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Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs
Tim’s Act is a comprehensive package to overhaul pay, benefits, health, retirement, and support for Federal wildland firefighters (primarily at the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, the Department of the Interior, and Tribal Firefighters). It creates a separate, elevated pay structure (special base rates) for wildland firefighters, establishes a substantial incident-response premium pay for deployments, and adds a suite of health, mental health, rest/recuperation, retirement, housing, and career-support benefits. It also seeks to codify a casualty assistance program for injured or fallen firefighters and to implement pay parity with Federal structural firefighters over time. In short, the bill aims to recognize the unique and hazardous duties of wildland firefighting with significantly enhanced compensation, health protections, and post-employment supports.
Key Points
- 1Special base pay for wildland firefighters
- 2- Creates a new “special base rate” (5332a) for wildland firefighters, replacing the usual General Schedule base rate for these employees.
- 3- The rate is tiered by grade (GS-1 through GS-15) with substantial boosts (e.g., GS-1 at +42%, GS-15 at +1.5%), and is treated like basic pay for locality pay calculations.
- 4- Applies to a broad set of roles that meet the defined wildland firefighter criteria, including supervisors who meet certain qualifications.
- 5Incident response premium pay
- 6- Establishes a new incident response premium pay (Sec. 5545c) for eligible employees when deployed to qualifying incidents (wildfire, prescribed fires, severity incidents, or similar).
- 7- Premium is 450% of the employee’s hourly basic pay per day, with a cap (generally not to exceed $9,000 per calendar year) and certain grade-based limits.
- 8- Premium pay is not considered basic pay for most purposes and has several limitations and possible adjustments to keep total compensation aligned with historical levels.
- 9Special limitations on premium pay
- 10- Adds a new cap on premium pay for wildland firefighting (Sec. 5547a), with a ceiling tied to Executive Schedule Level II pay, and allows waivers at the agencies’ discretion with criteria.
- 11- Includes provisions to ensure premium pay is counted appropriately for other pay limits and that the 2025 calendar year stands may be treated differently for standby or related pay.
- 12Rest and recuperation leave
- 13- Provides 7 consecutive days of paid rest and recuperation leave after completing service on qualifying incidents.
- 14- Leave is to be used immediately after incidents, cannot be rolled over or paid out as unused leave, and applies to intermittent schedules with similar pay treatment.
- 15Health provisions
- 16- Creates a Federal Wildland Firefighter Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Database to track job-related chronic diseases and to guide mitigation strategies.
- 17- Establishes a comprehensive mental health program by 2026, including awareness campaigns, onboarding, peer support networks, expansion of Critical Incident Stress Management, and a dedicated mental health support service with no limit on sessions.
- 18- Requires the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs to recognize PTSD and related injuries for these firefighters and to expand staffing to expedite claims.
- 19Retirement improvements
- 20- Allows credit for certain past wildland firefighting service for retirement purposes.
- 21- Creates a disability annuity presumption for exposure-related illnesses, with a shorter qualifying period (12 months instead of 18).
- 22- Treats overtime pay as part of basic pay for retirement calculations and adjusts related formulas.
- 23- Applies a separate normal-cost percentage to these firefighters.
- 24Pay parity with Federal structural firefighters
- 25- Aims to ensure that, starting one year after enactment, pay, benefits, and bonuses for Federal structural firefighters are comparable to those for wildland firefighters; a follow-up Director’s report on competitiveness is required.
- 26General pay adjustments and incentives
- 27- annual adjustments: basic pay for wildland firefighters under the new special base rates must increase each year by at least the percent change in the CPI (labor price index) from December to December.
- 28- a report on whether pay/benefits are competitive with non-federal wildland firefighting forces.
- 29- hazard pay for specified hazardous duties; recruitment/retention bonuses starting at least $1,000 with CPI-indexed increases; housing allowances for deployments more than 50 miles from primary residence; and a voluntary career-transition program with at least $4,000 per participant per year, plus annual reviews of adequacy.
- 30Casualty assistance program
- 31- Establishes a Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program to support affected firefighters and their families, including notification, travel reimbursements, trained casualty assistance officers, centralized case management, and a dedicated website with information on benefits and support.
- 32Effective dates and phased implementation
- 33- Many provisions reference a phased effective date tied to when temporary wildland firefighter pay increases ended (as originally authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and subsequent continuing resolutions).
- 34- Specific provisions have targeted starting dates:
- 35- Rest and recuperation leave: effective Oct 1, 2025.
- 36- Mental health program and related supports: by Jan 1, 2026 (with some actions earlier).
- 37- Special base rates and pay parity: annual CPI adjustments begin after establishment of the new rates; structural firefighter parity to begin one year after enactment.
- 38- Calendar year 2025 standby/pay-limit adjustments: limited application of ongoing standby premium pay to the year 2025.
- 39- Casualty assistance program: establishment within 180 days of enactment.
- 40Administrative and statutory scope
- 41- Applies to Federal wildland firefighters at USDA (Forest Service) and DOI, and to Tribal Firefighters, covering both temporary/seasonal and permanent positions that meet the defined qualifications.
- 42- Contains specific cross-references to sections of the U.S. Code (Title 5) governing pay, premium pay, the General Schedule, prevailing rate (wage) employees, retirement, and workers’ compensation.
Impact Areas
Primary group/area affected- Federal wildland firefighters and wildfire incident responders (Forest Service, DOI agencies, and tribal firefighters), including those in supervisory/administrative roles who meet the defined qualifications.Secondary group/area affected- Federal structural firefighters, who would be brought to pay parity with wildland firefighters over time.- Prevailing rate (wage system) employees who perform wildland firefighting duties or incident-related work.Additional impacts- Agency budgets and payroll systems will face new pay structures, premium pay caps, and ongoing CPI-based adjustments.- Health systems and benefits programs (cancer/CVD database, mental health program, PTSD coverage) will require new data management, partnerships, and service capacity.- Retirement and benefits administration will need to handle new creditable service, disability presumptions, and revised calculations that include overtime as basic pay.- Human resources and labor relations within the agencies will manage new recruitment/retention bonuses, housing allowances, tuition assistance, and the casualty assistance program.- Congressional oversight will receive annual reports on competitiveness and adjustments to premium pay, with required notifications for changes.
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