[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2963 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2963

 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal 
    compensation for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2003

   Mr. Pombo (for himself, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Filner, Mr. Honda, Mr. 
 DeFazio, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Ose, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Gibbons, 
   Mr. Farr, Mr. Otter, Mr. Simpson, and Mr. McInnis) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal 
    compensation for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Federal Wildland Firefighter 
Emergency Response Compensation Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION.

    (a) Wildland Firefighter Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
the term ``wildland firefighter'' means an employee of the Department 
of the Interior or the United States Forest Service in the Department 
of Agriculture, the duties of whose position are primarily to perform 
work directly connected with the control, extinguishment, prevention, 
and management of wildland fires (including an employee engaged in this 
activity who is transferred to a supervisory or administrative 
position), but does not include an employee or group of employees 
excluded by the Office of Personnel Management under the second 
sentence of subsection (c).
    (b) Portal-to-Portal Compensation.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of any determination of pay, 
        a wildland firefighter is entitled to be paid for the entire 
        period of time during which such firefighter is engaged in 
        officially ordered or approved duties in connection with 
        responding to a wildland fire or other emergency, subject to 
        paragraph (2).
            (2) Limitation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, for any 24-hour period, the total amount in basic pay and 
        premium pay payable to a wildland firefighter as a result of 
        the application of this subsection may not exceed the amount 
        equal to the sum of--
                    (A) 16 times the firefighter's hourly rate of basic 
                pay; and
                    (B) 8 times the firefighter's overtime hourly rate 
                of pay.
    (c) Regulations.--The Office of Personnel Management shall 
prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this 
section. The Office may by regulation exclude from the operation of 
this section an employee or group of employees appointed on a casual 
emergency basis.

SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS DUTY DIFFERENTIAL TO BE TREATED AS PART OF A 
              FIREFIGHTER'S BASIC PAY FOR RETIREMENT PURPOSES.

    (a) In General.--Section 8331(3) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (G);
            (2) by inserting ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (H); 
        and
            (3) by adding after subparagraph (H) the following:
                    ``(I) with respect to a firefighter, any pay 
                differential under section 5545(d);''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 8331(3) of such title 5 is 
further amended by striking ``(B) through (H)'' and inserting ``(B) 
through (I)''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to 
compensation for service performed in any pay period beginning on or 
after the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>