The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee on Oct. 21 passed its version of the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) by a bipartisan vote of 18-5. APPA supports FOFA and will continue to advocate for its passage by the full Senate.
There were 34 amendments filed to the bill (S. 1462), but only the amendment in the nature of a substitute (ANS) and the manager’s amendment making technical corrections were included in the final version of the bill as reported by the committee.
All Republican senators on the panel voted in favor of the bill, and they were joined by Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senators Dick Durban (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
Relevant changes in the ANS include:
• Fireshed Management and Registry (Sec. 103): Utilities would be required to coordinate with federal and state agencies to align vegetation management and infrastructure goals within designated firesheds.
• Expanded definition of Good Neighbor Authority (Sec. 111): The expanded Good Neighbor Authority definition would include special districts and tribal authorities to encourage new partnership opportunities for collaborative forest and fire management.
• Litigation Reform (Secs. 121-124): These sections would add injunctive relief by limiting the ability of courts to issue preliminary injunction and/or temporary restraining orders against forest management projects. These sections also establish a 150-day timeline from the date of project approval for legal challenges, encourage courts to remand agency decisions without vacating them, and add requirements for plaintiffs to have participated in the public comment period for a decision to have standing in court.
• Prescribed Fire Operational Strategy (Secs. 131-136): These new sections would establish standards for training, liability, and smoke management for prescribed fire burns.
• Research Programs (Secs. 201 & 202): These sections would establish the Community Wildfire Reduction Program and Community Wildfire Defense Research Program included in the House-passed version of FOFA.
Notably, House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the primary sponsor of the House-passed version of FOFA (H.R. 471), attended today’s markup and spoke with Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) following adjournment of the markup.
