H.R. 345: Fire Department Repayment Act of 2025

This bill requires standard operating procedures for reciprocal fire suppression cost share agreements, which are agreements between federal, state, and local governments to share the costs of suppressing wildfires that occur across multiple jurisdictions.

The Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, Homeland Security, and Defense must establish standard operating procedures relating to payment timelines for fire suppression cost share agreements established under the Reciprocal Fire Protection Act. The departments must also review each agreement that is in operation within a year of this bill's enactment and modify an agreement as necessary to comply with the standard operating procedures.

The standard operating procedures must require that (1) each fire suppression cost share agreement be aligned with each of the cooperative fire protection agreements applicable to the entity subject to such fire suppression cost share agreement, and (2) the federal paying entity reimburse a local fire department if the fire department submits an invoice in accordance with cost settlement procedures.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.