Tim’s Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill, named after fallen firefighter Tim Hart, creates a comprehensive overhaul of how federal wildland firefighters are paid and supported. It establishes a new special pay scale with 15-42% increases above standard federal pay grades, creates incident response premium pay of 450% of hourly rate for deployment to wildfires, and removes pay caps that currently limit firefighter compensation during emergency responses.
Who Benefits and How
Federal wildland firefighters receive substantial pay increases (15-42% base pay increases plus premium pay during incidents), improved retirement benefits including overtime pay counting toward pensions, paid rest and recuperation leave, housing allowances when deployed over 50 miles from home, recruitment/retention bonuses of at least $1,000, and dedicated mental health support services. Federal structural firefighters also benefit from pay parity requirements with wildland firefighters.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal agencies (USDA Forest Service and Department of Interior) must fund the increased payroll costs, establish new programs (casualty assistance, mental health support, health databases), and file reports to Congress. The Office of Personnel Management must administer the new pay system. The Department of Labor must expand workers compensation coverage and staffing.
Key Provisions
- Creates special base rates 15-42% above standard GS pay scale for wildland firefighters
- Establishes 450% hourly rate premium pay for incident response deployments
- Removes premium pay caps for emergency wildfire suppression activities
- Provides paid rest and recuperation leave after qualifying incidents
- Includes overtime pay in retirement benefit calculations
- Creates mental health support programs and casualty assistance services
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Comprehensively reform pay, benefits, retirement, and support services for federal wildland firefighters to improve recruitment, retention, and recognition of their hazardous work
Key Policy Areas
Federal Employment, Public Safety, Natural Resources Management, Health Care, Retirement
Primary Purpose
Comprehensively reform pay, benefits, retirement, and support services for federal wildland firefighters to improve recruitment, retention, and recognition of their hazardous work
Policy Domains
Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal wildland firefighters (USDA Forest Service and DOI)
- Federal structural firefighters
- Families of wildland firefighters
- Tribal firefighters
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal agencies (USDA Forest Service, DOI)
- Office of Personnel Management
- Department of Labor
- Federal taxpayers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Bennet introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Affected federal wildland firefighters (injured, ill, or killed), Current federal employees who previously served as wildland firefighters, Department of Interior employees certified for fire incident duties
Positive-direction: Affected federal wildland firefighters (injured, ill, or killed), Current federal employees who previously served as wildland firefighters, Department of Interior employees certified for fire incident duties, Federal structural firefighters, Federal wildland firefighters, Federal wildland firefighters at GS-1 through GS-5 grades, Federal wildland firefighters at GS-11 through GS-15 grades, Federal wildland firefighters at GS-6 through GS-10 grades, Federal wildland firefighters at USDA Forest Service and DOI, Federal wildland firefighters deployed over 50 miles from home, Federal wildland firefighters deployed to qualifying incidents, Federal wildland firefighters engaged in emergency suppression, Federal wildland firefighters in supervisory/administrative positions, Federal wildland firefighters with job-related disease, Forest Service and DOI employees certified for fire duties, Forest Service and DOI employees with intermittent schedules, Forest Service employees certified for fire incident duties, Tribal firefighters
Negative-direction: Department of Labor Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Department of the Interior, Office of Personnel Management, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Interior, Secretary of the Interior, USDA Forest Service, USDA Forest Service and Department of Interior
Families of federal wildland firefighters, Next-of-kin of affected federal wildland firefighters
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Office of Personnel Management
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Interior (in Section 10)
- "the_secretaries"
- → Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior
- "applicable_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture or Secretary of the Interior (context dependent)
Note: The Secretary typically refers to Secretary of Interior in Section 10 (Casualty Assistance Program), while applicable Secretary refers to either Secretary of Agriculture or Interior depending on context in other sections
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Director of the Office of Personnel Management
Any temporary, seasonal, or permanent position at the Department of Agriculture or Department of the Interior, or any Tribal Firefighter, that maintains group, emergency incident management, or fire qualifications as established by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, and primarily engages in or supports wildland fire management activities
Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior
Pay to which a covered employee is entitled when deployed to respond to a qualifying incident
Services determined by the Secretaries to primarily involve emergency wildfire suppression activities, including periods of sleeping or resting during extended deployment
Has the meaning given the term Federal wildland firefighter in section 1(b) of this Act
A wildfire incident, prescribed fire incident, or severity incident (or similar incident as determined by the Secretaries), excluding initial responses where wildfire is contained within 36 hours
An annual rate of basic pay payable to a wildland firefighter that replaces the General Schedule base rate and is administered in the same manner
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology