To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal compensation for wildland firefighters, and for other purposes.

January 26, 2005

Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. HONDA, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. OTTER, Mr. SIMPSON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Mr. DOOLITTLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for portal-to-portal compensation for wildland firefighters, 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 `Federal Wildland Firefighter Emergency Response Compensation Act of 2005'.

SEC. 2. PORTAL-TO-PORTAL COMPENSATION.

(a) Wildland Firefighter Defined- For purposes of this section, the term `wildland firefighter' means an employee of the Department of the Interior or the United States Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, the duties of whose position are primarily to perform work directly connected with the control, extinguishment, prevention, and management of wildland fires (including an employee engaged in this activity who is transferred to a supervisory or administrative position), but does not include an employee or group of employees excluded by the Office of Personnel Management under the second sentence of subsection (c).

(b) Portal-to-Portal Compensation-

(1) IN GENERAL- For purposes of any determination of pay, a wildland firefighter is entitled to be paid for the entire period of time during which such firefighter is engaged in officially ordered or approved duties in connection with responding to a wildland fire or other emergency, subject to paragraph (2).

(2) LIMITATION- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for any 24-hour period, the total amount in basic pay and premium pay payable to a wildland firefighter as a result of the application of this subsection may not exceed the amount equal to the sum of--

(A) 16 times the firefighter's hourly rate of basic pay; and

(B) 8 times the firefighter's overtime hourly rate of pay.

(c) Regulations- The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. The Office may by regulation exclude from the operation of this section an employee or group of employees appointed on a casual emergency basis.

SEC. 3. HAZARDOUS DUTY DIFFERENTIAL TO BE TREATED AS PART OF A FIREFIGHTER'S BASIC PAY FOR RETIREMENT PURPOSES.

(a) In General- Section 8331(3) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by striking `and' at the end of subparagraph (G);

(2) by inserting `and' at the end of subparagraph (H); and

(3) by adding after subparagraph (H) the following:

`(I) with respect to a firefighter, any pay differential under section 5545(d);'.

(b) Conforming Amendment- Section 8331(3) of such title 5 is further amended by striking `(B) through (H)' and inserting `(B) through (I)'.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to compensation for service performed in any pay period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

END