Bill > S135

This bill establishes enhanced compensation and support for federal wildland firefighters employed by the Forest Service and Department of the Interior. The legislation creates a new special base pay rate system that increases base salaries across all General Schedule (GS) grades, with percentage increases ranging from 1.5% at the highest grade (GS-15) to 42% at the lowest grade (GS-1), designed to better reflect the challenging and critical nature of wildland firefighting work. Additionally, the bill introduces incident response premium pay, providing eligible firefighters a daily rate of 450% of their basic hourly pay when deployed to qualifying fire incidents, with an annual cap of $9,000. The legislation also mandates rest and recuperation leave for firefighters after completing deployments to qualifying incidents, ensuring they have time to recover from physically and mentally demanding firefighting duties. These provisions aim to improve recruitment, retention, and overall support for federal wildland firefighters by addressing compensation disparities and recognizing the unique challenges of their profession. The bill's provisions would take effect after the expiration of previous temporary salary increases for federal wildland firefighters.

Military Affairs and Security

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/135/all-info