To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide direct hire authority to appoint individuals to Federal wildland firefighting and firefighting support positions in the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Daines (for himself and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Direct Hire to Fight Fires Act of 2023 allows the Forest Service and Department of the Interior to bypass standard federal hiring procedures when recruiting wildland firefighters. Currently, federal agencies must follow time-consuming competitive hiring rules, which can delay filling critical positions. This bill grants "direct hire authority" to quickly bring qualified candidates on board without going through lengthy bureaucratic processes.
Who Benefits and How
Federal wildland firefighters and firefighting support personnel benefit by gaining faster access to federal employment. Qualified candidates can be hired directly without waiting through multi-step competitive examinations and lengthy application reviews. This is particularly helpful for seasonal firefighters who previously worked for these agencies and want to return.
The Forest Service and Department of the Interior benefit by being able to fill vacant firefighting positions more quickly, helping them respond to increasingly severe wildfire seasons with adequate staffing.
Communities in fire-prone areas indirectly benefit from improved federal firefighting capacity and faster agency response times.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior bear new administrative responsibilities. They must develop streamlined hiring policies within one year and submit detailed annual reports to Congress on firefighter staffing levels, vacancies by state, and hiring plans.
Other federal job applicants may face reduced opportunities since direct hire authority bypasses competitive examination processes that are designed to ensure fair access to federal employment.
Key Provisions
- Grants direct hire authority for wildland firefighting positions across multiple job series, including Forestry Technicians (GS-0462), Aircraft Operations (GS-2181), Dispatchers (GS-2151), and Equipment Specialists (GS-1670)
- Applies to both the Forest Service (under Agriculture) and Department of the Interior
- Requires agencies to develop policies that reduce hiring time, eliminate redundancies, streamline rehiring of prior employees, and reduce barriers for firefighters transferring between agencies
- Mandates annual reports to Congress by February 1 each year, detailing staffing needs, current vacancies by state, and hiring event plans
- Reports must be published on publicly available websites for transparency
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill amends title 5, United States Code, to grant direct hire authority for Federal wildland firefighting and support positions in the Forest Service and Department of the Interior.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary_of_agriculture"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "the_secretary_of_the_interior"
- → Secretary of the Interior
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any position in the Forestry Technician Series, Aircraft Operation Series, Miscellaneous Administration and Program Series, General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Series, Aviation Management Specialist Series, Engineering Equipment Operator, Dispatching Series, or Equipment Specialist Series that supports firefighting.
The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior.
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