Sec. 202. Human resources
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The Secretaries shall hire additional employees and provide training and development activities, including through partnerships with community colleges, to increase the number of skilled and qualified prescribed fire practitioners in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, Indian Tribes, and other qualified organizations, including training in smoke management practices. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall provide to the Secretaries direct hire authority in accordance with section 3304(a)(3) of title 5, United States Code, to appoint qualified individuals to positions performing temporary or emergency work relating to prescribed fires, including training, implementation, and post-prescribed burning activities.
The term of the appointment of an individual under subparagraph
(A)shall be restricted to a period that— begins not more than 72 hours prior to planned ignition; and ends not more than 72 hours after the prescribed fire has stopped burning. The purpose of the amendment made by subparagraph
(B)is to allow the Secretaries to use additional new budget authority for wildfire suppression for the cost of overtime payments to employees implementing a prescribed fire. Section 251(b)(2)(F)(ii)(II) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 ( 2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(F)(ii)(II) ) is amended— in item (bb), by striking and at the end; in item (cc), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and by adding at the end the following: overtime payments to employees implementing a prescribed fire (as defined in section 3 of the National Prescribed Fire Act of 2020 ). . The Secretaries may noncompetitively convert a Federal seasonal employee to a Federal permanent employee if— the listed job duties of the employee include wildland firefighting; the employee received a rating of at least Fully Successful in each of the performance appraisals of the employee for the 5 most recent seasons of Federal employment of the employee; and the job duties and performance standards of the position into which the permanent employee converts include implementing prescribed fires. The Secretaries, in consultation with the Attorney General and State departments of corrections, shall seek to provide a career pathway, including through partnerships with the Corps Network, to individuals described in subparagraph
(B)to work as prescribed fire practitioners. An individual referred to in subparagraph
(A)is an individual that— has been convicted in any court of a criminal offense, other than arson, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for that offense; and during the term of imprisonment described in clause (i), served on a wildland firefighting crew or received other comparable training. To further address the gender disparity in wildland firefighting, the Secretaries shall support the development and participation of women in leadership opportunities, mentorship networks, and training in prescribed fire, including the Fire Leadership for Women course and Women-In-Fire Training Exchange— to develop strong leaders; to increase the number of women overseeing prescribed fires; and to enhance the longevity and success of women in wildland fire management. The Secretaries, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall seek— to provide a career pathway to individuals described in subparagraph
(B)to work as prescribed fire practitioners; and to establish crews composed predominantly of veterans to conduct prescribed fires. An individual referred to in subparagraph
(A)is an individual who— served in the active military, naval, or air service; and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. The Secretaries may provide funding to Tribal and inter-Tribal organizations, including the Intertribal Timber Council, to provide training and workforce development opportunities in wildland fire. Subject to the availability of appropriations, not later than September 30, 2023, the Secretary, in cooperation with the Secretary of Agriculture (and the Secretary of Defense in the case of a center located on a military installation), shall— establish and operate a prescribed fire training center in a western State; continue to operate a prescribed fire training center in an eastern State; establish a virtual prescribed fire training center; and establish and operate a managed-wildfire training center. The Secretaries, in coordination with the Fire Executive Council, the National Association of State Foresters, and the Intertribal Timber Council, shall task the National Wildfire Coordinating Group to add a requirement for an individual to obtain the necessary certification to serve in— the position of a single-resource boss; and any other positions determined to be necessary by the Secretaries. The Secretaries shall require significant additional experience, gained exclusively during a prescribed fire, to obtain a certification described in paragraph (1). Except in the case of gross negligence, a Federal employee planning or overseeing a prescribed fire that escaped— shall not be subject to criminal prosecution; and shall not be subject to civil proceedings, except in accordance with section 2672 of title 28, United States Code.
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