[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6155 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6155

  To amend the Wilderness Act to ensure access to wilderness areas by 
   Federal, State, and local emergency response personnel during an 
                   emergency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 22, 2016

 Mr. Meadows introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Wilderness Act to ensure access to wilderness areas by 
   Federal, State, and local emergency response personnel during an 
                   emergency, 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 ``Ensuring Safety of Federal 
Wilderness Areas Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RESPONSE IN WILDERNESS AREAS MANAGED BY THE FOREST 
              SERVICE AND BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT.

    Section 4(c) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(c)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(c)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2)(A) In order to ensure adequate response to emergencies 
described in paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned may not adopt, 
amend, or enforce any regulation, policy, practice, or guidance that 
would delay Federal, State, or local emergency response personnel from 
entering a wilderness area or wilderness study area in response to an 
emergency. Any entrance by Federal, State, or local emergency response 
personnel into a wilderness area or wilderness study area in response 
to an emergency shall be reported to the Secretary concerned within 24 
hours from the time at which the emergency response personnel first 
entered the area. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as 
barring motorized vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, 
aircraft, or other forms of mechanical transport from a wilderness area 
or wilderness study area when employed by Federal, State, or local 
emergency response personnel in response to an emergency.
    ``(B) In this paragraph, the term `Secretary concerned' means--
            ``(i) with respect to wilderness areas and wilderness study 
        areas under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service, the 
        Secretary of Agriculture; and
            ``(ii) with respect to wilderness areas and wilderness 
        study areas under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land 
        Management, the Secretary of the Interior.''.
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