SB279, the “Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act” or “Tim’s Act,” would overhaul federal compensation, leave, health, retirement, and survivor-support rules for federal wildland firefighters. The bill creates a new special base pay scale for wildland firefighters in grades GS-1 through GS-15, replacing the normal General Schedule base rate with percentage increases that are largest at the lower grades and taper at higher grades. It also establishes a new incident response premium pay system for deployments to wildfires, prescribed fires, and severity incidents, along with special rules to keep that pay from being limited by existing premium-pay caps in many cases. The bill further adds paid rest-and-recuperation leave after qualifying incidents, annual inflation-based pay adjustments, recruitment and retention bonuses, housing allowances for distant deployments, and a tuition assistance program for career transition.
The measure also expands health and retirement protections. It directs the Agriculture and Interior Departments to create a public database tracking cancer and cardiovascular disease among current and former federal wildland firefighters, develop exposure-mitigation recommendations, and launch a mental health awareness and support program that includes peer support, training, and unlimited access to certain trauma-informed services. It requires seven consecutive days of paid mental health leave each year, and it directs the Department of Labor’s workers’ compensation program to recognize PTSD and psychological stress-related injuries tied to firefighting. On retirement, the bill allows certain past service to count toward federal firefighter retirement credit, treats qualifying wildland firefighters as disabled sooner for disability annuity purposes, and counts overtime pay as basic pay for retirement calculations.
In addition to benefits for wildland firefighters, the bill extends parity concepts to other groups. It requires pay, benefits, and bonuses for federal structural firefighters to be comparable to those provided to wildland firefighters, and it creates a Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program to help injured or killed firefighters and their families navigate notifications, travel reimbursement, case management, benefits coordination, and related support. The bill also revises federal retirement definitions so that wildland firefighting service can qualify more clearly for firefighter retirement treatment, including for some employees who move into supervisory or administrative roles after field service.
The bill’s impact on state laws is limited because it primarily amends federal statutes in Titles 5 and related federal compensation and retirement provisions. Its practical effect would be on federal agencies, federal wildland firefighters, certain prevailing-rate employees, and related federal benefit systems rather than on state governments. It would likely increase federal personnel costs, change agency payroll and leave administration, and expand federal obligations for health monitoring, mental health support, compensation, and survivor assistance.
Based on the available context, the bill appears to have a generally supportive policy rationale centered on improving recruitment, retention, safety, and fairness for a workforce that has faced chronic understaffing and hazardous conditions. No committee transcript or vote record was provided, so there is no documented recorded opposition in the materials supplied. The most likely points of contention are the bill’s cost, the size and structure of the pay increases and premium pay, the administrative discretion given to the Secretaries and OPM, and how the new benefits interact with existing federal pay caps and retirement rules.
SB279 would amend multiple provisions of Title 5 of the U.S. Code to create a distinct federal compensation and benefits framework for wildland firefighters, including special base pay, incident premium pay, leave, retirement credit, and health-related protections. It would also modify related rules for prevailing-rate employees, structural firefighters, workers’ compensation, and casualty assistance, with implementation timed to follow the expiration of temporary wildfire pay increases already in effect under prior federal laws.
The bill’s policy direction is strongly pro-firefighter and framed as a parity and retention measure, suggesting favorable sentiment toward improving compensation and support for a high-risk workforce. The provided materials include no committee debate or votes, so there is no recorded formal opposition or amendment activity in the context supplied.
No specific contention is documented in the provided transcripts or vote history. Potential areas of dispute, based on the text, include the fiscal cost of the new pay and leave entitlements, the 450 percent incident premium pay formula, exceptions to premium-pay caps, the scope of administrative discretion for agencies, and whether the bill’s retirement and compensation changes should extend to related employee categories such as prevailing-rate workers and structural firefighters.