S.Amdt. 1576

SA 1576. Mrs. BOXER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities
of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle F of title III, add the following:

SEC. 355. USE OF AIR NATIONAL GUARD AND AIR FORCE RESERVE FOR
INITIAL AIRBORNE RESPONSE TO FIGHTING
WILDFIRES.

(a) Interagency Agreements.--Subject to subsection (b), in
order to prevent the loss of life and reduce property losses
from wildfires, section 1535(a)(4) of title 31, United States
Code, shall not apply to limit the use of interagency
agreements with the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve
to procure the services of a unit of the Air National Guard
or Air Force Reserve to conduct Defense Support to Civil
Authority (DSCA) missions utilizing military fixed-wing
aerial firefighting aircraft, including Modular Airborne Fire
Fighting System (MAFFS) units, in the airborne response to
fighting wildfires.
(b) Limitations.--Section 1535(a)(4) of title 31, United
States Code, shall not apply to interagency agreements
described in subsection (a) only when a requesting agency
determines that--
(1) privately contracted fixed-wing aerial firefighting
aircraft are unavailable;
(2) there is an unfilled request for fixed-wing aerial
firefighting aircraft, including MAFFS units, to perform an
initial airborne response; or
(3) fixed-wing aerial firefighting aircraft, including
MAFFS units, are needed to supplement privately contracted
fixed-wing aerial firefighting aircraft.
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
interpreted as diminishing the role of contractor owned and
operated fixed-wing aircraft as the primary source of aerial
firefighting assets for the Federal wildland firefighting
agencies.
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