S. 135 — Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025

This section establishes special base rates of pay for wildland firefighters (i.e., Forest Service or Department of the Interior firefighters whose duties relate primarily to wildland fires, including certain supervisory positions) by inserting new section 5332a in 5 USC chapter 53, subchapter III. The special base rate replaces the otherwise applicable General Schedule base rate for grades GS-1 through GS-15—increasing it by a tiered percentage of 42 percent (GS-1) to 1.5 percent (GS-15), rounded to the nearest dollar—and serves as basic pay for all purposes, including locality pay. (1) For prevailing rate employees (i.e., non-GS wage system employees under 5 USC 5342(a)(2)(A)), the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior must increase wage rates by a generally consistent amount (up to level IV of the Executive Schedule), also treated as basic pay; and (2) the amendments take effect on the first day of the first applicable pay period after the last pay period for which temporary wildland firefighter salary increases were in effect under prior laws (16 USC 6592(d)(4)(B) and extensions through FY2025). A clerical amendment updates the table of sections.

This section establishes incident response premium pay under new 5 U.S.C. §5545c for covered employees of the Forest Service or Department of the Interior, defined as wildland firefighters (per 5 U.S.C. §5332a(a)) or those certified to perform related duties during deployment. A covered employee is eligible if deployed to a qualifying incident—defined as a wildfire, prescribed fire, severity assignment (i.e., pre-positioning in high-risk areas), or similar, excluding initial attacks contained within 36 hours—either outside their duty station or within it to an incident-adjacent fire camp or field location. Eligible employees receive premium pay at a daily rate of 450% of their hourly basic pay (using the GS-10 step 10 locality rate for those paid above it), capped at $9,000 per calendar year; the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior must assess differences from FY2023–2024 compensation averages by grade, report results within 18 months of enactment, and may jointly adjust rates or take other actions (with congressional notice) to align with FY2023 levels. (Thus, the pay supplements base salaries for hazardous deployments without affecting overtime, leave calculations, or Fair Labor Standards Act entitlements.)

This section establishes paid rest and recuperation leave under new 5 U.S.C. §6329e for covered wildland firefighters (i.e., Forest Service or Department of the Interior employees qualifying as firefighters under 5 U.S.C. §5332a(a) or certified for wildland fire incident duties) following deployment to a qualifying incident (as defined in 5 U.S.C. §5545c(a)). The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior must jointly prescribe uniform policies for the leave, which may include (1) maximum deployment periods (from departure to return to official duty station) followed by minimum rest periods or (2) prohibitions on averaging more than 16 hours of work per day over any 14-day deployment period. The leave must be used immediately after the incident during scheduled tour-of-duty hours, is paid like annual leave, and cannot be carried over or paid out if unused; employees with intermittent work schedules receive equivalent excused time off with pay.

This section authorizes the transfer of up to $5 million from unobligated balances in the Forest Service Wildland Fire Management account (under the Department of Agriculture) to the Department-wide Programs Wildland Fire Management account (under the Department of the Interior), notwithstanding restrictions in section 40803(c)(2) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(2)). (Thus, the transfer supports uninterrupted continuation of the federal wildland firefighter base salary increase authorized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)).)