Politiparty
Politiparty

119th Congress Government Operations and Politics

S. 279: Tim’s Act

Introduced

  1. Introduced (completed)Jan 28, 2025
  2. Passed Senate (not reached)
  3. Passed House (not reached)
  4. To the President (not reached)
  5. Became law (not reached)

Summary

Introduced in Senate, Jan 28, 2025

Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act or Tim's Act

This bill increases compensation and establishes additional benefits and programs for federal wildland firefighters. (These individuals are employed by the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, or tribal governments.)

The bill increases the minimum rate of basic pay for wildland firefighters at General Schedule (GS) levels 1 through 15 by percentages specified in the bill, with smaller increases for higher GS levels. The bill also requires comparable increases to the hourly rates paid to prevailing rate employees who are wildland firefighters. It also establishes premium pay for wildland firefighters who respond to certain prolonged fire incidents and are deployed outside of their normal duty stations or to an area adjacent to the incident. These changes take effect after other temporary pay increases for wildland firefighters expire.

Read the full summary

The bill also (1) establishes paid rest and recuperation leave; (2) allows certain prior service to be credited for retirement purposes; and (3) provides housing allowances, tuition assistance, and other benefits for wildland firefighters.

Further, the bill directs the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs within the Department of Labor to ensure that psychological stress-related injuries and illnesses correlated to fire response are compensated and to expedite related claims.

The bill also establishes programs to (1) assist the next-of-kin of wildland firefighters and fire support personnel who are critically injured or killed while in the line of duty, and (2) support the mental and physical health of wildland firefighters.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.

Roll calls

0 votes on this bill

No roll call votes have been held on this bill.

Amendments

0 offered

No amendments were offered to this bill.

Who scored on this bill

0 points earned

No member has earned points from it yet.

See all scorers and every scoring event

Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.

Other bills by Michael Bennet

History

  1. Jan 28, 2025Introduced in the Senate by Michael Bennet.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
  1. Jan 28, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Jan 28, 2025Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.