II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2587 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6, 2006 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firefighters Special 

5 Operation Task Force Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES. 

2 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

3 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 37. ASSISTANCE FOR FIREFIGHTING TASK FORCES. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

8 ‘critical infrastructure’ has the meaning given that 

9 term in section 1016(e) of the Critical Infrastruc10 tures Protection Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 

11 ‘‘(2) FIREFIGHTING PERSONNEL.—The term 

12 ‘firefighting personnel’ has the meaning given that 

13 term in section 33(a). 

14 ‘‘(3) INCIDENT RESPONSE.—The term ‘incident 

15 response’ means a response by a task force or task 

16 force unit to— 

17 ‘‘(A) a terrorist attack, including such an 

18 attack that utilizes a weapon of mass destruc19 tion; 

20 ‘‘(B) a release of a hazardous material; 

21 ‘‘(C) a natural disaster; or 

22 ‘‘(D) any other emergency for which a re23 sponse by a fire service is appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(4) MEMBER.—The term ‘member’, with re25 spect to a task force, means a fire service that is a 


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1 party to the cooperative agreement establishing the 

2 task force. 

3 ‘‘(5) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘task force’ 

4 means not less than 2 fire services operating pursu5 ant to a cooperative agreement for the purpose of 

6 coordinating incident response among such fire serv7 ices within a geographic area. 

8 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator is author9 ized— 

10 ‘‘(1) to award grants to a task force for the 

11 purposes set out in subsection (c); 

12 ‘‘(2) if multiple task forces are formed in a 

13 metropolitan area that has a population of more 

14 than 1,000,000, to award more than one such grant 

15 for such metropolitan area; and 

16 ‘‘(3) to award such grants to not more than 

17 100 task forces in the United States. 

18 ‘‘(c) PURPOSES.—A grant awarded to a task force 

19 under this section shall be used— 

20 ‘‘(1) to provide salary and benefits to hire fire21 fighting personnel or rehire firefighting personnel 

22 who have been laid off to provide services to the task 

23 force, including salary and benefits during a fiscal 

24 year for not more than— 


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1 ‘‘(A) 2 individuals to serve as chief offi2 cers; 

3 ‘‘(B) 2 individuals to serve as captains; 

4 ‘‘(C) 2 individuals to serve as lieutenants; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(D) 120 other firefighting personnel; 

7 ‘‘(2) to pay expenses related to the participation 

8 of firefighting personnel in appropriate training 

9 courses offered by the Department of Homeland Se10 curity, the National Fire Academy, or a State or 

11 local fire academy; 

12 ‘‘(3) to provide training related to incident re13 sponse to firefighting personnel; 

14 ‘‘(4) to obtain appropriate equipment, including 

15 firefighting vehicles, or support systems for members 

16 of the task force; or 

17 ‘‘(5) to improve the ability of a member of a 

18 task force to communicate with a local police depart19 ment or hospital. 

20 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—Each task force desiring assist21 ance under this section shall submit an application to the 

22 Administrator at such time, in such manner, and accom23 panied by such information as the Administrator may rea24 sonably require. 

25 ‘‘(e) SELECTION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall se2 lect each task force to receive assistance under this 

3 section. 

4 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In selecting a task force to re5 ceive assistance under this section, the Adminis6 trator shall give priority to task forces that serve a 

7 geographic area that is located not more than 50 

8 miles from— 

9 ‘‘(A) a facility that produces nuclear 

10 power; 

11 ‘‘(B) a large facility that produces, treats, 

12 or refines chemicals or petroleum products; 

13 ‘‘(C) a business district of national signifi14 cance; or 

15 ‘‘(D) a location with one or more critical 

16 infrastructures. 

17 ‘‘(f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Administrator 

18 may provide assistance to a task force under this section 

19 during a fiscal year only if the task force agrees to provide, 

20 for each such fiscal year, an amount of non-Federal funds 

21 that is not less than 55 percent of the amount of such 

22 assistance provided by the Administrator to the task force 

23 for such fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

3 carry out this section the following amounts: 

4 ‘‘(1) $1,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2007. 

5 ‘‘(2) $1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

6 2008 through 2016.’’. 

Æ 


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