S. 1231

One Hundred Fifth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven

An Act

To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for the United States

Fire Administration, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Fire Administration

Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999’’.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 17(g)(1) of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control

Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2216(g)(1)) is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (E);

(2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (F)

and inserting a semicolon; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(G) $29,664,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30,

1998; and ‘‘(H) $30,554,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30,

1999.’’.

SEC. 3. SUCCESSOR FIRE SAFETY STANDARDS.

The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C.

2201 et seq.) is amended—

(1) in section 29(a)(1), by inserting ‘‘or any successor standard to that standard’’ after ‘‘Association Standard 74’’;

(2) in section 29(a)(2), by inserting ‘‘, or any successor

standard to that standard’’ before ‘‘, whichever is appropriate,’’;

(3) in section 29(b)(2), by inserting ‘‘, or any successor

standard to that standard’’ after ‘‘Association Standard 13 or

13–R’’;

(4) in section 31(c)(2)(B)(i), by inserting ‘‘or any successor

standard to that standard’’ after ‘‘Life Safety Code)’’; and

(5) in section 31(c)(2)(B)(ii), by inserting ‘‘or any successor

standard to that standard’’ after ‘‘Association Standard 101’’.

SEC. 4. TERMINATION OR PRIVATIZATION OF FUNCTIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days before the termination

or transfer to a private sector person or entity of any significant

function of the United States Fire Administration, as described

in subsection (b), the Administrator of the United States Fire

Administration shall transmit to Congress a report providing notice

of that termination or transfer.

(b) COVERED TERMINATIONS AND TRANSFERS.—For purposes of

subsection (a), a termination or transfer to a person or entity
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described in that subsection shall be considered to be a termination

or transfer of a significant function of the United States Fire

Administration if the termination or transfer—

(1) relates to a function of the Administration that requires

the expenditure of more than 5 percent of the total amount

of funds made available by appropriations to the Administration; or

(2) involves the termination of more than 5 percent of

the employees of the Administration.

SEC. 5. NOTICE.

(a) MAJOR REORGANIZATION DEFINED.—With respect to the

United States Fire Administration, the term ‘‘major reorganization’’

means any reorganization of the Administration that involves the

reassignment of more than 25 percent of the employees of the

Administration.

(b) NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.—If any funds appropriated

pursuant to the amendments made by this Act are subject to

a reprogramming action that requires notice to be provided to

the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House

of Representatives, notice of that action shall concurrently be provided to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

of the Senate and the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives.

(c) NOTICE OF REORGANIZATION.—Not later than 15 days before

any major reorganization of any program, project, or activity of

the United States Fire Administration, the Administrator of the

United States Fire Administration shall provide notice to the

Committees on Science and Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation and Appropriations of the Senate.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.

With the year 2000 rapidly approaching, it is the sense of

Congress that the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration should—

(1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit date-related

problems in the computer systems of the United States Fire

Administration to ensure that those systems continue to operate

effectively in the year 2000 and in subsequent years;

(2) as soon as practicable after the date of enactment

of this Act, assess the extent of the risk to the operations

of the United States Fire Administration posed by the problems

referred to in paragraph (1), and plan and budget for achieving

compliance for all of the mission-critical systems of the system

by the year 2000; and

(3) develop contingency plans for those systems that the

United States Fire Administration is unable to correct by the

year 2000.

SEC. 7. ENHANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS PROGRAMS.

(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the

Administrator of the United States Fire Administration.

(2) EDUCATIONALLY USEFUL FEDERAL EQUIPMENT.—The

term ‘‘educationally useful Federal equipment’’ means computers and related peripheral tools and research equipment that

is appropriate for use in schools.
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(3) SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘school’’ means a public or private

educational institution that serves any of the grades of kindergarten through grade 12.

(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that the

Administrator should, to the greatest extent practicable and

in a manner consistent with applicable Federal law (including

Executive Order No. 12999), donate educationally useful Federal equipment to schools in order to enhance the science and

mathematics programs of those schools.

(2) REPORTS.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date

of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the

Administrator shall prepare and submit to the President

a report that meets the requirements of this paragraph.

The President shall submit that report to Congress at

the same time as the President submits a budget request

to Congress under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States

Code.

(B) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report prepared by

the Administrator under this paragraph shall describe any

donations of educationally useful Federal equipment to

schools made during the period covered by the report.

SEC. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of

enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States

Fire Administration (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on

Science of the House of Representatives a report that meets the

requirements of this section.

(b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report under this section

shall—

(1) examine the risks to firefighters in suppressing fires

caused by burning tires;

(2) address any risks that are uniquely attributable to

fires described in paragraph (1), including any risks relating

to—

(A) exposure to toxic substances (as that term is

defined by the Administrator);

(B) personal protection;

(C) the duration of those fires; and

(D) site hazards associated with those fires;
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(3) identify any special training that may be necessary

for firefighters to suppress those fires; and

(4) assess how the training referred to in paragraph (3)

may be provided by the United States Fire Administration.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.