II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1197

To authorize a program of assistance to improve international building

practices in eligible Latin American countries.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 19, 2001

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. SESSIONS) introduced the

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

Foreign Relations

A BILL

To authorize a program of assistance to improve international building practices in eligible Latin American

countries.

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 ‘‘Code and Safety for

5 the Americas (CASA) Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Construction products and systems are im9 ported and used in El Salvador and Ecuador without
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1 proper international evaluation, not ensuring the

2 quality of these products and systems.

3 (2) Safety issues exist with respect to building

4 construction in El Salvador and Ecuador when nat5 ural disasters occur such as hurricanes, floods,

6 earthquakes, and fires.

7 (3) There is a need in El Salvador, Ecuador,

8 and other Latin American countries for a complete,

9 updated family of codes that covers all elements of

10 building and housing, including zoning, egress, fire

11 protection, plumbing, electrical installation, mechan12 ical installation, structural engineering, seismic de13 sign, and fire resistive engineering.

14 (4) The educational system in Latin America

15 does not offer quality short courses for the labor

16 force in building codes.

17 (5) The United States sends vast amounts of

18 assistance to foreign countries to rebuild in the wake

19 of natural disasters.

20 (6) If proper building codes are followed in the

21 construction of buildings in Latin America, buildings

22 will be safer, and, therefore, the need for United

23 States’ disaster assistance in the wake of disasters

24 will be less.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized,

3 under such terms and conditions as the President may de4 termine, to carry out a program of assistance under chap5 ter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22

6 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.; relating to development assistance)

7 to improve international building construction practices in

8 Latin American countries.

9 (b) PROGRAM DESCRIPTION.—Assistance under the

10 program shall be in the form of grants to support the fol11 lowing activities:

12 (1) TRAINING.—The training of selected profes13 sionals in the public and private sectors in eligible

14 Latin American countries in the ICC International

15 Code.

16 (2) TRANSLATION.—The translation into Span17 ish, and publication of, the following international

18 building codes:

19 (A) The International Building Code.

20 (B) The International Residential Code.

21 (C) The International Fire Code.

22 (D) The International Plumbing Code.

23 (E) The International Mechanical Code.

24 (F) The International Fuel Gas Code.

25 (G) The International Energy Conserva26 tion Code.
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1 (H) The International Property Mainte2 nance Code.

3 (I) The International Private Sewage Dis4 posal Code.

5 (J) The International Zoning Code.

6 (K) The International Code Council Elec7 trical Code.

8 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The program shall be car9 ried out through the International Code Council.

10 (d) ELIGIBLE LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES DE11 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible Latin Amer12 ican countries’’ means Ecuador, El Salvador, and such

13 other Latin American countries as the President may des14 ignate.

15 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—

17 (1) FISCAL YEAR 2002.—There is authorized to

18 be appropriated to the President $1,751,122 for fis19 cal year 2002 to carry out section 3, of which

20 amount $504,492 shall be available to carry out sec21 tion 3(b)(1) and $1,246,630 shall be available to

22 carry out section 3(b)(2).

23 (2) FISCAL YEAR 2003.—There is authorized to

24 be appropriated to the President $1,192,181 for fis25 cal year 2003 to carry out section 3(b)(2).
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1 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro2 priated pursuant to subsection (a) are authorized to re3 main available until expended.

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