Bill · S. 135· Senate(119-S-135)
Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025
- Introduced
- 1/16/2025
- Last activity
- 1/16/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- Sponsored by
- Alex Padilla
- Cosponsors
- - 4 - 5
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025 aims to amend title 5 of the United States Code to provide special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters. It establishes a new pay structure for firefighters employed by the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior across grades 1 through 15. The bill also introduces incident response premium pay for covered employees deployed to qualifying incidents. Additionally, it creates a provision for rest and recuperation leave following deployments. Finally, the Act includes a transfer authority to ensure the continuity of base salary increases.
Yes· 3 of 4
Would union members be better off under this?+5
The bill increases wages and introduces new paid rest and recuperation leave for federal wildland firefighters.
Does this raise the lowest wage an employer may pay?+5
The bill establishes significantly higher special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters across various grades.
Would households on low incomes be better off under this?+4
The bill provides substantial percentage increases in base pay, which disproportionately benefits lower-grade (GS-1 to GS-5) employees.
The opposite
Does this reduce what the federal government spends?-2
The bill increases federal expenditures by providing higher base salaries and premium pay for wildland firefighters.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
-
Increased Base Pay for Wildland Firefighters: The bill replaces the standard General Schedule base rate with a "special base rate" that is higher based on the employee's grade. For example, a GS-1 would receive a 42 percent increase, while a GS-15 would receive a 1.5 percent increase (Section 2(b)(1)(2)(A)).
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Wage Increases for Prevailing Rate Employees: The Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior can increase wage rates for prevailing rate employees who are wildland firefighters to be consistent with the new General Schedule increases (Section 2(c)(1)).
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Incident Response Premium Pay: Employees deployed to qualifying incidents, such as wildfires or prescribed fires, are entitled to premium pay. This pay is calculated at a daily rate of 450 percent of the employee's hourly basic pay rate (Section 3(c)(2)(A)).
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Rest and Recuperation Leave: The bill allows covered employees to receive paid rest and recuperation leave immediately after completing a service deployment to a qualifying incident (Section 4(c)(1)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
-
Limits on Premium Pay: Incident response premium pay is subject to a cap, as it may not be paid to a covered employee in a total amount that exceeds $9,000 in any calendar year (Section 3(c)(2)(B)(ii)).
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Restrictions on Premium Pay for High Earners: For employees whose annual basic pay is higher than the rate for step 10 of GS-10, the daily premium pay rate is limited to the rate established for that step (Section 3(c)(2)(B)(i)).
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No Payment for Unused Leave: Employees cannot receive any payment for rest and recuperation leave that is not used (Section 4(c)(1)(D)).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Union Workers+5Good For Low Income Households+4
- Economy And Finance
- Increases Minimum Wage+5Reduces Government Spending-2
- Environment Energy And Infrastructure
- Improves Environmental Protections+3
- 1/28/2025
- 4 Cosponsors added.
- 1/16/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- 5 Cosponsors added.
- Introduced in Senate
One bill Congress.gov lists as related to this one — companions in the other chamber, earlier versions, and bills this one absorbed or was folded into.
John BarrassoRepublican · Wyoming
John CurtisRepublican · Utah
Steve DainesRepublican · Montana
Martin HeinrichDemocrat · New Mexico
Cynthia LummisRepublican · Wyoming
Jeff MerkleyDemocrat · Oregon
Gary PetersDemocrat · Michigan
Adam SchiffDemocrat · California
Tim SheehyRepublican · Montana