depict wildfire risk, investment scenarios, 5 and tradeoffs to assist in planning for response and 6 suppression resource needs and implementing haz- 7 ardous fuels reduction projects; 8 (4) sharing costs to create defensible space for 9 a distance of not less than 100 feet around a resi- 10 dence that was built before the date of enactment of 11 this Act; and 12 (5) planning and implementing cross-boundary 13 hazardous fuels reduction projects as identified in a 14 community wildfire protection plan. 15 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16 authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 to carry out 17 this section for each fiscal year. 18 SEC. 4. COLLABORATIVE FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORA- 19 TION PROGRAM. 20 (a) PROPOSAL SELECTION PROCESS.—Section 21 4003(d) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 22 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(d)) is amended by striking para- 23 graph (3) and inserting the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1691 IS ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may select 1 not more than the number of proposals under para- 2 graph (1) that the Secretary determines are likely to 3 receive adequate funding.’’. 4 (b) PERMANENT REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 5 4003(f)(6) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 6 of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(f)(6)) is amended by striking 7 ‘‘$80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘$100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and 9 each fiscal year thereafter’’. 10 SEC. 5. COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND. 11 Section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 12 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) is amended— 13 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub- 14 section (k); and 15 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(j) COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 19 Treasury of the United States a fund to be known 20 as the ‘County Stewardship Fund’ (referred to in 21 this section as the ‘Fund’), to be administered by 22 the Secretary. 23 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.—Each fiscal year, an amount 24 equal to 25 percent of the amounts collected as re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1691 IS ceipts under subsection (e) during the preceding fis- 1 cal year shall be deposited in the Fund. 2 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the Fund 3 shall— 4 ‘‘(A) be used only for purposes described 5 in paragraph (4); and 6 ‘‘(B) remain available until expended. 7 ‘‘(4) PURPOSES.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year, the 9 Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall dis- 10 tribute from amounts in the Fund to each 11 county in which a contract under subsection (b) 12 was carried out on Federal land in the county 13 during the preceding fiscal year a payment of 14 an amount equal to 25 percent of the receipts 15 generated from that contract. 16 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.—A county receiving 17 a payment under subparagraph (A) may use 18 the payment for any governmental purposes.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS