Fire Weather Development Act of 2025
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Fire Weather Development Act of 2025
This bill establishes programs and requirements related to wildfire forecasting, detection, and management, particularly with respect to communication and collaboration among officials and first responders.
For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must establish a program to improve fire forecasting and service delivery through collaboration between federal, state, and local entities. The program must seek to improve the understanding and prediction of wildfires, the assessment of fire weather, and the timeliness of related communications with state and local officials.
Under the program, NOAA may
conduct research and development activities related to fire weather and environments,
contract with private entities to obtain airborne and space-based data to support fire prediction and monitoring, and
conduct pilot programs to test the use of unmanned aircraft systems (i.e., drones) for fire weather observations.
The bill also establishes (1) an interagency committee to coordinate the development of wildfire forecasting and the delivery of related products and services to state and local officials; (2) a national advisory committee to offer recommendations on streamlining federal forecasting information, the management and activities of the interagency committee, and other topics; and (3) a fire weather testbed to enable engagement among governments and other stakeholders.
The bill exempts emergency wildfire suppression work performed by incident meteorologists of the National Weather Service from certain premium pay limitations.
Finally, the National Institute of Standards and Technology must publish recommendations for improving coordination of communications among first responders and fire management officials.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 23, 2025. 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 June 23, 2025: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
- 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 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 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?
Jeff Crank (R-CO) introduced it on June 23, 2025, and 7 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 4 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 23, 2025, 444 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 444 days ago, on June 23, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 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