H.R. 5781 would direct the President to establish a national wildland fire risk reduction program and would authorize the appropriation of specific amounts over the 2022-2026 period for various agencies that would total $2.2 billion. Those amounts would be for federal agencies to conduct research and development on the effects of wildfires and detecting, preparing for, mitigating, and preventing wildfires. The bill also would direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to establish and manage interagency and advisory committees on wildfire risk reduction and would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to the Congress on the program.
The estimated budgetary effects of the legislation and the amounts that would be provided to each agency are detailed in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget functions 250 (general science, space, and technology), 300 (natural resources and environment), 370 (commerce and housing credit), 450 (community and regional development), and 800 (general government).
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted late in fiscal year 2022 and that the authorized and estimated amounts will be provided each year.
