[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 5541 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 5541
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 10 (legislative day, July 9), 2008
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To provide a supplemental funding source for catastrophic emergency
wildland fire suppression activities on Department of the Interior and
National Forest System lands, to require the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire
management strategy, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Land
Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act'' or ``FLAME Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Flame Fund for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression
activities.
Sec. 3. Cohesive wildland fire management strategy.
Sec. 4. Review of certain wildfires to evaluate cost containment in
wildland fire suppression activities.
Sec. 5. Reducing risk of wildfires in fire-ready communities.
SEC. 2. FLAME FUND FOR CATASTROPHIC EMERGENCY WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION
ACTIVITIES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means the
following:
(A) Public lands, as defined in section 103 of the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43
U.S.C. 1702).
(B) Units of the National Park System.
(C) Refuges of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
(D) Lands held in trust by the United States for
the benefit of Indian tribes or individual Indians.
(E) Lands in the National Forest System, as defined
in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
(2) Flame fund.--The term ``Flame Fund'' means the Federal
Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Fund established
by this section.
(3) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned''
means--
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to
Federal land described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C),
and (D) of paragraph (1); and
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to
National Forest System land.
(4) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture,
acting jointly.
(b) Establishment and Availability of Flame Fund.--
(1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury of
the United States a fund to be known as the Federal Land
Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Fund.
(2) Contents.--The Flame Fund shall consist of the
following amounts:
(A) Amounts appropriated to the Flame Fund pursuant
to the authorization of appropriations in subsection
(c).
(B) Amounts transferred to the Flame Fund pursuant
to subsection (d).
(3) Availability.--Subject to subsection (e), amounts in
the Flame Fund shall be available to the Secretaries to pay the
costs of catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression
activities that are separate from amounts annually appropriated
to the Secretaries for the predicted annual workload for
wildland fire suppression activities, based on analyses of
historical workloads and anticipated increased workloads due to
changing environmental or demographic conditions.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to the Flame Fund such funds as may be
necessary to carry out this section. It is the intent of
Congress that the amount appropriated to the Flame Fund for
fiscal year 2009 and each subsequent fiscal year equal the
average amount expended by the Secretaries for emergency
wildland fire suppression activities over the five fiscal years
preceding that fiscal year.
(2) Sense of congress on designation of certain
appropriations as emergency requirement.--It is the sense of
Congress that the amounts appropriated to the Flame Fund that
are above the average of the obligations of the preceding 10
years for wildland fire suppression in the Forest Service and
the Department of the Interior, adjusted for inflation, should
be designated as amounts necessary to meet emergency needs, and
the new budget authority and outlays resulting therefrom should
not count for the purposes of titles III and IV of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
(3) Notice of insufficient funds.--The Secretaries shall
notify the congressional committees specified in subsection
(h)(2) whenever only an estimated two months worth of funding
remains in the Flame Fund.
(d) Transfer of Excess Wildland Fire Suppression Amounts Into Flame
Fund.--At the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary concerned shall
transfer to the Flame Fund amounts appropriated to the Secretary
concerned for wildland fire suppression activities for the fiscal year,
but not obligated for wildland fire suppression activities before the
end of the fiscal year.
(e) Use of Flame Fund.--
(1) Declaration required.--Amounts in the Flame Fund shall
be made available to the Secretary concerned only after the
Secretaries issue a declaration that a wildland fire
suppression activity is eligible for funding through the Flame
Fund.
(2) Declaration criteria.--A declaration by the Secretaries
under paragraph (1) shall be based on the following criteria:
(A) In the case of an individual wildland fire
incident--
(i) the fire covers 300 or more acres;
(ii) the severity of the fire, which may be
based on incident complexity or the potential
for increased complexity; and
(iii) the threat posed by the fire,
including the potential for loss of lives,
property, or critical resources.
(B) Consistent with subsection (f), in the case of
a firefighting season, cumulative wildland fire
suppression activities, when the costs of those
activities for the Secretary concerned are projected to
exceed amounts annually appropriated.
(3) Transfer of amounts to secretary concerned.--After
issuance of a declaration under paragraph (1) and upon the
request of the Secretary concerned, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall transfer from the Flame Fund to the Secretary
concerned such amounts as the Secretaries determine are
necessary for wildland fire suppression activities associated
with the declared suppression emergency.
(4) State, private, and tribal land.--Use of the Flame Fund
for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression activities
on State and private land and, where applicable, tribal land
shall be consistent with existing agreements where the
Secretaries have agreed to assume responsibility for wildland
fire suppression activities on the land.
(f) Treatment of Anticipated and Predicted Activities.--The
Secretary concerned shall continue to fund anticipated and predicted
wildland fire suppression activities within the appropriate agency
budget for each fiscal year. Use of the additional funding made
available through the Flame Fund is intended to supplement the budgeted
and appropriated agency funding and is to be used only for purposes and
in instances consistent with this section.
(g) Prohibition on Other Transfers.--All amounts in the Flame Fund,
as well as all funds appropriated for the purpose of wildland fire
suppression on Federal land, must be obligated before the Secretary
concerned may transfer funds from non-fire accounts for wildland fire
suppression.
(h) Accounting and Reports.--
(1) Accounting and reporting system.--The Secretaries shall
establish an accounting and reporting system for the Flame Fund
compatible with existing National Fire Plan reporting
procedures.
(2) Annual report.--The Secretaries shall submit to the
Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on Agriculture,
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee
on Appropriations of the Senate an annual report on the use of
the funds from the Flame Fund, together with any
recommendations that the Secretaries may have to improve the
administrative control and oversight of the Flame Fund.
(3) Public availability.--The annual report required by
paragraph (2) shall be made available to the public.
SEC. 3. COHESIVE WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY.
(a) Strategy Required.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a report that
contains a cohesive wildland fire management strategy, consistent with
the recommendations contained in recent Comptroller General reports
regarding this issue.
(b) Elements of Strategy.--The strategy required by subsection (a)
shall address the findings of the Comptroller General in the reports
referred to in such subsection and include the following elements:
(1) A system to identify the most cost effective means for
allocating fire management budget resources.
(2) An illustration of plans by the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to reinvest in non-
fire programs.
(3) A description of how the Secretaries will employ
appropriate management response.
(4) A system for assessing the level of risk to
communities.
(5) A system to ensure that the highest priority fuels
reduction projects are being funded first.
(c) Notice of Prescribed Fires.--As part of the strategy required
by subsection (a) for the Forest Service, the Secretary of Agriculture
shall ensure that, before any prescribed fire is used on National
Forest System land, owners of adjacent private land are notified in
writing of the date and scope of the proposed prescribed fire.
SEC. 4. REVIEW OF CERTAIN WILDFIRES TO EVALUATE COST CONTAINMENT IN
WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION ACTIVITIES.
(a) Review Required.--The Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a review, using independent
panels, of each wildfire incident for which the Secretary concerned
incurs expenses in excess of $10,000,000.
(b) Report.--The Secretary concerned shall submit to the Committee
on Natural Resources, the Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate a report containing the
results of each review conducted under subsection (a).
SEC. 5. REDUCING RISK OF WILDFIRES IN FIRE-READY COMMUNITIES.
(a) Fire-Ready Community Defined.--In this section, the term
``fire-ready community'' means a community that--
(1) is located within a priority area identified pursuant
to subsection (b);
(2) has a cooperative fire agreement that articulates the
roles and responsibilities for Federal, State and local
government entities in local wildfire suppression and
protection;
(3) has local codes that require fire-resistant home design
and building materials;
(4) has a community wildfire protection plan (as defined in
section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16
U.S.C. 6502)); and
(5) is engaged in a successful collaborative process that
includes multiple interested persons representing diverse
interests and is transparent and nonexclusive, such as a
resource advisory committee established under section 205 of
the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act
of 2000 (Public Law 106-393; 16 U.S.C. 500 note).
(b) Fire Risk Mapping.--As soon as is practicable after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture and the
Secretary of the Interior (in this section referred to as the
``Secretaries'') shall develop regional maps of communities most at
risk of wildfire and in need of hazardous fuel treatment and
maintenance. The maps shall identify priority areas for hazardous fuels
reduction projects, including--
(1) at-risk communities in fire-prone areas of the
wildland-urban interface (as defined in section 101 of the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6502));
(2) watersheds and municipal drinking water sources;
(3) emergency evacuation corridors;
(4) electricity transmission corridors; and
(5) low-capacity or low-income communities.
(c) Local Wildland Firefighting Capability Grants.--
(1) Grants available.--The Secretaries may provide cost-
share grants to fire-ready communities to assist such
communities in carrying activities authorized by paragraph (2).
(2) Eligible activities.--Grant funds may be used for the
following:
(A) Education programs to raise awareness of
homeowners and citizens about wildland fire protection
practices, including FireWise or similar programs.
(B) Training programs for local firefighters on
wildland firefighting techniques and approaches.
(C) Equipment acquisition to facilitate wildland
fire preparedness.
(D) Implementation of a community wildfire
protection plan.
(d) Wildland Fire Cost-Share Agreements.--In developing any
wildland fire cost-share agreement with a State Forester or equivalent
official, the Secretaries shall, to the greatest extent possible,
encourage the State and local communities involved to become fire-ready
communities.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretaries to carry out this section such sums as
may be necessary.
Passed the House of Representatives July 9, 2008.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.