[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2749 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2749

To provide mandatory funding for hazardous fuels reduction projects on 
             certain Federal land, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 7, 2023

 Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Padilla, and Mrs. Feinstein) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide mandatory funding for hazardous fuels reduction projects on 
             certain Federal land, 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 ``Wildfire Resilient Communities 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION PROJECTS ON CERTAIN 
              FEDERAL LAND.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency head.--The term ``agency head'' means--
                    (A) the Director of the National Park Service;
                    (B) the Chief of the Forest Service;
                    (C) the Director of the Bureau of Land Management;
                    (D) the Director of the United States Fish and 
                Wildlife Service; and
                    (E) the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
            (2) At-risk community; fire regime i; fire regime ii; fire 
        regime iii.--The terms ``at-risk community'', ``fire regime 
        I'', ``fire regime II'', and ``fire regime III'' have the 
        meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Healthy 
        Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).
            (3) Covered land.--The term ``covered land'' means Federal 
        land under the jurisdiction of the applicable agency head.
            (4) Hazardous fuels reduction project.--The term 
        ``hazardous fuels reduction project'' means the removal or 
        modification of flammable vegetation or woody debris through 
        prescribed fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 
        slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, on the 
        condition that the method is ecologically appropriate, cost-
        effective, and selected on a site-specific basis.
    (b) Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects.--
            (1) In general.--The agency heads shall carry out hazardous 
        fuels reduction projects on covered land.
            (2) Project priorities.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the 
        agency heads shall prioritize hazardous fuels reduction 
        projects that are--
                    (A) conducted in areas that--
                            (i) are within or adjacent to--
                                    (I) at-risk communities; or
                                    (II) high-value watersheds;
                            (ii) have very high wildfire hazard 
                        potential; or
                            (iii) are in fire regime I, fire regime II, 
                        or fire regime III; or
                    (B) designed to integrate and simultaneously 
                advance 2 or more of the goals established in the 
                report of the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
                Secretary of the Interior entitled ``The National 
                Strategy: the Final Phase of the Development of the 
                National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy'' 
                and dated April 2014 and the update entitled ``National 
                Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Addendum 
                Update'' and dated January 2023--
                            (i) to create fire-adapted communities;
                            (ii) to restore and maintain resilient 
                        landscapes; and
                            (iii) to achieve safe, effective fire 
                        response.
    (c) Funding.--
            (1) In general.--On the first October 1 following the date 
        of enactment of this Act, out of any funds in the Treasury not 
        otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        transfer to the agency heads, in accordance with an allocation 
        formula established by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
        $30,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.
            (2) Receipt and acceptance.--The agency heads shall be 
        entitled to receive, shall accept, and shall use to carry out 
        this section the funds transferred under paragraph (1), without 
        further appropriation.
            (3) Administrative and planning costs.--Not more than 10 
        percent of funding made available under paragraph (1) may be 
        used for administrative and planning costs.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR COMMUNITY WILDFIRE DEFENSE GRANT 
              PROGRAM.

    In addition to amounts made available to the Secretary of 
Agriculture under section 40803(c)(12) of the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(12)), there is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out section 
40803(f) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 
6592(f)) $3,000,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2027 through 
2031.

SEC. 4. COLLABORATIVE FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION PROGRAM 
              REAUTHORIZATION.

    Section 4003 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (16 
U.S.C. 7303) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(3)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``species;'' 
                and inserting ``species or pathogens;'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (C) in subparagraph (H), by adding ``and'' after 
                the semicolon at the end; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(I) address standardized monitoring questions and 
                indicators;'';
            (2) in subsection (c)(3)(A)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' at the end;
                    (B) in clause (ii), by adding ``and'' at the end; 
                and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) include a Federal Government 
                        staffing plan for providing support to 
                        collaborative processes established pursuant to 
                        subsection (b)(2);'';
            (3) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
                        and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(G) whether the proposal seeks to use innovative 
                implementation mechanisms, including conservation 
                finance agreements, good neighbor agreements entered 
                into under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
                (16 U.S.C. 2113a), and similar implementation 
                mechanisms;
                    ``(H) whether the proposal seeks to reduce the risk 
                of uncharacteristic wildfire or increase ecological 
                restoration activities--
                            ``(i) within areas across land ownerships, 
                        including State, Tribal, and private land; and
                            ``(ii) within the wildland-urban interface; 
                        and
                    ``(I) whether the proposal seeks to enhance 
                watershed health and drinking water sources.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``10'' 
                        and inserting ``20''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``2'' 
                        and inserting ``4'';
            (4) in subsection (e)(3), by inserting ``conflict 
        resolution or collaborative governance,'' before ``and woody''; 
        and
            (5) in subsection (f)(6), by striking ``$80,000,000 for 
        each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023'' and inserting 
        ``$100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year 
        thereafter''.

SEC. 5. COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND.

    Section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 
U.S.C. 6591c) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (k); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:
    ``(j) County Stewardship Fund.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is established in the Treasury of 
        the United States a fund to be known as the `County Stewardship 
        Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund'), to be 
        administered by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Deposits.--Each fiscal year, an amount equal to 25 
        percent of the amounts collected as receipts under subsection 
        (e) during the preceding fiscal year shall be deposited in the 
        Fund.
            ``(3) Availability.--Amounts in the Fund shall--
                    ``(A) be used only for purposes described in 
                paragraph (4); and
                    ``(B) remain available until expended.
            ``(4) Purposes.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each fiscal year, the Chief or 
                the Director, as applicable, shall distribute from 
                amounts in the Fund to each county in which a contract 
                under subsection (b) was carried out on Federal land in 
                the county during the preceding fiscal year a payment 
                of an amount equal to 25 percent of the receipts 
                generated from that contract.
                    ``(B) Use of funds.--A county receiving a payment 
                under subparagraph (A) may use the payment for any 
                governmental purposes.''.
                                 <all>