II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 977 

To provide grants for fire station construction through the Administrator 

of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2023 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. CASEY, Mr. BROWN, 

Mr. CARDIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. REED, and Mr. TESTER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide grants for fire station construction through the 

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency, 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 ‘‘Facilitating Invest5 ments Required for Emergency Services To All Towns In 

6 Our Nation Act’’ or the ‘‘FIRE STATION Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS FIRE STATION CON8 STRUCTION GRANTS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

3 Emergency Management Agency. 

4 (2) CAREER FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The term 

5 ‘‘career fire department’’ means a fire department 

6 that has an all-paid force of firefighting personnel 

7 other than paid-on-call firefighters. 

8 (3) COMBINATION FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The 

9 term ‘‘combination fire department’’ means a fire 

10 department that has— 

11 (A) paid firefighting personnel; and 

12 (B) volunteer firefighting personnel. 

13 (4) EMS.—The term ‘‘EMS’’ means emergency 

14 medical services. 

15 (5) NONAFFILIATED EMS ORGANIZATION.—The 

16 term ‘‘nonaffiliated EMS organization’’ means a 

17 public or private nonprofit EMS organization that is 

18 not affiliated with a hospital and does not serve a 

19 geographic area in which the Administrator finds 

20 that EMS are adequately provided by a fire depart21 ment. 

22 (6) VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The 

23 term ‘‘volunteer fire department’’ means a fire de24 partment that has an all-volunteer force of fire25 fighting personnel. 


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1 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall es2 tablish a grant program to provide financial assistance to 

3 entities described in subsection (c) to modify, upgrade, 

4 and construct fire and EMS department facilities. 

5 (c) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—The Administrator may 

6 make a grant under this section to the following: 

7 (1) Career, volunteer, and combination fire de8 partments. 

9 (2) Fire training facilities. 

10 (3) Nonaffiliated EMS organizations, combina11 tion and volunteer emergency medical stations (ex12 cept that for-profit EMS organizations are not eligi13 ble for a grant under this section). 

14 (d) APPLICATIONS.—An entity described in sub15 section (c) seeking a grant under this section shall submit 

16 to the Administrator an application in such form, at such 

17 time, and containing such information as the Adminis18 trator determines appropriate. 

19 (e) MEETING FOR RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con21 vene a meeting of qualified members of national fire 

22 service organizations and, at the discretion of the 

23 Administrator, qualified members of EMS organiza24 tions to obtain recommendations regarding the cri25 teria for the awarding of grants under this section. 


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1 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—For purposes of this 

2 subsection, a qualified member of an organization is 

3 a member who— 

4 (A) is recognized for firefighting or EMS 

5 expertise; 

6 (B) is not an employee of the Federal Gov7 ernment; and 

8 (C) in the case of a member of an EMS 

9 organization, is a member of an organization 

10 that represents— 

11 (i) EMS providers that are affiliated 

12 with fire departments; or 

13 (ii) nonaffiliated EMS providers. 

14 (f) PEER REVIEW OF GRANT APPLICATION.—The 

15 Administrator shall, in consultation with national fire 

16 service and EMS organizations, appoint fire service per17 sonnel to conduct peer reviews of applications received 

18 under subsection (d). 

19 (g) PRIORITY OF GRANTS.—In awarding grants 

20 under this section, the Administrator shall consider the 

21 findings and recommendations of the peer reviews carried 

22 out under subsection (f). 

23 (h) USES OF FUNDS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of a grant under 

25 this section may use funds received for the following: 


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1 (A) Building, rebuilding, or renovating fire 

2 and EMS department facilities. 

3 (B) Upgrading existing facilities to install 

4 exhaust emission control systems, install backup 

5 power systems, upgrade or replace environ6 mental control systems (such as HVAC sys7 tems), remove or remediate mold, and construct 

8 or modify living quarters for use by male and 

9 female personnel. 

10 (C) Upgrading fire and EMS stations or 

11 building new stations. 

12 (2) CODE COMPLIANT.—In using funds under 

13 paragraph (1), a recipient of a grant under this sec14 tion shall meet 1 of the 2 most recently published 

15 editions of relevant codes and standards, especially 

16 codes and standards that— 

17 (A) require up-to-date hazard resistant and 

18 safety provisions; and 

19 (B) are relevant for protecting firefighter 

20 health and safety. 

21 (i) GRANT FUNDING.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall al23 locate grant funds under this section as follows: 

24 (A) 25 percent for career fire and EMS 

25 departments. 


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1 (B) 25 percent for combination fire and 

2 EMS departments. 

3 (C) 25 percent for volunteer fire and EMS 

4 departments. 

5 (D) 25 percent to remain available for 

6 competition between the various department 

7 types. 

8 (2) INSUFFICIENT APPLICATIONS.—If the Ad9 ministrator does not receive sufficient funding re10 quests from a particular department type described 

11 in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (1), 

12 the Administrator may make awards to other de13 partments described in such subparagraphs. 

14 (3) LIMITATION ON AWARDS AMOUNTS.—A re15 cipient of a grant under this section may not receive 

16 more than $7,500,000 under this section. 

17 (j) PREVAILING RATE OF WAGE AND PUBLIC CON18 TRACTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—All laborers and mechanics 

20 employed by contractors or subcontractors in the 

21 performance of construction work financed with the 

22 assistance of any contribution of Federal funds 

23 made by the Administrator under this section shall 

24 be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing 

25 on similar construction in the locality as determined 


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1 by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with sub2 chapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States 

3 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’). 

4 (2) OVERTIME.—Each employee described in 

5 paragraph (1) shall receive compensation at a rate 

not less than one and 1 6 ⁄2 times the basic rate of pay 

7 of the employee for all hours worked in any work8 week in excess of 8 hours in any workday or 40 

9 hours in the workweek, as the case may be. 

10 (3) ASSURANCES.—The Administrator shall 

11 make no contribution of Federal funds without first 

12 obtaining adequate assurance that the labor stand13 ards described in paragraphs (1) and (2) will be 

14 maintained upon the construction work. 

15 (4) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF LABOR.— 

16 The Secretary of Labor shall have, with respect to 

17 the labor standards described in paragraphs (1) and 

18 (2), the authority and functions set forth in Reorga19 nization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (5 U.S.C. App.) 

20 and section 3145 of title 40, United States Code. 

21 (5) PUBLIC CONTRACTS.—Contractors and sub22 contractors performing construction work pursuant 

23 to this section shall procure only manufactured arti24 cles, materials, and supplies that have been manu25 factured in the United States substantially all from 


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1 articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or 

2 manufactured in the United States in accordance 

3 with the requirements (and exceptions thereto) ap4 plicable to Federal agencies under chapter 83 of title 

5 41, United States Code. 

6 (k) APPLICABILITY.—Chapter 10 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, shall not apply to activities carried out pursu8 ant to this section. 

9 (l) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR OF

11 FEMA.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en12 actment of this Act, and annually thereafter during 

13 the term of a grant awarded under this section, the 

14 recipient of the grant shall submit to the Adminis15 trator a report describing how the recipient used the 

16 amounts from the grant. 

17 (2) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

18 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

19 and annually thereafter until the date on which the 

20 rebuilding or renovation of fire facilities and stations 

21 are completed using grant funds under this section, 

22 the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on 

23 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

24 Senate and the Committees on Transportation and 

25 Infrastructure and Science, Space, and Technology 


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1 of the House of Representatives a report that pro2 vides an evaluation of the effectiveness of the grants 

3 awarded under this section. 

4 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated $750,000,000 for fiscal year 

6 2024 to carry out this section. Funds appropriated under 

7 this Act shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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