# 119-hr-1943: Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025

119-hr-1943, Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1943
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1943
- Congress: 119
- Title: Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-03-06
- Sponsor: Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
- Cosponsors: 15
- Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**A dedicated special base-rate pay framework for federal wildland firefighters** would be created to provide predictable, hazard-related compensation. The bill would also add incident-based premium pay and rest-and-recuperation leave tied to deployments. - Would define who qualifies for the new pay regime and set how the special base rate is computed and administered. It adds incident-response premium pay tied to qualifying deployments, and that premium pay remains outside basic pay with binding caps and annualization limits. - Would create rest-and-recuperation leave for eligible employees after defined deployment durations and require agencies to develop joint policies to manage leave and deployment practices. - Would integrate the new pay framework with General Schedule (GS) and prevailing rate pay systems, require interagency coordination and reporting, and restrict transfers of unobligated wildland fire management funds between the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to preserve the base-salary increases.

## Cosponsors (15)

- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bergman, Jack [R-MI-1] (R-MI), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-VA-11] (D-VA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Ciscomani, Juan [R-AZ-6] (R-AZ), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Lee, Susie [D-NV-3] (D-NV), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] (R-NE), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-21] (D-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22] (R-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Whitesides, George [D-CA-27] (D-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kim, Young [R-CA-40] (R-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY), 2025-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vasquez, Gabe [D-NM-2] (D-NM), 2025-08-08T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8] (R-PA), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Dingell, Debbie [D-MI-6] (D-MI), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Higher base pay for wildland firefighters: benefit, high. If enacted, this would raise base GS pay for federal wildland firefighters by set grade percentages (up to +42% at GS‑1 and +1.5% at GS‑15). The special rate would replace the normal GS base and would count as basic pay for locality and other calculations. For wage‑board firefighters, the Secretari…
- New daily premium for fire deployments: benefit, high. If enacted, covered firefighters deployed to a qualifying incident would get a daily premium equal to 450% of their hourly base rate. If your annual basic pay is above GS‑10 step 10, the GS‑10 step‑10 hourly rate would be used instead. You could earn up to $9,000 in premium pay per calendar year. T…
- Paid rest days after fire deployments: benefit, medium. If enacted, covered firefighters would get paid rest and recuperation leave after a deployment. You would use it right away during scheduled work hours. You could not bank it or cash it out; intermittent workers would be excused and paid as if on leave. The agencies would set uniform rules, which m…
- Move wildfire funds to keep pay: benefit, low. If enacted, up to $5 million in unused Forest Service wildfire funds could be moved to Interior. This would be allowed only to keep the federal wildland firefighter base pay increase running without a gap. The transfer would merge into Interior’s wildfire account.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-2048: Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act
- 119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025
- 119-hres-70: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains…

## Sources
- [119-hr-1943 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1943)

## Related
- [119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2102)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-2048: Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2048)
- [119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-909)
- [119-hres-70: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-70)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1943 (as of 2026-04-21).