Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016
Latest action. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 634.
Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016
TITLE I--MAJOR DISASTER FOR WILDFIRE ON FEDERAL LAND
(Sec. 101) The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act is amended to define "major disaster for wildfire on federal lands" to mean any wildfire or wildfires that warrant assistance to supplement the efforts and resources of the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on federal lands or on nonfederal lands pursuant to a fire protection agreement or cooperative agreement.
(Sec. 102) A process is established for declaration of a major disaster for wildfire on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service. Either Interior (for federal land under its jurisdiction) or USDA (for Forest Service land) may request the President to start such a process, and the President in turn may transfer funds to them to conduct wildfire suppression operations on the lands affected.
The President shall establish a wildfire suppression operations account for wildfires on federal lands, whose funds shall be transferred to the wildfire suppression subactivity of the Wildland Fire Management Account.
If transferred amounts are used to conduct wildfire suppression operations on non-federal land, the appropriate Department shall secure reimbursement for the cost of such operations and transfer the amounts received to the wildfire suppression operations account.
The appropriate Department shall report to Congress annually on:
the risk-based factors that influenced management decisions regarding wildfire suppression operations of the federal land management agencies under its jurisdiction;
a statistically significant sample of large fires;
total expenditures for wildfire suppression operations of the federal land management agencies under its jurisdiction, and
lessons learned.
(Sec. 103) No funds may be transferred to or from the wildfire suppression subactivity of the Wildland Fire Management account or the FLAME Wildfire Suppression Reserve Fund account of the federal land management agencies to or from any other account or subactivity of those agencies that is not used to cover the cost of wildfire suppression operations.
The summary continues for 196 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 "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on September 19, 2016. 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 September 19, 2016: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 634.
- 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 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 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?
Bruce Westerman (R-AR) introduced it on June 4, 2015, and 13 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 12 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 June 4, 2015, 4116 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3643 days ago, on September 19, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 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