H.R. 6618 · 119th Congress

Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act

Introduced on Dec 11, 2025 by Janelle S. Bynum (D-OR-5). 4 cosponsors, 2 of them from another party. Latest action (Mar 25, 2026): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Dec 11, 2025
Cosponsors
4
2 from the other party
Policy area
Transportation and Public Works
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a study on drone incursions on wildfire suppression, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Aviation and airports
  • Congressional oversight
  • Fires
  • Forests, forestry, trees
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Transportation safety and security

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Reported to House, Mar 16, 2026). Public domain.

Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act

This bill directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to study the effects of unmanned aircraft system (i.e., drone) incursions on wildfire suppression on public lands.

Specifically, the FAA must study drone operations in any airspace for which the FAA issued a temporary flight restriction because of a wildfire on land managed by the Departments of Agriculture or the Interior. Among other things, the study must determine the number of occurrences over the last five years in which a drone incursion interfered with wildfire suppression and estimate the effects of each occurrence.

The study must also evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of (1) deploying counter-drone systems to detect, mitigate, and prevent drone incursions during wildfire suppression operations; and (2) disseminating educational materials related to the effects of the incursions on wildfire suppression operations.

The FAA must submit a report to Congress on the study's findings and any related recommendations.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Janelle S. BynumD-OR-5Sponsor

Democrats · 2

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Dec 11, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Dec 11, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Dec 11, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
  4. Dec 12, 2025 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
  5. Jan 21, 2026 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  6. Jan 21, 2026 · HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
  7. Mar 16, 2026Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. H. Rept. 119-548.
  8. Mar 16, 2026 · HouseReported (Amended) by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. H. Rept. 119-548.
  9. Mar 16, 2026 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 471.
  10. Mar 24, 2026 · HouseMr. Taylor moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  11. Mar 24, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H2654-2655)
  12. Mar 24, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 6618.
  13. Mar 24, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
  14. Mar 24, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2654)
  15. Mar 24, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  16. Mar 25, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.