What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to submit accurate reports about wildfire fuel reduction activities on federal land. The bill also requires these agencies to implement standardized procedures for tracking data about these activities to ensure the reports are accurate and complete.
Who It Affects
The Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, Congress and the public (through publicly available reports).
Key Provisions
• Starting with the first full fiscal year after this bill becomes law, both secretaries must include a report in the President's budget materials about how many acres of federal land had hazardous fuel reduction activities completed in the previous year (Sec. 2(a)(1)).
• Each acre counted in the report must only be counted once, even if multiple fuel reduction activities happened on that same acre during the year (Sec. 2(a)(2)).
• The reports must include information about which acres are in the wildland-urban interface (areas where homes and buildings meet undeveloped land), the wildfire risk level on those acres, the types of activities completed, cost per acre, location and how well the activities reduced wildfire risk (Sec. 2(a)(2)).
• Within 90 days of the bill becoming law, both secretaries must set up standardized procedures for tracking fuel reduction activity data, including regular accuracy checks and methods to measure how well these activities reduce wildfire risk (Sec. 2(b)).
• Within 2 weeks of setting up these procedures, both secretaries must report to Congress describing the procedures and any recommendations to fix tracking problems (Sec. 2(b)(3)).
• The Government Accountability Office (the agency that investigates federal spending) must study how well the law works within 2 years and report results to Congress (Sec. 2(c)).
• The reports must be made public on the websites of the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior (Sec. 2(a)(3)).
What Changes
If this becomes law, the two agencies must start producing detailed, standardized reports about their wildfire fuel reduction work. These reports will be available to the public. The agencies must also develop new tracking systems to make sure their data is accurate and complete.
Important Definitions
• Hazardous fuels reduction activity: any work to remove vegetation or reduce the risk of wildfire, including cutting down trees and burning controlled fires (does not include just awarding contracts to do this work).
• Federal lands: land controlled by the Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Agriculture.
• Secretary concerned: the Secretary of Agriculture (for National Forest System lands) or the Secretary of the Interior (for public lands and national parks).
• Wildland-urban interface: the term is defined in another law from 2003 (the Healthy Forests Restoration Act), but that definition is not included in this bill text.
Effective Date
The bill says reports must begin "with the first fiscal year that begins after the date of the enactment of this Act," but the exact date when Congress passed or the President signed this bill is not specified in the bill text provided.
IIB
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1567
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources
AN ACT
To require that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Sec-
retary of the Interior submit accurate reports regarding
hazardous fuels reduction activities, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
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HR 1567 RFS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accurately Counting
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Risk Elimination Solutions Act’’ or the ‘‘ACRES Act’’.
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SEC. 2. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION RE-
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PORTS.
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(a) INCLUSION OF HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION
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REPORT IN MATERIALS SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF THE
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PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with the first fis-
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cal year that begins after the date of the enactment
10
of this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Sec-
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retary concerned shall include in the materials sub-
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mitted in support of the President’s budget pursuant
13
to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a re-
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port on the number of acres of Federal land on
15
which the Secretary concerned carried out hazardous
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fuels reduction activities during the preceding fiscal
17
year.
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(2) REQUIREMENTS.—For purposes of the re-
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port required under paragraph (1), the Secretary
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concerned shall—
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(A) in determining the number of acres of
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Federal land on which the Secretary concerned
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carried out hazardous fuels reduction activities
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during the period covered by the report—
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HR 1567 RFS
(i) record acres of Federal land on
1
which hazardous fuels reduction activities
2
were completed during such period; and
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(ii) record each acre described in
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clause (i) once in the report, regardless of
5
whether multiple hazardous fuels reduction
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activities were carried out on such acre
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during such period; and
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(B) with respect to the acres of Federal
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land recorded in the report, include information
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on—
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(i) which such acres are located in the
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wildland-urban interface;
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(ii) the level of wildfire risk (high,
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moderate, or low) on the first and last day
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of the period covered by the report;
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(iii) the types of hazardous fuels ac-
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tivities completed for such acres, delin-
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eating between whether such activities
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were conducted—
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(I) in a wildfire managed for re-
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source benefits; or
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(II) through a planned project;
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HR 1567 RFS
(iv) the cost per acre of hazardous
1
fuels activities carried out during the pe-
2
riod covered by the report;
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(v) the region or system unit in which
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the acres are located; and
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(vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous
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fuels reduction activities on reducing the
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risk of wildfire.
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(3) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary concerned
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shall make each report submitted under paragraph
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(1) publicly available on the website of the Depart-
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ment of Agriculture and the Department of the Inte-
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rior, as applicable.
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(b) ACCURATE DATA COLLECTION.—
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after
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the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
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concerned shall implement standardized procedures
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for tracking data related to hazardous fuels reduc-
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tion activities carried out by the Secretary con-
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cerned.
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(2) ELEMENTS.—The standardized procedures
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required under paragraph (1) shall include—
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(A) regular, standardized data reviews of
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the accuracy and timely input of data used to
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track hazardous fuels reduction activities;
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(B) verification methods that validate
1
whether such data accurately correlates to the
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hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out
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by the Secretary concerned;
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(C) an analysis of the short- and long-term
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effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction
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activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and
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(D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities
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that occur partially within the wildland-urban
9
interface, methods to distinguish which acres
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are located within the wildland-urban interface
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and which acres are located outside the
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wildland-urban interface.
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(3) REPORT.—Not later than 2 weeks after im-
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plementing the standardized procedures required
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under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall
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submit to Congress a report that describes—
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(A) such standardized procedures; and
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(B) program and policy recommendations
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to Congress to address any limitations in track-
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ing data related to hazardous fuels reduction
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activities under this subsection.
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(c) GAO STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the
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date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General
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of the United States shall—
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(1) conduct a study on the implementation of
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this Act, including any limitations with respect to—
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(A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction ac-
3
tivities under subsection (a); or
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(B) tracking data related to hazardous
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fuels reduction activities under subsection (b);
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and
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(2) submit to Congress a report that describes
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the results of the study under paragraph (1).
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(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:
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(1) HAZARDOUS
FUELS
REDUCTION
ACTIV-
11
ITY.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction activ-
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ity’’—
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(A) means any vegetation management ac-
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tivity to reduce the risk of wildfire, including
15
mechanical treatments and prescribed burning;
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and
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(B) does not include the awarding of con-
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tracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction ac-
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tivities.
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(2) FEDERAL
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Federal
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lands’’ means lands under the jurisdiction of the
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Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agri-
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culture.
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(3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec-
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retary concerned’’ means—
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(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-
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spect to National Forest System lands; and
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(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-
5
spect to public lands and units of the National
6
Park System.
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(4) WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term
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‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ has the meaning given
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the term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res-
10
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).
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(e) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No addi-
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tional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements
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of this Act, and the activities authorized by this Act are
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subject to the availability of appropriations made in ad-
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vance for such purposes.
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Passed the House of Representatives September 13,
2023.
Attest:
KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,
Clerk.
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