Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act
This bill directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to study the effects of unmanned aircraft system (i.e., drone) incursions on wildfire suppression on public lands.
Specifically, the FAA must study drone operations in any airspace for which the FAA issued a temporary flight restriction because of a wildfire on land managed by the Departments of Agriculture or the Interior. Among other things, the study must determine the number of occurrences over the last five years in which a drone incursion interfered with wildfire suppression and estimate the effects of each occurrence.
The study must also evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of (1) deploying counter-drone systems to detect, mitigate, and prevent drone incursions during wildfire suppression operations; and (2) disseminating educational materials related to the effects of the incursions on wildfire suppression operations.
The FAA must submit a report to Congress on the study's findings and any related recommendations.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House" stage on March 16, 2026. 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 March 25, 2026: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- 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?
Janelle Bynum (D-OR) introduced it on December 11, 2025, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 2 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 December 11, 2025, 273 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 169 days ago, on March 25, 2026.
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