US HB3553

Secretary of Agriculture must conduct a study within 1 year evaluating wildfire mitigation methods in shrubland ecosystems, including chaparral, coastal sage scrub, sagebrush, and shrub-steppe areas

Study must assess hazardous fuels management activities, strategic fuel breaks, invasive species mitigation, Forest Service policies on preventing ember ignitions from electrical infrastructure and man-made structures, and conditions affecting mitigation effectiveness

Secretary must coordinate with the Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Maintaining Resilient Dryland Ecosystems program, and Secretary of the Interior to avoid duplicating federal research

Report due to Congress within 90 days of study completion must include best practices for land managers, comparison to current Forest Service policies, and opportunities to improve coordination with non-federal entities on wildland-urban interface resilience

Introduced May 21, 2025 by Rep. Min with 10 bipartisan California cosponsors; referred to House Agriculture and Natural Resources committees