S 306 — Fire Ready Nation Act of 2025

changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
material is printed in italic, existing law in which no change 
is proposed is shown in roman):

UNITED STATES CODE

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TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES

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PART III--EMPLOYEES

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Subpart D--Pay and Allowances

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CHAPTER 55--PAY ADMINISTRATION

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Subchapter V--Premium Pay

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Sec. 5542. Overtime rates; computation

 (a) For full-time, part-time and intermittent tours of duty, 
hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 
hours in an administrative workweek, or (with the exception of 
an employee engaged in professional or technical engineering or 
scientific activities for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an 
administrative workweek is the basic workweek and an employee 
whose basic pay exceeds the minimum rate for GS-10 (including 
any applicable locality-based comparability payment under 
section 5304 or similar provision of law and any applicable 
special rate of pay under section 5305 or similar provision of 
law) for whom the first 40 hours of duty in an administrative 
workweek is the basic workweek) in excess of 8 hours in a day, 
performed by an employee are overtime work and shall be paid 
for, except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, at the 
following rates:
 (1) * * *
 (2) * * *
 (3) * * *
 (4) * * *
 (5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), for an 
 employee of the Department of the Interior, the 
 Department of Commerce, or the United States Forest 
 Service in the Department of Agriculture engaged in 
 emergency wildland fire suppression activities, the 
 overtime hourly rate of pay is an amount equal to one 
 and one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the 
 employee, and all that amount is premium pay.
 (6) * * *

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JOHN D. DINGELL, JR. CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, AND RECREATION ACT

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 [43 U.S.C. 1748b-1]

SEC. 1114. WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION.

 (a) * * *
 (b) * * *
 (c) Unmanned Aircraft Systems.--
 (1) Definitions.--In this subsection, the terms 
 ``unmanned aircraft'' and ``unmanned aircraft system'' 
 have the meanings given those terms in section 44801 of 
 title 49, United States Code.
 (2) Establishment of program.--Not later than 180 
 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
 Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 
 Agriculture, shall establish a research, development, 
 and testing program, or expand an applicable existing 
 program, to assess unmanned aircraft system 
 technologies, including optionally piloted aircraft, 
 across the full range of wildland fire management 
 operations in order to accelerate the deployment and 
 integration of those technologies into the operations 
 of the Secretaries.
 (3) Expanding use of unmanned aircraft systems on 
 wildfires.--In carrying out the program established 
 under paragraph (2), the Secretaries, in coordination 
 with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National 
 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, State wildland 
 firefighting agencies, and other relevant Federal 
 agencies, shall enter into an agreement under which the 
 Secretaries shall develop consistent protocols and 
 plans for the use on wildland fires of unmanned 
 aircraft system technologies, including for the 
 development of real-time maps of the location of 
 wildland fires.
 (d) * * *
 (e) Wildland Fire Decision Support.--
 (1) Protocol.--To the maximum extent practicable, the 
 Secretaries shall ensure that wildland fire management 
 activities conducted by the Secretaries, or conducted 
 jointly by the Secretaries and State wildland 
 firefighting agencies, achieve compliance with 
 applicable incident management objectives in a manner 
 that--
 (A) minimizes firefighter exposure to the 
 lowest level necessary; and
 (B) reduces overall costs of wildfire 
 incidents.
 (2) Wildfire decision support system.--
 (A) In general.--The Secretaries, in 
 coordination with State wildland firefighting 
 agencies, shall establish a system or expand an 
 existing system to track and monitor decisions 
 made by the Secretaries or State wildland 
 firefighting agencies in managing wildfires.
 (B) Consultation.--
 (i) In general.--In carrying out 
 subparagraph (A), the Secretaries shall 
 consult with the Under Secretary of 
 Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere 
 regarding any development of impact-
 based decision support services that 
 relate to wildfire-related activities 
 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
 Administration.
 (ii) Definition of impact-based 
 decision support services.--In this 
 subparagraph, the term ``impact-based 
 decision support services'' means 
 scientific advice and interpretative 
 services the National Oceanic and 
 Atmospheric Administration provides to 
 help core partners, such as emergency 
 personnel and public safety officials, 
 make decisions when the information 
 impacts the lives and livelihoods of 
 the people of the United States.
 [(B)](C) Components.--The system established 
 or expanded under subparagraph (A) shall be 
 able to alert the Secretaries if--
 (i) unusual costs are incurred;
 (ii) an action to be carried out 
 would likely--
 (I) endanger the safety of a 
 firefighter; or
 (II) be ineffective in 
 meeting an applicable 
 suppression or protection goal; 
 or
 (iii) a decision regarding the 
 management of a wildfire deviates 
 from--
 (I) an applicable protocol 
 established by the Secretaries, 
 including the requirement under 
 paragraph (1); or
 (II) an applicable spatial 
 fire management plan or fire 
 management plan of the 
 Secretary concerned.
 (f) Smoke Projections From Active Wildland Fires.--[The 
Secretaries]
 (1) In general.--The Secretaries shall establish a 
 program, to be known as the ``Interagency Wildland Fire 
 Air Quality Response Program'', under which the 
 Secretary concerned--
 [(1)](A) to the maximum extent practicable, shall 
 assign 1 or more air resource advisors to a type 1 
 incident management team managing a Federal wildland 
 fire; and
 [(2)](B) may assign 1 or more air resource advisors 
 to a type 2 incident management team managing a 
 wildland fire.
 (2) Collaboration.--In carrying out paragraph (1), 
 the Secretaries shall collaborate with the Under 
 Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to 
 improve coordination, utility of systems and assets, 
 and interoperability of data for wildfire smoke 
 prediction, forecasting, and modeling.

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 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 
1992

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 [15 U.S.C. 8520(a)(5)]

SEC. 108. UNITED STATES WEATHER RESEARCH PROGRAM.

 (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation 
with the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, 
and Technology through the Committee on Earth and Environmental 
Sciences, shall establish a United States Weather Research 
Program to--
 (1) * * *
 (2) * * *
 (3) * * *
 (4) * * *
 (5) submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 
 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
 Representatives, not less frequently than once each 
 year, a report, including--
 (A) a list of ongoing research projects;
 (B) project goals and a point of contact for 
 each project;
 (C) the five projects related to weather 
 observations, short-term weather, or 
 subseasonal forecasts within Office of Oceanic 
 and Atmospheric Research that are closest to 
 operationalization; and
 (D) for each project referred to in 
 subparagraph (C)--
 (i) the potential benefit;
 (ii) any barrier to 
 operationalization; [and]
 (iii) the plan for 
 operationalization, including which 
 line office will financially support 
 the project and how much the line 
 office intends to spend; and
 (iv) a description of the research 
 that has been transitioned into 
 operations, including research at the 
 fire weather testbed established under 
 section 4(a) of the Fire Ready Nation 
 Act of 2025;

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WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017

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 [15 U.S.C. 8531]

SEC. 301. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION SATELLITE AND 
 DATA MANAGEMENT.

 (a) * * *
 (b) * * *
 (c) * * *
 (d) * * *
 (e) * * *
 (f) Data Availability and Management.--
 (1) In general.--The Under Secretary shall--
 (A) make data and metadata generated or 
 collected by the National Oceanic and 
 Atmospheric Administration that the Under 
 Secretary has the legal right to redistribute 
 fully and openly available, in accordance with 
 chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and 
 the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking 
 Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-435; 132 Stat. 
 5529) and the amendments made by that Act, and 
 preserve and curate such data and metadata, in 
 accordance with chapter 31 of title 44, United 
 States Code (commonly known as the ``Federal 
 Records Act of 1950''), in order to maximize 
 use of such data and metadata; and
 (B) manage and steward the access, archival, 
 and retrieval activities for the data and 
 metadata described in subparagraph (A) by--
 (i) using--
 (I) enterprise-wide 
 infrastructure, emerging 
 technologies, commercial 
 partnerships, and the skilled 
 workforce needed to provide 
 appropriate data management 
 from collection to broad 
 access; and
 (II) associated information 
 services; and
 (ii) pursuing the maximum 
 interoperability of data and 
 information by--
 (I) leveraging data, 
 information, knowledge, and 
 tools from across the Federal 
 Government to support equitable 
 access, cross-sectoral 
 collaboration and innovation, 
 and local planning and 
 decision-making; and
 (II) developing standards and 
 practices for the adoption and 
 citation of digital object 
 identifiers for datasets, 
 models, and analytical tools.
 (2) Collaboration.--In carrying out this subsection, 
 the Under Secretary shall collaborate with such Federal 
 partners and stakeholders as the Under Secretary 
 considers relevant--
 (A) to develop standards to pursue maximum 
 interoperability of data, information, 
 knowledge, and tools across the Federal 
 Government, convert historical records into 
 common digital formats, and improve access and 
 usability of data by partners and stakeholders;
 (B) to identify and solicit relevant data 
 from Federal and international partners and 
 other relevant stakeholders, as the Under 
 Secretary considers appropriate; and
 (C) to develop standards and practices for 
 the adoption and citation of digital object 
 identifiers for datasets, models, and 
 analytical tools.
 [(f)](g) REPORTS.--
 (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after 
 September 30 of each fiscal year through September 30, 
 2023, the Under Secretary shall submit to the Committee 
 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 
 the House of Representatives a report on the use of 
 additional transaction authority by the National 
 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the 
 previous fiscal year.
 (2) Contents.--Each report shall include--
 (A) for each transaction agreement in effect 
 during the fiscal year covered by the report--
 (i) an indication of whether the 
 transaction agreement is a 
 reimbursable, non-reimbursable, or 
 funded agreement;
 (ii) a description of--
 (I) the subject and terms;
 (II) the parties;
 (III) the responsible 
 National Oceanic and 
 Atmospheric Administration line 
 office;
 (IV) the value;
 (V) the extent of the cost 
 sharing among Federal 
 Government and non-Federal 
 sources;
 (VI) the duration or 
 schedule; and
 (VII) all milestones;
 (iii) an indication of whether the 
 transaction agreement was renewed 
 during the previous fiscal year;
 (iv) the technology areas in which 
 research projects were conducted under 
 that agreement;
 (v) the extent to which the use of 
 that agreement--
 (I) has contributed to a 
 broadening of the technology 
 and industrial base available 
 for meeting National Oceanic 
 and Atmospheric Administration 
 needs; and
 (II) has fostered within the 
 technology and industrial base 
 new relationships and practices 
 that support the United States; 
 and
 (vi) the total value received by the 
 Federal Government under that agreement 
 for that fiscal year; and
 (B) a list of all anticipated reimbursable, 
 non-reimbursable, and funded transaction 
 agreements for the upcoming fiscal year.
 [(g)](h) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may 
be construed as limiting the authority of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration to use cooperative research and 
development agreements, grants, procurement contracts, or 
cooperative agreements.

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