117 S138 RS: Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act U.S. Senate 2022-06-09 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IICalendar No. 401117th CONGRESS2d SessionS. 138[Report No. 117–119]IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESJanuary 28, 2021Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Daines, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Luján) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental AffairsJune 9, 2022Reported by Mr. Peters, with an amendmentStrike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italicA BILLTo waive certain pay limitations for Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior employees engaged in emergency wildland fire suppression activities, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act.

2.

Waiver of premium pay limitations for Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior employees engaged in emergency wildland fire suppression activities

(a)

Definitions

In this section:(1)

Covered employee

The term covered employee means an employee of the Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior.(2)

Covered services

The term covered services means services performed by a covered employee that are determined by the Secretary concerned to be primarily relating to emergency wildland fire suppression activities.(3)

Premium pay

The term premium pay means the premium pay paid under the provisions of law described in section 5547(a) of title 5, United States Code.(4)

Secretary concerned

The term Secretary concerned means—(A)the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to an employee of the Department of Agriculture; and(B)the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to an employee of the Department of the Interior.(b)

Waiver of premium pay period limitation

Any premium pay for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay for the applicable covered employee for purposes of a pay period limitation under section 5547(a) of title 5, United States Code, or under any other provision of law.(c)

Waiver of annual premium pay limitation

Any premium pay for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating any annual limitation on the amount of overtime pay payable in a calendar year or fiscal year under section 5547(b) of title 5, United States Code.(d)

Pay limitation

A covered employee may not be paid premium pay if, or to the extent that, the aggregate amount of the basic pay and premium pay (including premium pay for covered services) of the covered employee for a calendar year would exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code, as in effect at the end of that calendar year.(e)

Treatment of additional premium pay

If the application of this section results in the payment of additional premium pay to a covered employee of a type that is normally creditable as basic pay for retirement or any other purpose, that additional premium pay shall not be—(1)considered to be basic pay of the covered employee for any purpose; or(2)used in computing a lump-sum payment to the covered employee for accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 or 5552 of title 5, United States Code. (f)

Overtime rates

Section 5542(a)(5) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the United States Forest Service in.(g)

Effective date

This section and the amendment made by this section shall take effect as if enacted on January 1, 2020.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act.

2.

Waiver of premium pay limitations for Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, and National Weather Service employees engaged in emergency wildland fire suppression activities

(a)

Definitions

In this section:(1)

Basic pay

The term basic pay includes any applicable locality-based comparability payment under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, any applicable special rate supplement under section 5305 of that title, and any equivalent payment under a similar provision of law. (2)

Covered employee

The term covered employee means an employee of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, or the National Weather Service.(3)

Covered services

The term covered services means services performed by a covered employee—(A)serving as a wildland firefighter or a fire management response official, including a regional fire director, a deputy regional fire director, an agency official who directly oversees fire operations, and a fire management officer;(B)serving as an incident meteorologist accompanying a wildland firefighter crew; or(C)serving on an incident management team, at the National Interagency Fire Center, at a Geographic Area Coordinating Center, or at an operations center.(4)

Premium pay

The term premium pay means the premium pay paid under the provisions of law described in section 5547(a) of title 5, United States Code.(5)

Relevant committees

The term relevant committees means—(A)the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;(B)the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives;(C)the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and(D)the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.(6)

Secretary concerned

The term Secretary concerned means—(A)the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to an employee of the Department of Agriculture; (B)the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to an employee of the Department of the Interior; and(C)the Secretary of Commerce, with respect to an employee of the National Weather Service.(b)

Waivers of premium pay limitation

(1)

Waiver of premium pay period limitation

Any premium pay for covered services shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate of the basic pay and premium pay for the applicable covered employee for purposes of a limitation under section 5547 of title 5, United States Code, or under any other provision of law.(2)

Calculation of aggregate pay

Any pay that is disregarded under paragraph (1) shall be disregarded in calculating the aggregate pay of the applicable covered employee for purposes of applying the limitation under section 5307 of title 5, United States Code, during calendar year 2022.(3)

Pay limitation

A covered employee may not be paid premium pay under this subsection if, or to the extent that, the aggregate amount of the basic pay and premium pay (including premium pay for covered services) of the covered employee for a calendar year would exceed the rate of basic pay payable for a position at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code, as in effect at the end of that calendar year.(4)

Treatment of additional premium pay

If the application of this subsection results in the payment of additional premium pay to a covered employee of a type that is normally creditable as basic pay for retirement or any other purpose, that additional premium pay shall not be—(A)considered to be basic pay of the covered employee for any purpose; or(B)used in computing a lump-sum payment to the covered employee for accumulated and accrued annual leave under section 5551 or 5552 of title 5, United States Code. (5)

Effective period

This subsection shall be in effect during calendar year 2022 and apply to premium pay payable during that year.(c)

Submission of plan

Not later than March 30, 2022, each Secretary concerned, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall submit to the relevant committees a plan that addresses the needs of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, or the National Weather Service, as applicable, to hire and train additional wildland firefighters and incident meteorologists and modernize compensation for wildland firefighters and incident meteorologists such that sufficient firefighting resources are available throughout each year without the need for waivers of premium pay limitations.

June 9, 2022Reported with an amendment