A bill to amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration to provide assistance to firefighting task forces, and for other purposes.

Summary: Firefighters Special Operation Task Force Act - Amends the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize the Administrator of the U.S. Fire Administration to award grants to a task force (two or more fire services operating under a cooperative agreement to coordinate incident response within a geographic area) for: (1) salary and benefits to hire or rehire firefighting personnel to provide services to the task force; (2) expenses related to the participation of firefighting personnel in appropriate training courses offered by the Department of Homeland Security, the National Fire Academy, or a State or local fire academy; (3) training related to incident response; (4) appropriate equipment or support systems for task force members; or (5) improved communications between task force members and a local police department or hospital.

Requires the Administrator, in selecting grantees, to give priority to task forces serving geographic areas within 50 miles of: (1) a nuclear power facility; (2) a large facility that produces, treats, or refines chemicals or petroleum products; (3) a business district of national significance; or (4) a location with one or more critical infrastructures.

Requires grantees to provide non-Federal matching funds of at least 55 percent of the amount awarded by the Administrator for each fiscal year.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Firefighters Special Operation Task 
Force Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES.

    The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2201 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 37. ASSISTANCE FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Critical infrastructure.--The term `critical 
        infrastructure' has the meaning given that term in section 
        1016(e) of the Critical Infrastructures Protection Act of 2001 
        (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
            ``(2) Firefighting personnel.--The term `firefighting 
        personnel' has the meaning given that term in section 33(a).
            ``(3) Incident response.--The term `incident response' 
        means a response by a task force or task force unit to--
                    ``(A) a terrorist attack, including such an attack 
                that utilizes a weapon of mass destruction;
                    ``(B) a release of a hazardous material;
                    ``(C) a natural disaster; or
                    ``(D) any other emergency for which a response by a 
                fire service is appropriate.
            ``(4) Member.--The term `member', with respect to a task 
        force, means a fire service that is a party to the cooperative 
        agreement establishing the task force.
            ``(5) Task force.--The term `task force' means not less 
        than 2 fire services operating pursuant to a cooperative 
        agreement for the purpose of coordinating incident response 
        among such fire services within a geographic area.
    ``(b) Authority.--The Administrator is authorized--
            ``(1) to award grants to a task force for the purposes set 
        out in subsection (c);
            ``(2) if multiple task forces are formed in a metropolitan 
        area that has a population of more than 1,000,000, to award 
        more than one such grant for such metropolitan area; and
            ``(3) to award such grants to not more than 100 task forces 
        in the United States.
    ``(c) Purposes.--A grant awarded to a task force under this section 
shall be used--
            ``(1) to provide salary and benefits to hire firefighting 
        personnel or rehire firefighting personnel who have been laid 
        off to provide services to the task force, including salary and 
        benefits during a fiscal year for not more than--
                    ``(A) 2 individuals to serve as chief officers;
                    ``(B) 2 individuals to serve as captains;
                    ``(C) 2 individuals to serve as lieutenants; and
                    ``(D) 120 other firefighting personnel;
            ``(2) to pay expenses related to the participation of 
        firefighting personnel in appropriate training courses offered 
        by the Department of Homeland Security, the National Fire 
        Academy, or a State or local fire academy;
            ``(3) to provide training related to incident response to 
        firefighting personnel;
            ``(4) to obtain appropriate equipment, including 
        firefighting vehicles, or support systems for members of the 
        task force; or
            ``(5) to improve the ability of a member of a task force to 
        communicate with a local police department or hospital.
    ``(d) Application.--Each task force desiring assistance under this 
section shall submit an application to the Administrator at such time, 
in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the 
Administrator may reasonably require.
    ``(e) Selection.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator shall select each task 
        force to receive assistance under this section.
            ``(2) Priority.--In selecting a task force to receive 
        assistance under this section, the Administrator shall give 
        priority to task forces that serve a geographic area that is 
        located not more than 50 miles from--
                    ``(A) a facility that produces nuclear power;
                    ``(B) a large facility that produces, treats, or 
                refines chemicals or petroleum products;
                    ``(C) a business district of national significance; 
                or
                    ``(D) a location with one or more critical 
                infrastructures.
    ``(f) Matching Requirement.--The Administrator may provide 
assistance to a task force under this section during a fiscal year only 
if the task force agrees to provide, for each such fiscal year, an 
amount of non-Federal funds that is not less than 55 percent of the 
amount of such assistance provided by the Administrator to the task 
force for such fiscal year.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section the 
following amounts:
            ``(1) $1,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
            ``(2) $1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 
        through 2015.''.