S. 3085: Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016

114th Congress · introduced 2016-06-22 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2016-06-22 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Roberts, Pat [R-KS] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016

Plain summary

Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016 This bill sets forth a procedure for the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to request declarations for major wildfire disasters on federal land. This bill shall apply whenever the appropriate department prepares an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for a forest management activity whose primary purpose is to: reduce hazardous fuel loads, reduce fuel connectivity through the installation of fuel and fire breaks, restore forest health and resilience, protect a municipal water supply, or perform a combination of two or more such activities. In an EA or EIS, the department concerned shall develop only these two alternatives: the forest management activity proposed, or the alternative of no action. A categorical exclusion shall be available to the department concerned to: (1) expedite specified critical response actions, (2) expedite salvage operations in response to catastrophic events, (3) meet forest plan goals for early successional forests, and (4) improve and restore forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire. (A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.) The bill establishes the State-Supported Forest Management Fund to cover the cost of certain forest management activities on National Forest System (NFS) or public land. The Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 is amended regarding protection of tribal forest assets and management of Indian forest land authorized to include NFS and public land. USDA shall issue grants for a state and private forest landscape-scale restoration program. USDA shall establish an NFS: pilot arbitration program to designate projects for an alternative dispute resolution process replacing judicial review, and accelerated landscape restoration pilot program for the restoration or maintenance of designated landscapes.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Roberts, Pat [R-KS] · 0 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (5)

Appropriation: Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Authorization: A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Resolution: A formal statement or decision by a legislative body. Simple resolutions often only express an opinion or set rules for one chamber; they do not become law.
Rulemaking: The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114s3085.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/s>

Record fed-us-cong114-s3085 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114