Utah joins federal wildfire research network, expanding Southwest prevention capacity.
H.R. 1045 — Utah Wildfire Research Institute Act of 2025 · Filed by Mike Kennedy (R-UT) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 6, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004 to add Utah as an eligible state for establishing a research institute under that program. Currently, the Act authorizes institutes in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado; this bill adds Utah to that list, allowing the state to participate in the federal wildfire research and prevention framework.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to extend an existing federal wildfire research program to an additional state. It is a routine geographic amendment with no hidden mechanisms or private beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- Establishes Utah as a hub for Southwest regional wildfire research, potentially positioning the state as a center for climate-adaptation science in the intermountain West.
- May increase federal funding flows to Utah universities and research institutions participating in the Institute, though the bill itself does not appropriate funds — that occurs under the existing 2004 Act's authorization.
- Expands the geographic scope of the Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act, which may signal congressional intent to treat wildfire as a multi-state regional challenge rather than isolated state-level problem.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Utah residents gain access to federally supported wildfire research and prevention infrastructure, which addresses a genuine public safety and environmental concern. The bill expands an existing, established program to a new state without apparent cost-shifting or private capture.
Who stands to gain
- Utah universities and research institutions (as potential hosts of the Institute)
- Utah state forestry and natural resource agencies
Named in the bill
State of Utah, Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, House Committee on Agriculture
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Feb 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period…”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent”
- Dec 15, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5876-5877)”
- Dec 15, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Stauber moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $3,540,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 135 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Kennedy, the sponsor, reported $532,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Property Casualty Insurance Association — $3,540,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (684 characters) on Jul 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Utah joins federal wildfire research network, expanding Southwest prevention capacity.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1045 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.