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H.R. 178119th CongressPublic Lands and Natural Resources
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out activities to suppress wildfires, and for other purposes.
Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) · 9 active : 8 Republicans, 1 Independent
Latest action: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 119-429, Part I.
Where it standsBefore the House33 representatives score as swing votes
Hasn’t passed either chamber
- House: next
- Senate: not yet
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govThis bill sets out requirements for wildfire suppression and management activities carried out by the Forest Service.
These requirements apply to Forest Service land that (1) has a severe, extreme, or exceptional drought intensity rating; (2) has a National Wildland Fire Preparedness level of 5 (i.e., the highest level of wildland fire activity); or (3) is located in a fireshed ranked in the top 10% of wildfire exposure.
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Within 24 hours of detecting a wildfire on such Forest Service land, the service must use all available resources to extinguish the wildfire. Additionally, the service may not inhibit the firefighting activities of state and local agencies that are authorized to respond to wildfires on the Forest Service land.
Further, the service may only initiate a backfire or burnout as part of a fire suppression strategy if it is ordered by the responsible incident commander or is necessary to protect the health and safety of firefighting personnel. The service must use all available resources to control any initiated fire until it is extinguished.
The bill also limits the service's use of prescribed fires (i.e., the controlled application of fire by a team of experts under specified weather conditions to restore health to ecosystems that depend on fire). When using prescribed fires as a fire resource management tool, the service must comply with applicable laws and regulations and immediately suppress any prescribed fire that exceeds its prescription.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- House Committee on Agriculture · HouseReferred to
- House Committee on Natural Resources · HouseReported by · Markup by · Referred to
- Forestry and Horticulture · HouseReferred to
Subjects
- Emergency planning and evacuation
- Fires
- First responders and emergency personnel
- Forests, forestry, trees
How the Senate breaks down
- 7Swing 70–100
- 64Middle 30–70
- 29Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score. The bill is not before the Senate right now; these scores show where members would stand.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v2Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
9 activeShow all 9 cosponsors
- Andy Biggs (R-AZ-5)
- Darrell Issa (R-CA-48)
- Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-1)
- Ken Calvert (R-CA-41)
- Pete Stauber (R-MN-8)
- Kevin Kiley (I-CA-3)
- Ryan K. Zinke (R-MT-1)
- Burgess Owens (R-UT-4)
- Troy Downing (R-MT-2)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
