# 119-hr-4075: Fire Weather Development Act of 2025

119-hr-4075, Fire Weather Development Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Crank, Jeff [R-CO-5] (R-CO); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4075
- 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-4075
- Congress: 119
- Title: Fire Weather Development Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-06-23
- Sponsor: Rep. Crank, Jeff [R-CO-5] (R-CO)
- Cosponsors: 7
- Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Strengthen NOAA's wildfire forecasting and observation capabilities.** This bill would create a NOAA program to improve fire weather and fire environment forecasts, early detection, smoke forecasting, and delivery of forecasts and warnings to emergency managers and land managers. - Families, communities, and local emergency responders would get clearer forecasts and smoke dispersion guidance aimed at reducing deaths, injuries, and property loss. - Land managers, the U.S. Forest Service, and State and Tribal partners would gain new tools, higher-resolution observations, grid-based fuel moisture and danger assessments, and modeling that links climate forecasts to local decisions and prescribed burn impacts. - Researchers, the weather industry, and technology providers would be eligible for competitive grants, contracts, and private-sector data purchases. The bill would fund unmanned aircraft system pilot programs and testing and authorizes $5.0 million for fiscal year 2026 for UAS activities while generally barring procurement of UAS from foreign countries of concern with a waiver process. *Includes a $5.0 million authorization for fiscal year 2026 for unmanned aircraft system activities under the program.*

## Cosponsors (7)

- Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large] (R-AK), 2025-06-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Rivas, Luz M. [D-CA-29] (D-CA), 2025-06-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Hurd, Jeff [R-CO-3] (R-CO), 2025-06-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Franklin, Scott [R-FL-18] (R-FL), 2025-06-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Evans, Gabe [R-CO-8] (R-CO), 2025-06-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA), 2025-08-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO), 2025-11-17T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Pay protections for Weather Service fire work: benefit, low. If enacted, this would change pay rules for National Weather Service staff who support wildfires. Premium pay for Incident Meteorologists that is mainly for wildland fire suppression would not count toward federal pay caps, when the Commerce Secretary makes that determination. The bill would also a…
- Limits on NOAA buying foreign drones: benefit, low. NOAA would generally be barred from buying drones made or assembled by entities in certain foreign countries. The ban could be bypassed only for marine or atmospheric science if the NOAA Administrator consults the Homeland Security Secretary. The Administrator could also issue case‑by‑case waivers…
- Coordinating wildfire planning across agencies: benefit, low. The Office of Science and Technology Policy would set up an interagency wildfire committee within 90 days. The committee would deliver a strategic plan to Congress within one year and help agencies share tools and avoid duplicate work. After the plan is submitted, a separate advisory committee of 7…
- Faster, safer wildfire alerts and data: benefit, low. NIST would start research within 60 days to improve how firefighting groups share secure, real‑time data and alerts. It would run live and virtual tests, measure how long alerts take now, and set standards. NIST would publish recommendations and send them to OMB and OSTP for agencies to follow. A G…
- New NOAA program for wildfire forecasts: benefit, low. This bill would direct NOAA to start a program to improve wildfire forecasts, warnings, and smoke information. It would create a fire weather testbed to try new tools and move them into daily use. NOAA could contract for extra satellite and airborne data within one year and would consult outside ex…
- Testing drones for wildfire weather data: benefit, low. NOAA would study and test unmanned aircraft (drones) to gather wildfire weather and environment data. NOAA could run pilot tests within 18 months, feed data into fire‑weather models, and collect best practices. NOAA must brief Congress within 270 days on these activities. Congress is authorized to…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-9250: Great American Outdoors Act 250
- 119-hr-5401: Pay Our Troops Act of 2026
- 119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-4075 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4075)

## Related
- [119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1422)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-9250: Great American Outdoors Act 250](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9250)
- [119-hr-5401: Pay Our Troops Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5401)
- [119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2102)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4075 (as of 2026-04-21).