IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1594 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘First Responder Ac3 cess to Innovative Technologies Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT. 

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

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

7 (1) in subsection (f)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘If an applicant’’ and in9 serting the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION REQUIREMENT.—If an appli11 cant’’; and 

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

13 paragraphs: 

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

15 shall implement a uniform process for reviewing ap16 plications that, in accordance with paragraph (1), 

17 contain explanations to use grants provided under 

18 section 2003 or 2004 to purchase equipment or sys19 tems that do not meet or exceed any applicable na20 tional voluntary consensus standards developed 

21 under section 647 of the Post-Katrina Emergency 

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

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

24 process under paragraph (2), the Administrator 

25 shall consider the following: 


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

2 equipment or systems by Federal agencies or 

3 the Armed Forces. 

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

5 consensus standard for such equipment or sys6 tems. 

7 ‘‘(C) The existence of an international con8 sensus standard for such equipment or systems, 

9 and whether such equipment or systems meets 

10 such standard. 

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

12 identified by the applicant and how such equip13 ment or systems will address such gap. 

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

15 or systems will serve the needs of the applicant 

16 better than equipment or systems that meet or 

17 exceed existing consensus standards. 

18 ‘‘(F) Any other factor determined appro19 priate by the Administrator.’’; and 

20 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub21 section: 

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

23 implement a uniform process for reviewing applications to 

24 use grants provided under section 2003 or 2004 to purVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1594.RFS H1594

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1 chase equipment or systems not included on the Author2 ized Equipment List maintained by the Administrator.’’. 

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

4 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Secu6 rity shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security 

7 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

8 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen9 ate a report assessing the implementation of the review 

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

11 of section 2008 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

12 (as added by subsection (a) of this section), including in13 formation on the following: 

14 (1) The number of requests to purchase equip15 ment or systems that do not meet or exceed any ap16 plicable consensus standard evaluated under such re17 view process. 

18 (2) The capability gaps identified by applicants 

19 and the number of such requests granted or denied. 


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

2 requests. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 14, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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