Requires the grant administration office to require peer review of the grant recipient selection process.
Adds funding for training as a volunteer recruitment and retention incentive among the proper uses of grant funds.
[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4548 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4548
To amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 with
respect to firefighter assistance.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 23, 2002
Mr. Smith of Michigan (for himself, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Weldon of
Pennsylvania, and Mr. Hoyer) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Science
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 with
respect to firefighter assistance.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FIREFIGHTER ASSISTANCE.
The first section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act
of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 33. FIREFIGHTER ASSISTANCE.
``(a) Definition of Firefighting Personnel.--In this section, the
term `firefighting personnel' means individuals, including volunteers,
who are firefighters, officers of fire departments, or emergency
medical service personnel of fire departments.
``(b) Assistance Program.--
``(1) Authority.--In accordance with this section, the
Administrator may--
``(A) make grants on a competitive basis directly
to fire departments of a State, in consultation with
the chief executive of the State, for the purpose of
protecting the health and safety of the public,
firefighting personnel, and property against fire and
fire-related hazards; and
``(B) provide assistance for fire prevention
programs in accordance with paragraph (4).
``(2) Office for administration of assistance.--
``(A) Establishment.--Before providing assistance
under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall establish
an office in the Administration to administer the
assistance under this section.
``(B) Included duties.--The duties of the office
shall include the following:
``(i) Recipient selection criteria.--To
establish specific criteria for the selection
of recipients of the assistance under this
section, including a requirement for peer
review of the selection process.
``(ii) Grant-writing assistance.--To
provide grant-writing assistance to applicants.
``(3) Use of fire department grant funds.--The
Administrator may make a grant under paragraph (1)(A) only if
the applicant for the grant agrees to use the grant funds for
one or more of the following purposes:
``(A) To hire additional firefighting personnel.
``(B) To train firefighting personnel in
firefighting, emergency response (including response to
a terrorism incident or use of a weapon of mass
destruction), arson prevention and detection, or the
handling of hazardous materials, or to train
firefighting personnel to provide any of the training
described in this subparagraph.
``(C) To fund the creation of rapid intervention
teams to protect firefighting personnel at the scenes
of fires and other emergencies.
``(D) To certify fire inspectors.
``(E) To establish wellness and fitness programs
for firefighting personnel to ensure that the
firefighting personnel can carry out their duties.
``(F) To fund emergency medical services provided
by fire departments.
``(G) To acquire additional firefighting vehicles,
including fire trucks.
``(H) To acquire additional firefighting equipment,
including equipment for communications, monitoring, and
response to a terrorism incident or use of a weapon of
mass destruction.
``(I) To acquire personal protective equipment
required for firefighting personnel by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, and other personal
protective equipment for firefighting personnel,
including protective equipment to respond to a
terrorism incident or the use of a weapon of mass
destruction.
``(J) To modify fire stations, fire training
facilities, and other facilities to protect the health
and safety of firefighting personnel.
``(K) To enforce fire codes.
``(L) To fund fire prevention programs.
``(M) To educate the public about arson prevention
and detection.
``(N) To provide incentives for the recruitment and
retention of volunteer firefighting personnel for
volunteer firefighting departments and other
firefighting departments that utilize volunteers,
including funding to enable training described in
subparagraph (B).
``(4) Fire prevention programs.--
``(A) In general.--For each fiscal year, the
Administrator shall use not less than 5 percent of the
funds made available under subsection (e)--
``(i) to make grants to fire departments
for the purpose described in paragraph (3)(L);
and
``(ii) to make grants to, or enter into
contracts or cooperative agreements with,
national, State, local, or community
organizations that are recognized for their
experience and expertise with respect to fire
prevention or fire safety programs and
activities, for the purpose of carrying out
fire prevention programs.
``(B) Priority.--In selecting organizations
described in subparagraph (A)(ii) to receive assistance
under this paragraph, the Administrator shall give
priority to organizations that focus on prevention of
injuries to children from fire.
``(5) Application.--The Administrator may provide
assistance to a fire department or organization under this
subsection only if the fire department or organization seeking
the assistance submits to the Administrator an application that
meets the following requirements:
``(A) Form.--The application shall be in such form
as the Administrator may require.
``(B) Information.--The application shall include
the following information:
``(i) Financial need.--Information that
demonstrates the financial need of the
applicant for the assistance for which applied.
In allocating funds under this section, the
Administrator shall not discriminate against an
applicant whose funding jurisdiction places a
high budget priority on fire department needs.
``(ii) Cost-benefit analysis.--An analysis
of the costs and benefits, with respect to
public safety, of the use of the assistance.
``(iii) Reporting systems data.--An
agreement to provide information to the
national fire incident reporting system for the
period covered by the assistance.
``(iv) Other information.--Any other
information that the Administrator may require.
``(6) Non-federal contribution.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the
Administrator may provide assistance under this
subsection only if the applicant for the assistance
agrees to provide 30 percent of the cost of the
purposes for which the assistance is sought under this
subsection in non-Federal funds for any fiscal year.
``(B) Requirement for small community
organizations.--In the case of an applicant whose
personnel serve jurisdictions of 50,000 or fewer
residents, the required non-Federal contribution under subparagraph (A)
shall be 10 percent.
``(7) Maintenance of expenditures.--The Administrator may
provide assistance under this subsection only if the applicant
for the assistance agrees to maintain in the fiscal year for
which the assistance will be received the applicant's aggregate
expenditures for the uses described in paragraph (3) or (4) at
or above the average level of such expenditures in the two
fiscal years preceding the fiscal year for which the assistance
will be received.
``(8) Report to the administrator.--The Administrator may
provide assistance under this subsection only if the applicant
for the assistance agrees to submit to the Administrator a
report, including a description of how the assistance was used,
with respect to each fiscal year for which the assistance was
received.
``(9) Variety of fire department grant recipients.--The
Administrator shall ensure that grants under paragraph (1)(A)
for a fiscal year are made to a variety of fire departments,
including, to the extent that there are eligible applicants--
``(A) career, volunteer, and combination fire
departments;
``(B) fire departments located in communities of
varying sizes; and
``(C) fire departments located in urban, suburban,
and rural communities.
``(10) Grant limitations.--
``(A) Recipient limitation.--A grant recipient
under this section may not receive more than $750,000
under this section for any fiscal year.
``(B) Limitation on expenditures for firefighting
vehicles.--Not more than 25 percent of the funds
appropriated to provide grants under this section for a
fiscal year may be used to assist grant recipients to
purchase vehicles, as authorized by paragraph (3)(G).
``(11) Reservation of grant funds for volunteer
departments.--In making grants to firefighting departments, the
Administrator shall ensure that those firefighting departments
that have either all-volunteer forces of firefighting personnel
or combined forces of volunteer and career firefighting
personnel collectively receive at least a proportion of the
total grant funding that equals the proportion of the United
States population that those firefighting departments protect.
``(c) Audits.--A recipient of a grant under this section shall be
subject to audits to ensure that the grant proceeds are expended for
the intended purposes and that the grant recipient complies with the
requirements of paragraphs (6) and (7) of subsection (b).
``(d) State Defined.--In this section, the term `State' includes
the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
``(1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated
to the Administrator $900,000,000 for each of the fiscal years
2002 through 2004 for the purposes of this section.
``(2) Administrative expenses.--Of the funds appropriated
pursuant to paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, the Administrator
may use not more than five percent of the funds to cover
salaries and expenses and other administrative costs incurred
by the Administrator to operate the office established under
subsection (b)(2) and make grants and provide assistance under
this section.''.
SEC. 2. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.
The second section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control
Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2230) and section 34 of that Act (15 U.S.C.
2231) are redesignated as sections 34 and 35, respectively.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Science.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Research.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1112)
Committee Hearings Held.
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