[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2551 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2551

To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to provide 
    owners of non-Federal lands with a reliable method of receiving 
  compensation for damages resulting from the spread of wildfire from 
    nearby forested National Forest System lands or Bureau of Land 
Management lands, when those forested Federal lands are not maintained 
        in the forest health status known as condition class 1.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2003

Mr. Simpson (for himself and Mr. Otter) introduced the following bill; 
            which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to provide 
    owners of non-Federal lands with a reliable method of receiving 
  compensation for damages resulting from the spread of wildfire from 
    nearby forested National Forest System lands or Bureau of Land 
Management lands, when those forested Federal lands are not maintained 
        in the forest health status known as condition class 1.

    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 ``Enhanced Safety from Wildfire Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE SPREAD 
              OF WILDFIRE FROM FORESTED PUBLIC LANDS.

    (a) Imposition of Liability for Spread of Wildfire.--Title III of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 is amended by 
inserting after section 318 (43 U.S.C. 1748) the following new section:

``SEC. 319. LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM SPREAD OF WILDFIRE 
              FROM PUBLIC LANDS OR NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.

    ``(a) Liability as Rule of Law.--Except as provided in subsections 
(b), (c), and (d), and subject to the delayed effective date specified 
in subsection (g), any injury to or loss of property that occurs on 
non-Federal lands as a direct result of a fire that spread from 
forested Federal lands onto the non-Federal lands, either directly or 
by first spreading to other non-Federal lands, shall be deemed to be an 
injury or loss of property caused by the negligent or wrongful act or 
omission of an employee of the United States while acting within the 
scope of the employee's office or employment for purposes of section 
1346 and chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code (commonly known as 
the `Federal Tort Claims Act') .
    ``(b) Additional Requirement for Certain Non-Federal Lands.--
            ``(1) Non-federal lands used for commercial timber 
        production.--The owner or leasee of non-Federal lands damaged 
        by the spread of wildfire from forested Federal lands may not 
        utilize the rule of law specified in subsection (a) when the 
        non-Federal lands exceed 640 acres and are used for the 
        commercial production of timber, unless the owner or leasee 
        proves that the damaged non-Federal lands were being managed to 
        achieve or maintain the forest health status known as condition 
        class 1 immediately before the fire.
            ``(2) Role of state forester.--In the event of a dispute 
        between the owner or leasee and the Secretary concerned 
        regarding the status before the fire of non-Federal lands 
        subject to paragraph (1), the determination of the State 
        Forester of the State in which the lands are located shall 
        control. Any expenses incurred by the State Forester to make 
        the determination shall be equally divided between the 
        Secretary concerned and the owner or leasee.
    ``(c) Exclusion of Condition Class 1 Lands.--The rule of law 
specified in subsection (a) shall not apply if the forested Federal 
lands within the buffer zone adjacent to the Federal land boundary from 
which the fire spread to non-Federal lands were managed as condition 
class 1 immediately before the fire.
    ``(d) Exclusion of Other Federal Lands.--The rule of law specified 
in subsection (a) shall not apply to the following Federal lands, even 
though wildfire may originate on such lands and spread to adjacent non-
Federal lands:
            ``(1) A component of the National Wilderness Preservation 
        System.
            ``(2) Federal lands where, by Act of Congress, Presidential 
        proclamation, or land and resource management plan, the removal 
        of vegetation is prohibited.
            ``(3) Areas of Federal lands that comprise less than 6,400 
        acres and are not contiguous to other Federal lands.
    ``(e) Report Regarding Status of Buffer Lands.--Not later than two 
years after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 
concerned shall submit to Congress a report describing the forest 
health status of all buffer zones with non-Federal lands and the extent 
to which the buffer zones are in, or are being managed to achieve, the 
forest health status known as condition class 1.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `buffer zone' refers to those forested 
        Federal lands that are within a prescribed distance of a 
        Federal land boundary with non-Federal lands and comprise, or 
        are part of a larger area of Federal lands comprising, 6,400 
        acres or more. The Secretary shall prescribe the actual buffer 
        zone for a particular area of forested Federal lands based on 
        the geography, topography, and forest cover of the lands.
            ``(2) The term `condition class 1', with respect to an area 
        of forested Federal lands or non-Federal lands, means that the 
        lands are managed so that--
                    ``(A) fire regimes on the lands are within 
                historical ranges;
                    ``(B) vegetation composition and structure are 
                intact; and
                    ``(C) the risk of losing key ecosystem components 
                from the occurrence of fire remains relatively low.
            ``(3) The term `forested Federal lands' means public lands 
        and National Forest System lands that contain trees as a 
        significant component of the lands.
            ``(4) The term `Secretary concerned' means the Secretary of 
        the Interior (or the designee of that Secretary) with respect 
        to public lands and the Secretary of Agriculture (or the 
        designee of that Secretary) with respect to National Forest 
        System lands.
    ``(g) Delayed Effective Date.--The rule of law specified in 
subsection (a) shall take effect at the end of the eight-year period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this section and apply with 
respect to fires that spread from Federal lands onto non-Federal lands 
after the end of such period.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents at the beginning of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to section 318 the following new 
item:

``Sec. 319. Liability for damages resulting from spread of wildfire 
                            from public lands or National Forest System 
                            lands.''.
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