I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6198 

To support infrastructure investment in small law enforcement agencies and 

small fire departments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2023 

Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Ms. LETLOW, and Mr. KEAN of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To support infrastructure investment in small law 

enforcement agencies and small fire departments. 

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 ‘‘Building Up Infra5 structure for Local Departments Act of 2023’’ or the 

6 ‘‘BUILD Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BUILDING UP INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LOCAL DE2 PARTMENTS GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime 

4 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘PART PP—BUILDING UP INFRASTRUCTURE FOR 

7 LOCAL DEPARTMENTS GRANT PROGRAM 

8 ‘‘SEC. 3061. GRANT AUTHORIZATION. 

9 ‘‘The Attorney General is authorized to make grants 

10 to State and local law enforcement agencies that serve ju11 risdictions with fewer than 50,000 residents for use in ac12 cordance with section 3062. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 3062. USE OF FUNDS. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Funds made available to a State 

15 or local law enforcement agency under this part shall be 

16 used for a project to modify, upgrade, or construct a facil17 ity of the law enforcement agency, which project shall have 

18 a substantial nexus to— 

19 ‘‘(1) the improvement of the provision of emer20 gency services; 

21 ‘‘(2) the training and development of law en22 forcement officers; 

23 ‘‘(3) the recruitment and retention of law en24 forcement officers; 

25 ‘‘(4) community engagement; or 

26 ‘‘(5) the improvement of community safety. 


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1 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION.—A portion of a project to mod2 ify, upgrade, or construct a facility of law enforcement 

3 agency that does not have a substantial nexus to any of 

4 paragraphs (1) through (5), such portion may not use 

5 funds made available under this part. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3063. APPLICATION. 

7 ‘‘The head of a State or local law enforcement agency 

8 seeking a grant under this part shall submit to the Attor9 ney General at such time and containing such information 

10 as the Attorney General may reasonably require, including 

11 an estimate of the cost of the project for which the grant 

12 will be used, as well as a demonstration of financial need 

13 for the grant. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3064. DUTIES OF ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

15 ‘‘(a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 120 days after the 

16 date of enactment of this part, the Attorney General shall 

17 issue guidance to carry out the grant program under this 

18 part. 

19 ‘‘(b) DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION.—The Attor20 ney General shall distribute information about the grant 

21 program under this part to eligible State and local law 

22 enforcement agencies. 

23 ‘‘(c) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In awarding 

24 grants under this part, the Attorney General shall ensure, 


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1 to the extent practicable, an equitable geographic distribu2 tion among the regions of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—On the date that is 2 years after the 

4 date of enactment of this part, and biannually thereafter 

5 until the date that is 6 years after the date of enactment 

6 of this part, the Attorney General shall submit to Con7 gress and make publicly available a report on the grant 

8 program under this part. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3065. GRANT AMOUNT. 

10 ‘‘A grant under this part may not exceed $4,000,000. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 3066. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Attor13 ney General to carry out this section $250,000,000 for 

14 each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026.’’. 

15 (b) REPORTS.— 

16 (1) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney Gen17 eral shall periodically conduct and publish a study of 

18 the met and unmet construction and renovation 

19 needs of a national sample of law enforcement agen20 cies. Such study may be conducted as a supplement 

21 to the Law Enforcement Management and Adminis22 trative Statistics program operated by the Bureau of 

23 Justice Statistics. 

24 (2) GAO.—Not later than 180 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller GenVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 01, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6198.IH H6198

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1 eral of the United States shall conduct a study on 

2 the sufficiency of existing capital infrastructure for 

3 law enforcement agencies serving jurisdictions with 

4 fewer than 50,000 residents, including the met and 

5 unmet construction and renovation needs of such 

6 law enforcement agencies. Such report shall include 

7 projections relating to such needs over the following 

8 periods: 

9 (A) One to five years. 

10 (B) Five to ten years. 

11 (C) More than ten years. 

12 SEC. 3. BUILDING UP INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LOCAL DE13 PARTMENTS—FIRE GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.—The Administrator is 

15 authorized to make grants to entities described in sub16 section (b) to modify, upgrade, or construct fire depart17 ment facilities. 

18 (b) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—Entities described in 

19 this subsection are career fire departments, combination 

20 fire departments, and volunteer fire departments which 

21 serve jurisdictions of 50,000 people or fewer. 

22 (c) DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION.—The Adminis23 trator shall distribute to entities described in subsection 

24 (b) information regarding the grant program. 


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1 (d) APPLICATIONS.—An entity described in sub2 section (b) seeking a grant under this section shall submit 

3 to the Administrator an application at such time and con4 taining such information as the Administrator may rea5 sonably require, including the size of the jurisdiction 

6 served by such applicant, an estimate of the cost of the 

7 project for which the grant will be used, and a demonstra8 tion of financial need for the grant. 

9 (e) USES OF FUNDS.—In carrying out the purpose 

10 described in subsection (a), a recipient of a grant under 

11 this section may use funds received for the following: 

12 (1) The improvement of the provision of emer13 gency services, including either firefighting or affili14 ated EMS capabilities. 

15 (2) The training and development of fire16 fighting or EMS personnel. 

17 (3) The recruitment and retention of such per18 sonnel, including by improving safety. 

19 (4) Community engagement. 

20 (5) The improvement of community safety. 

21 (f) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In awarding grants 

22 under this part, the Administrator shall ensure, to the ex23 tent practicable, an equitable geographic distribution 

24 among the regions of the United States. 


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1 (g) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this section 

2 may not exceed $4,000,000. 

3 (h) REPORTS ON GRANTS.—Not later than two years 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act and biennially 

5 thereafter for six years, the Administrator shall submit to 

6 Congress and make publicly available a report on grants 

7 made under this section. 

8 (i) REPORTS ON CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION

9 NEEDS.— 

10 (1) FEMA.—To the greatest extent possible, 

11 the Administrator shall periodically conduct and 

12 publish a study of the met and unmet construction 

13 and renovation needs of a national sample of career 

14 fire departments, combination fire departments, and 

15 volunteer fire departments. 

16 (2) GAO.—Not later than 180 days after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

18 General of the United States shall submit to Con19 gress and make publicly available a report on the 

20 sufficiency of existing capital infrastructure for ca21 reer fire departments, combination fire departments, 

22 and volunteer fire departments nationwide serving 

23 jurisdictions with fewer than 50,000 residents, in24 cluding the met and unmet construction and renova25 tion needs and the provision of emergency services. 


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1 Such report shall include projections relating to such 

2 needs and services over the following periods: 

3 (A) One to five years. 

4 (B) Five to ten years. 

5 (C) More than ten years. 

6 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

7 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

8 $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026 

9 to carry out this section. 

10 (k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis12 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

13 Emergency Management Agency. 

14 (2) CAREER FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The term 

15 ‘‘career fire department’’ means a fire department 

16 that has an all-paid force of firefighting personnel 

17 other than paid-on-call firefighters. 

18 (3) COMBINATION FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The 

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

20 department that has— 

21 (A) paid firefighting personnel; and 

22 (B) volunteer firefighting personnel. 

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

24 medical services. 


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1 (5) VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT.—The 

2 term ‘‘volunteer fire department’’ means a fire de3 partment that has an all-volunteer force of fire4 fighting personnel. 

Æ 


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