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H.R. 1873: Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

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H.R. 1873: Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

115th Congress · introduced 2017-04-04 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-485.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

  1. Where it came from: introduced 2017-04-04 · official record
  2. Who proposed it: Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] · what a sponsor is
  3. What happened next: 2 recorded votes in our records. Latest: House roll call 314 (2017): On Agreeing to the Amendment, HR1873 (2017-06-21), Failed. See all
  4. Where it stands now: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-485. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
  5. 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

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

Plain summary

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act (Sec.2)This bill requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to lands under their respective jurisdictions, to ensure that all existing and future rights-of-way for electrical transmission and distribution facilities on such lands include requirements for utility vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance activities that: are developed in consultation with the holder of the right-of-way; enable the owner or operator of a facility to operate and maintain it in good working order and comply with federal, state, and local electric system reliability and fire safety requirements; and minimize the need for case-by-case or annual approvals, and instead provide for expedited review and approval, for routine vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance activities within existing electrical transmission and distribution rights-of-way, as well as utility vegetation management activities necessary to control hazard trees within or adjacent to electrical transmission and distribution rights-of-way. Interior and USDA shall give facility owners and operators the option to submit to the appropriate agency a vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plan. Interior and USDA shall develop jointly a consolidated and coordinated process for review and approval of these plans. Interior and USDA shall apply its categorical exclusion process under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to plans developed by this bill. (A "categorical exclusion" under the NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and for which neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.) If vegetation on federal lands within, or hazard trees on federal lands adjacent to, an electrical transmission or distribution right-of-way granted by Interior or USDA has contacted, or is in imminent danger of contacting, one or more electric transmission or distribution lines, the owner or operator: may prune or remove the vegetation or hazard tree to avoid disruption of electric service and risk of fire, and shall notify the local agent of the relevant agency within 24 hours after such removal. The owner or operator of a transmission or distribution facility, after notifying Interior or USDA, as appropriate, may also conduct vegetation management activities on federal lands to meet clearance requirements under standards established by the Electric Reliability Organization or by state and local authorities. An owner or operator of a transmission or distribution facility shall not be held liable for wildfire damage, loss, or injury, including the cost of fire suppression, if Interior or USDA fails to allow it to: operate consistently with an approved vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plan on federal lands within or adjacent to a right-of-way to comply with federal, state, or local electric system reliability and fire safety standards; or perform vegetation management activities in response to a hazard tree or a tree in imminent danger of contacting the owner's or operator's transmission or distribution facility. Interior and USDA may develop a program to train their personnel involved in vegetation management decisions on rights-of-way relating to transmission and distribution facilities. Interior and USDA shall prescribe regulations, or amend existing regulations, to implement this bill. An owner or operator does not have to develop and submit a vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and maintenance plan if one has already been approved by Interior or USDA before the enactment of this bill. (Sec.3)This bill shall not detract from the availability of funds or other resources for wild-fire suppression.

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended)

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The strongest published arguments

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Alternatives

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

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] · 20 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 1873, Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act (2017-05-23)

Cosponsors on this site

Jim Costa (D-CA), Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Mark E. Amodei (R-NV), Michael K. Simpson (R-ID), Randy K. Weber, Sr. (R-TX), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Tom Emmer (R-MN)

Recorded votes

Words on this page, explained (3)
Appropriation
Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
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).
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

Record fed-us-cong115-hr1873 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115