Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2013
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2013 - Extends through FY2023 the authority for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to enter into stewardship end result contracting projects with private persons or other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land management goals for national forests and public lands that meet local and rural community needs.
Prohibits a multiyear stewardship contract from exceeding a 20-year period (under current law, a 10-year period).
Bars the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretaries) from being required to obligate funds for covering the costs of the cancellation or termination of multiyear stewardship contracts or agreements until they are cancelled or terminated. Specifies the funding sources from where the costs of the cancellation or termination of a multiyear stewardship contract may be paid from.
Requires 25% of timber sale receipts from a multiyear stewardship contract or agreement to be paid to the county within whose boundaries the receipts are derived.
Authorizes the Secretaries to enter into cooperative agreements and contracts with state foresters to provide forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration and protection services. Permits state foresters to enter into subcontracts to provide such restoration and protection services. Prohibits the extension of such an agreement or contract beyond a 20-year period.
Amends the Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement (FLAME) Act of 2009 to make FLAME Funds available to cover the costs of burn area responses, including flood prevention.
Authorizes the Secretaries to implement eligible wildfire prevention projects in at-risk forests and threatened and endangered species in a manner that focuses on surface, ladder, and canopy fuels reduction activities.
Requires projects carried out on threatened and endangered species habitat to provide enhanced protection from wildfire, including unnatural wildfire, for the endangered species, threatened species, or their habitat.
Requires projects carried out in at-risk forests to move the federal land from condition class II or III toward condition class I.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 21, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 23, 2013: Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced it on March 21, 2013, and 16 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 14 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 21, 2013, 4968 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4935 days ago, on April 23, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers