H.R. 204 · Where this bill is now
In the Senate
Passed the House Jan 21, 2025. Received Jan 22, 2025; no Senate vote yet
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryStandardizes tracking of wildfire prevention work
The bill requires the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior to track and report on vegetation management activities that reduce wildfire risk on federal lands. They must set up standardized procedures to record data, check its accuracy, measure how well these activities actually prevent wildfires, and distinguish between work done in areas where homes meet wildlands versus remote areas. The Government Accountability Office will study how well these new tracking procedures work and report back to Congress.
How it affects you
This bill doesn't directly change daily life for most people. It mainly affects federal land managers and those involved in planning wildfire prevention efforts, as they'll need to follow new procedures for measuring and reporting their work. Indirectly, better tracking of these efforts could help lawmakers understand what vegetation management strategies work best for protecting communities from wildfires.
Read the official summary (Introduced in House, Jan 3, 2025)
Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions Act or the ACRES Act
This bill establishes requirements regarding reports about hazardous fuels reduction activities and standardized procedures for tracking data for hazardous fuels reduction. Hazardous fuels reduction activities means any vegetation management activities that reduce the risk of wildfire but excludes the award of contracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction activities.
First, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior must include in the materials submitted in support of the President's budget each fiscal year a report on the number of acres of federal land on which such activities were carried out during the preceding year.
Next, USDA and Interior must implement standardized procedures for tracking data related to such activities. The standardized procedures must include
• regular, standardized data reviews of the accuracy and timely input of data used to track hazardous fuels reduction activities;
• verification methods that validate whether such data accurately correlates to such activities;
• an analysis of the short- and long-term effectiveness of such activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and
• for hazardous fuels reduction activities that occur partially within the wildland-urban interface, methods to distinguish which acres are located within and which located outside the wildland-urban interface.
Finally, the Government Accountability Office must (1) conduct a study on this bill's implementation, and (2) submit a report to Congress with the results of the study.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionH. R. 204
AN ACT
Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions Act
ACRES Act
Sponsor: Rep. Thomas P. Tiffany (R-WI-7) · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · 4 versions of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Jul 23, 2026: “Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 490.”
Sections
The wording of this bill hasn’t changed across its 4 official versions.