On the recordJuly 9, 2015
Congress has previously authorized fire liability provisions for stewardship contracts. My amendment simply provides the same fire liability provisions for long-term stewardship contracts awarded by the Forest Service prior to February 7, 2014. These contracts have valid concerns over their potential liability, and it is prohibitively expensive to obtain liability insurance to cover the costs of large forest fires. The amendment provides these contractors with the same protections as all Federal timber sales and integrated resource timber purchasers and other integrated resource stewardship contracts that they already have. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.
