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Public Lands Workforce Stability Act
To prohibit any reduction in force or involuntary separation at the Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service, and for other purposes.
Summary
HR 8523, the Public Lands Workforce Stability Act, prohibits the Department of Interior and the United States Forest Service from conducting reductions in force or involuntary employee separations from the date of enactment through September 30, 2030. Any federal funds used for such actions would require prior notification and approval from the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The bill permits involuntary separations only for cause—specifically misconduct, delinquency, or performance issues—for competitive service, career excepted service, and Senior Executive Service employees at these agencies.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
5 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Joe Neguse’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER SCHRECK $31,726
- HOLLAND & HART $17,400
- ELEVATIONS CREDIT UNION $14,600
- FOUNDRY GROUP $14,200
- DISH NETWORK $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joe Neguse → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Apr 27, 2026 Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- Apr 27, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2026
Mr. Neguse (for himself and Mr. Huffman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit any reduction in force or involuntary separation at the Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Public Lands Workforce Stability Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON REDUCTIONS IN FORCE AND INVOLUNTARY SEPARATIONS AT DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE.
(a) Prohibition.—During the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2030, without prior notification and approval of the chairs and ranking members of the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate, no Federal funds may be obligated or expended to—
(1) initiate, implement, or otherwise carry out a reduction in force within the Department of the Interior or the United States Forest Service; or
(2) carry out an involuntary separation of any employee in the competitive service, any career employee in the excepted service, or any career appointee in the Senior Executive Service at the Department of Interior or the United States Forest Service except for cause on charges of misconduct, delinquency, or performance.
(b) Definitions.—In subsection (a), the terms “competitive service”, “excepted service”, and “career appointee” have the meaning given those terms in sections 2102, 2103, and 3132(a), respectively, of title 5, United States Code. <all>
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