I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1594 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a process to 

review applications for certain grants to purchase equipment or systems 

that do not meet or exceed any applicable national voluntary consensus 

standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. GREEN of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

a process to review applications for certain grants to 

purchase equipment or systems that do not meet or 

exceed any applicable national voluntary consensus 

standards, 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 ‘‘First Responder Ac5 cess to Innovative Technologies Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2008 of the Homeland 

3 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 609) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (f)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘If an applicant’’ and in6 serting the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION REQUIREMENT.—If an appli8 cant’’; and 

9 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraphs: 

11 ‘‘(2) REVIEW PROCESS.—The Administrator 

12 shall implement a uniform process for reviewing ap13 plications that, in accordance with paragraph (1), 

14 contain explanations to use grants provided under 

15 section 2003 or 2004 to purchase equipment or sys16 tems that do not meet or exceed any applicable na17 tional voluntary consensus standards developed 

18 under section 647 of the Post-Katrina Emergency 

19 Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 747). 

20 ‘‘(3) FACTORS.—In carrying out the review 

21 process under paragraph (2), the Administrator 

22 shall consider the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) Current or past use of proposed 

24 equipment or systems by Federal agencies or 

25 the Armed Forces. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The absence of a national voluntary 

2 consensus standard for such equipment or sys3 tems. 

4 ‘‘(C) The existence of an international con5 sensus standard for such equipment or systems, 

6 and whether such equipment or systems meets 

7 such standard. 

8 ‘‘(D) The nature of the capability gap 

9 identified by the applicant and how such equip10 ment or systems will address such gap. 

11 ‘‘(E) The degree to which such equipment 

12 or systems will serve the needs of the applicant 

13 better than equipment or systems that meet or 

14 exceed existing consensus standards. 

15 ‘‘(F) Any other factor determined appro16 priate by the Administrator.’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub18 section: 

19 ‘‘(g) REVIEW PROCESS.—The Administrator shall 

20 implement a uniform process for reviewing applications to 

21 use grants provided under section 2003 or 2004 to pur22 chase equipment or systems not included on the Author23 ized Equipment List maintained by the Administrator.’’. 

24 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT.—Not later than 

25 three years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 


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1 the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Se2 curity shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu3 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

4 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

5 Senate a report assessing the implementation of the review 

6 process established under paragraph (2) of subsection (f) 

7 of section 2008 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

8 (as added by subsection (a) of this section), including in9 formation on the following: 

10 (1) The number of requests to purchase equip11 ment or systems that do not meet or exceed any ap12 plicable consensus standard evaluated under such re13 view process. 

14 (2) The capability gaps identified by applicants 

15 and the number of such requests granted or denied. 

16 (3) The processing time for the review of such 

17 requests. 

Æ 


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