Bill > HR9703

This bill directs the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on existing federal programs, rules, and authorities that enable or inhibit wildfire mitigation across land ownership boundaries on federal and non-federal land. The study will assess whether changes to these programs, rules, or authorities could allow federal land management agencies, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Homeland Security, states, local governments, and tribal governments to have increased capacity or access to funding to mitigate wildfires. The study will also examine the activities carried out under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 related to wildfire mitigation, including how to improve their efficacy and whether the act has increased access to funding for federal land management agencies and states to mitigate wildfires. The Comptroller General will then submit a report to Congress with the study's results and recommendations to simplify cross-boundary wildfire mitigation between federal land management agencies and state, local, and tribal governments.