Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions Act

Key Points

• This bill requires the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior to give Congress and the public a clear picture of how they are reducing wildfire risks. They must report exactly how many acres of federal land were treated to remove dangerous brush and trees that could fuel a fire.
• To ensure the numbers are honest, the agencies can only count each acre once per year, even if they did multiple projects on that same spot. This prevents the government from making their progress look bigger than it actually is by double-counting the same land.
• The reports must include specific details, such as whether the work was done near neighborhoods, how much the work cost per acre, and if the risk of a wildfire actually went down after the project was finished. This information will be posted online for anyone to see.
• The agencies have 90 days to set up a new, standardized system for tracking this data. This ensures that different departments are using the same rules and methods to measure their success in protecting forests and nearby communities.
• A government watchdog will study the new reporting system after two years to make sure it is working correctly. No new money is being spent on these requirements; the agencies must use the funds they already have.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.