I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4400

To establish the Office of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communications, to provide grants and other support to achieve communications 

interoperability in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2004

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of 

California, Mr. DICKS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. ANDREWS, 

Ms. NORTON, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 

Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

TOWNS, Ms. LEE, Mr. REYES, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. 

LANTOS, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. HOEFFEL, 

Mr. CASE, Mr. FROST, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 

GREEN of Texas, Mr. MOORE, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. NADLER, Ms. ROYBALALLARD, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. WYNN, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́, and Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Select Committee on 

Homeland Security, 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 establish the Office of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communications, to provide grants and other support to achieve communications interoperability in the 

United States, 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 ‘‘Connecting the Operations 

3 of National Networks of Emergency Communications 

4 Technologies for First Responders Act of 2004’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Throughout the United States, public safety 

8 agencies—law enforcement, firefighters, emergency 

9 technicians, public health officials, and others—in 

10 the same jurisdictions cannot now communicate ef11 fectively with one another, with agencies in neigh12 boring jurisdictions, or with other public safety 

13 agencies at the Federal and State level, when re14 sponding to emergencies or participating in major 

15 deployment. 

16 (2) The inability of public safety agencies in the 

17 United States to communicate with one another 

18 within and across jurisdictions and disciplines is a 

19 long-recognized and complex problem that threatens 

20 the public’s safety and security and often results in 

21 unnecessary loss of lives and property. 

22 (3) The lack of interoperability was at least 

23 partially responsible for the deaths of 343 fire24 fighters in New York City on September 11, 2001, 

25 when police could not communicate effectively with 

26 firefighters prior to the collapse of the Twin Towers. 
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1 (4) In the immediate aftermath of the Okla2 homa City bombing in 1995, studies showed that 

3 emergency responders had to use runners to carry 

4 messages from one command center to another be5 cause the responding agencies used different emer6 gency radio channels, different frequencies, and dif7 ferent radio systems. 

8 (5) In Littleton, Colorado, 46 public safety 

9 agencies responded to the shooting spree inside Col10 umbine High School in 1999. Precious minutes were 

11 lost because command personnel were forced to send 

12 runners to communicate crucial information. Incom13 patible radio communication systems were a signifi14 cant factor, according to the Columbine Review 

15 Commission. 

16 (6) There are more than 50,000 State and local 

17 public safety agencies. Many of these agencies are 

18 small or volunteer organizations with limited budg19 ets, and little or no engineering expertise. State and 

20 local agencies consistently cite lack of funding as a 

21 critical obstacle to interoperability. 

22 (7) State and local budget crises have made 

23 funding public safety communications even more dif24 ficult, and competition with other critical homeland 

25 security needs, such as personnel, physical facilities, 
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1 protective gear, and other kinds of equipment reduce 

2 the available funding for mission-critical communica3 tions infrastructures and equipment. 

4 (8) Funding is needed for all phases of the 

5 communications system life cycle: planning, system 

6 design and engineering, procurement and installa7 tion, operations and maintenance, and testing and 

8 technology development. There is clear need for a 

9 dedicated and consistent Federal funding source 

10 that is sufficient to finance comprehensive interoper11 able communications solutions. The role of Federal, 

12 State, and local governments and agencies in fund13 ing interoperable communications must be clear. 

14 (9) Achieving nationwide interoperability will 

15 require a significant financial commitment at all lev16 els of government. In 1998, the Public Safety Wire17 less Network estimated that developing interoperable 

18 communications nationwide could cost 

19 $18,000,000,000. According to the Office of Wire20 less Public Safety Interoperable Communications, 

21 the umbrella program in the Department of Home22 land Security designed to lead and coordinate inter23 operability efforts that is commonly known as 

24 Project SAFECOM, that estimate is now outdated 

25 and includes only part of the total cost of upgrades. 
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1 (10) An Independent Task Force sponsored by 

2 the Council on Foreign Relations stated that 

3 ‘‘among other things, additional funds are des4 perately needed . . . to foster interoperable commu5 nications systems for emergency responders across 

6 the country so that those on the front lines can com7 municate with each other while at the scene of at8 tack’’. The Task Force recommended, ‘‘conserv9 atively’’, that $6,800,000,000 over 5 years is needed 

10 for interoperability as well as public alert and infor11 mation systems programs. 

12 (11) Numerous Federal agencies provide infor13 mation or grants that can be used in the develop14 ment of interoperable communications systems. 

15 However, without common guidance and standards, 

16 funding and grants are often used in isolation of 

17 broader, regional communications needs and capac18 ities. There is a need to better coordinate these dis19 parate grant programs, and to provide unified and 

20 consistent leadership and funding from the Federal 

21 Government. 

22 (12) The partnership between the private and 

23 public sectors has developed numerous solutions to 

24 significantly improve communications interoper25 ability that can be implemented immediately. These 
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1 solutions include deployable vehicles that contain 

2 crosspatch capabilities that allow radio users on sep3 arate frequencies to talk to each other; communica4 tions system overlay software and hardware that 

5 allow multiple disparate communications networks to 

6 act as one network; and the Project 25 standard for 

7 the manufacturing of interoperable digital two-way 

8 wireless communications products. 

9 (13) Current approaches to achieving commu10 nications interoperability are also hampered by the 

11 fact that in many jurisdictions—

12 (A) the existing radio communications in13 frastructure is old and outdated; 

14 (B) planning for interoperability is limited 

15 and fragmented among multiple agencies; 

16 (C) the necessary coordination and co17 operation within and among jurisdictions is dif18 ficult to achieve; and 

19 (D) there is limited and fragmented 

20 amount of radio spectrum available to public 

21 safety organizations. 

22 (14) The lack of universally recognized, fully 

23 open, and implementable standards for public safety 

24 agency needs has limited the cost efficiencies of 
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1 interoperability, and has delayed the adoption of new 

2 technologies by public safety agencies. 

3 (15) Solutions can only be achieved through co4 operation among all levels of government, and the 

5 Federal Government, through the Department of 

6 Homeland Security, must provide nationwide leader7 ship, coordination, and a substantial share of re8 sources necessary to purchase appropriate tech9 nologies and create seamless communications among 

10 United States public safety agencies. 

11 (16) In April 2004, the General Accounting Of12 fice found that in Project SAFECOM’s 2 year his13 tory, the program has made very little progress in 

14 addressing its overall objective of achieving national 

15 wireless communications interoperability among first 

16 responders and public safety systems at all levels of 

17 government, principally due to— 

18 (A) a lack of consistent executive commit19 ment and support; and 

20 (B) an inadequate level of interagency col21 laboration. 

22 (17) Project SAFECOM lacks the statutory au23 thority and dedicated resources necessary to coordi24 nate Federal programs or accomplish other tasks re-
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1 quired to make the achievement of interoperability a 

2 national priority, and a realistic goal for the Nation. 

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—

4 (1) require the Department of Homeland Secu5 rity to provide effective leadership, coordination, and 

6 technical assistance for the purposes of enhancing 

7 communications interoperability, and to establish 

8 and implement a strategy to ensure the achievement 

9 of communications interoperability for public safety 

10 agencies throughout the United States; 

11 (2) authorize appropriations for interoperable 

12 communications grants to State and local govern13 ments and public safety agencies; and 

14 (3) support the effective acquisition, installa15 tion, and maintenance of short-term and long-term 

16 interoperable communications equipment for home17 land security at all levels of government. 

18 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF WIRELESS 

19 PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABLE COMMU20 NICATIONS. 

21 (a) AMENDMENT.—The Homeland Security Act of 

22 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by adding after 

23 section 313 the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 314. OFFICE OF WIRELESS PUBLIC SAFETY INTER2 OPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS. 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

4 definitions shall apply: 

5 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS INTEROPERABILITY.—

6 The term ‘communications interoperability’ means 

7 the ability of public safety service and support pro8 viders, including emergency response providers, to 

9 communicate with other responding agencies and 

10 Federal agencies if necessary, through information 

11 technology systems and radio communications sys12 tems, and to exchange voice, data, or video with one 

13 another on demand, in real time, as necessary. 

14 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 

15 the Director of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable 

16 Communications. 

17 ‘‘(3) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of18 fice of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Commu19 nications established under subsection (c). 

20 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES.—The term 

21 ‘public safety agencies’ includes emergency response 

22 providers and any other persons that the Secretary 

23 determines must communicate effectively with one 

24 another to respond to emergencies. 

25 ‘‘(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PROJECT

26 SAFECOM.—It is the Sense of Congress that—
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1 ‘‘(1) after more than 2 years, Project 

2 SAFECOM has made very limited progress in ad3 dressing its overall objective of achieving commu4 nications interoperability among entities at all levels 

5 of government; 

6 ‘‘(2) a principal impediment to progress has 

7 been the failure to effectively collaborate with, and 

8 to obtain consistent funding from, other Federal 

9 agencies involved with SAFECOM; and 

10 ‘‘(3) in order to accelerate progress in achieving 

11 communications interoperability among entities at 

12 all levels of government, all Federal funding and 

13 program management to achieve this goal should re14 side within the Department of Homeland Security. 

15 ‘‘(c) ESTABLISHMENT.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established the 

17 Office of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Com18 munications within the Directorate of Science and 

19 Technology, which shall be headed by a Director of 

20 Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communica21 tions appointed by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall 

23 provide the Office with the resources and staff nec24 essary to carry out the purposes of this section, in25 cluding sufficient staff to provide support to each 
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1 State. Support under this paragraph shall include 

2 outreach, coordination, and technical assistance. 

3 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—

4 ‘‘(A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

5 ‘‘(i) ASSISTANCE THROUGH DIREC6 TOR.—The Secretary, acting through the 

7 Director, shall—

8 ‘‘(I) provide leadership and co9 ordination among all other Federal 

10 agencies that provide funding, re11 search, technology development, or 

12 other support for communications 

13 interoperability; 

14 ‘‘(II) accelerate, in consultation 

15 with other nationally recognized 

16 standards organizations as appro17 priate, the development of national 

18 voluntary consensus standards for 

19 communications interoperability, in20 cluding the Project 25 standard, and 

21 establish a schedule of milestones to 

22 be achieved in developing such stand23 ards; 

24 ‘‘(III) provide technical assist25 ance to Federal, State, and local gov-
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1 ernments and public safety agencies 

2 on planning, interoperability architec3 tures, acquisition strategies, and other 

4 functions necessary to achieve commu5 nications interoperability; 

6 ‘‘(IV) participate in the review 

7 and final approval of funding for 

8 grant applications for the purposes of 

9 administering the grant program es10 tablished under section 430(e); and 

11 ‘‘(V) provide direct technical as12 sistance to State and local govern13 ments and public safety agencies for 

14 the purposes of administering the 

15 grant program established under sec16 tion 430(e). 

17 ‘‘(ii) ASSISTANCE BY DIRECTOR AND

18 UNDER SECRETARY FOR SCIENCE AND

19 TECHNOLOGY.—The Director, under the 

20 direction of the Under Secretary for 

21 Science and Technology, shall—

22 ‘‘(I) conduct and otherwise pro23 vide for research, development, test24 ing, and evaluation for public safety 
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1 communications technologies and 

2 equipment; 

3 ‘‘(II) evaluate and validate new 

4 technology concepts, including systems 

5 engineering and development, and 

6 promote the deployment of advanced 

7 broadband communications tech8 nologies; and 

9 ‘‘(III) encourage the development 

10 of flexible and open architectures and 

11 standards, with appropriate levels of 

12 security, for short-term and long-term 

13 solutions to interoperability. 

14 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND COORDINATION.—

15 The Secretary, acting through both the Director 

16 and the Office of State and Local Government 

17 Coordination established under section 801, 

18 shall take such steps as are necessary to enable 

19 public safety agencies to achieve more effective 

20 and efficient interoperable communications, and 

21 shall collaborate with other Federal agencies, 

22 the leadership of public safety agencies, and 

23 State and local governments to—

24 ‘‘(i) develop and maintain a task force 

25 that represents the broad customer base of 
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1 State and local public safety agencies, as 

2 well as Federal agencies, involved in public 

3 safety agency disciplines, in order to re4 ceive input and coordinate efforts to 

5 achieve communications interoperability; 

6 ‘‘(ii) develop and implement a national 

7 strategy to achieve communications inter8 operability; 

9 ‘‘(iii) facilitate collaborative planning 

10 and partnerships among local, State, and 

11 Federal government agencies; 

12 ‘‘(iv) coordinate, execute, and align all 

13 Federal public safety wireless communica14 tions activities, to include the development 

15 of common guidance for grant programs, 

16 and any programs conducting demonstra17 tion projects, technical assistance, out18 reach, testing and evaluation, or research 

19 and development to enhance public safety 

20 wireless communications and interoper21 ability; 

22 ‘‘(v) share best practices, and provide 

23 outreach and coordination to State and 

24 local governments and public safety agen25 cies, to implement short-term and long-
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1 term solutions to achieve communications 

2 interoperability, and to include commer3 cially available equipment that facilitates 

4 interoperability, coordination, and integra5 tion among existing emergency commu6 nications systems; 

7 ‘‘(vi) identify and work to overcome 

8 the political, institutional, and geographic 

9 barriers within the public safety commu10 nity that can impede interoperability 

11 among public safety agencies, including 

12 among Federal agencies; 

13 ‘‘(vii) develop appropriate perform14 ance measures and systematically measure 

15 the Nation’s progress towards interoper16 ability; and 

17 ‘‘(viii) monitor the availability of, and 

18 make recommendations to Congress to ad19 dress problems associated with the avail20 ability and more efficient use of, radio 

21 spectrum for public safety. 

22 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

24 through the Director, shall, in cooperation with 

25 State and local governments, Federal agencies, pub-
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1 lic safety agencies, the private sector, and the task 

2 force established under subsection (c)(3)(B)(i), de3 velop a national strategy to achieve communications 

4 interoperability, which shall—

5 ‘‘(A) provide for the development of na6 tional voluntary standards for the purchase and 

7 use by public safety agencies of interoperable 

8 communications equipment and technologies; 

9 ‘‘(B) identify the appropriate interoperable 

10 communications capabilities necessary for Fed11 eral, State, and local public safety agencies to 

12 adequately protect the people of the United 

13 States; 

14 ‘‘(C) address both short-term and long15 term solutions to achieving Federal, State and 

16 local communications interoperability, including 

17 provision of commercially available equipment 

18 that facilitates interoperability, coordination, 

19 and integration among existing emergency com20 munications systems; 

21 ‘‘(D) identify how the Federal Government 

22 can work effectively with State and local gov23 ernments, public safety agencies in all States, 

24 and such other entities as are necessary to im25 plement the strategy; 
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1 ‘‘(E) include measures to identify and 

2 overcome all obstacles to achieving interoper3 ability; and 

4 ‘‘(F) set goals and establish time frames 

5 for the achievement of communications inter6 operability across the United States, and de7 velop performance measures to determine 

8 whether these goals are being met. 

9 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

10 the date of enactment of the Connecting the Oper11 ations of National Networks of Emergency Commu12 nications Technologies for First Responders Act of 

13 2004, and each year thereafter, the Secretary shall 

14 submit a report to the Congress—

15 ‘‘(A) detailing the progress of the Depart16 ment in carrying out the purposes of this sec17 tion; 

18 ‘‘(B) detailing the progress in achieving 

19 communications interoperability; and 

20 ‘‘(C) making any recommendations nec21 essary to expedite the fulfillment of the pur22 poses of this section. 

23 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

25 $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, and such sums as are 
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1 necessary each fiscal year thereafter, for the operations 

2 of the Office, and for other entities within the Department 

3 whose activities facilitate the purposes of the Connecting 

4 the Operations of National Networks of Emergency Com5 munications Technologies for First Responders Act of 

6 2004.’’. 

7 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

8 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Se9 curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101) is amended by inserting 

10 after the item relating to section 313 the following:

‘‘314. Office of Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communications.’’.

11 SEC. 4. INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY 

12 GRANT PROGRAM. 

13 Section 430 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

14 (6 U.S.C. 238) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(e) INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS GRANTS.—

17 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol18 lowing definitions shall apply: 

19 ‘‘(A) COMMUNICATIONS INTEROPER20 ABILITY.—The term ‘communications interoper21 ability’ means the ability of public safety service 

22 and support providers, including emergency re23 sponse providers, to communicate with other re24 sponding agencies and Federal agencies if nec25 essary, through information technology systems 
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1 and radio communications systems, and to ex2 change voice, data, or video with one another on 

3 demand, in real time, as necessary. 

4 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘eligible 

5 State’ means a State that—

6 ‘‘(i) has submitted a plan under para7 graph (4); and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary determines has not 

9 achieved adequate statewide communica10 tions interoperability. 

11 ‘‘(C) PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES.—The 

12 term ‘public safety agencies’ includes emergency 

13 response providers and any other persons that 

14 the Secretary determines must communicate ef15 fectively with one another to respond to emer16 gencies. 

17 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall—

18 ‘‘(A) make grants on a competitive basis 

19 directly to local governments (including a con20 sortium of local governments) and public safety 

21 agencies within eligible States, in consultation 

22 with the chief executives of the State or States, 

23 for the purpose of assisting in the development 

24 of interoperable communications systems at any 

25 stage, including—
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1 ‘‘(i) planning, system design, and en2 gineering; 

3 ‘‘(ii) procurement and installation of 

4 equipment; 

5 ‘‘(iii) operations and maintenance of 

6 equipment; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) testing and technology develop8 ment; and 

9 ‘‘(B) make grants to eligible States for ini10 tiatives necessary to achieve communications 

11 interoperability within each State, including—

12 ‘‘(i) statewide communications plan13 ning; 

14 ‘‘(ii) system design and engineering; 

15 ‘‘(iii) procurement and installation of 

16 equipment; 

17 ‘‘(iv) operations and maintenance of 

18 equipment; and 

19 ‘‘(v) testing and technology develop20 ment initiatives. 

21 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

23 ensure that grants administered under this sub24 section are coordinated with the activities of 

25 other entities of the Department and other Fed-
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1 eral entities so that grants awarded under this 

2 subsection, and other grant programs related to 

3 homeland security, facilitate the achievement of 

4 the strategy developed under section 314(c), 

5 and the purposes of the Connecting the Oper6 ations of National Networks of Emergency 

7 Communications Technologies for First Re8 sponders Act of 2004. 

9 ‘‘(B) RELATIONSHIPTO EXISTING GRANT

10 PROGRAMS.—Nothing in this Act shall provide 

11 for the combination of grant funds among the 

12 grant program established under this subsection 

13 and any other grant programs administered by 

14 the Department of Homeland Security, includ15 ing the State Homeland Security Grant Pro16 gram of the Department, or any successor to 

17 such grant program, and the Urban Area Secu18 rity Initiative of the Department, or any suc19 cessor to such grant program. 

20 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBILITY.—

21 ‘‘(A) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—To be eligi22 ble to receive a grant under this subsection, 

23 each eligible State, or local governments or pub24 lic safety agencies within an eligible State or 
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1 States, shall submit a communications inter2 operability plan to the Secretary that—

3 ‘‘(i) addresses any stage of the devel4 opment of interoperable communications 

5 systems, including planning, system design 

6 and engineering, procurement and installa7 tion, operations and maintenance, and test8 ing and technology development; 

9 ‘‘(ii) if the applicant is not a State, 

10 includes a description of how the applicant 

11 addresses the goals specified in any appli12 cable State plan or plans submitted under 

13 this section; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) is approved by the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(B) INCORPORATION AND CONSIST16 ENCY.—A plan submitted under subparagraph 

17 (A) may be part of, and shall be consistent 

18 with, any other homeland security plans re19 quired of the submitting party by the Depart20 ment. 

21 ‘‘(5) AWARD OF GRANTS.—

22 ‘‘(A) CONSIDERATIONS.—In approving 

23 plans and awarding grants under this sub24 section, the Secretary shall consider—
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1 ‘‘(i) the nature of the threat to the eli2 gible State or local jurisdiction; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the location, risk, or vulnerability 

4 of critical infrastructure and key national 

5 assets; 

6 ‘‘(iii) the number, as well as the den7 sity, of persons who will be served by inter8 operable communications systems; 

9 ‘‘(iv) the extent of the partnerships, 

10 existing or planned, established between 

11 local jurisdictions and agencies partici12 pating in the development of interoperable 

13 communications systems, and their coordi14 nation with Federal and State agencies; 

15 ‘‘(v) the level of communications 

16 interoperability already achieved by the ju17 risdictions; 

18 ‘‘(vi) the extent to which the commu19 nications interoperability plan submitted 

20 under paragraph (4) adequately addresses 

21 steps necessary to implement short-term or 

22 long-term solutions to communications 

23 interoperability; 

24 ‘‘(vii) the extent to which eligible 

25 States and local governments, in light of 
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1 their financial capability, demonstrate their 

2 commitment to expeditiously achieving 

3 communications interoperability by 

4 supplementing Federal funds with non5 Federal funds; 

6 ‘‘(viii) the extent to which grants will 

7 expedite the achievement of interoperability 

8 in the relevant jurisdiction with Federal, 

9 State, and local agencies; and 

10 ‘‘(ix) the extent to which grants will 

11 be utilized to implement advanced commu12 nications technologies to promote inter13 operability. 

14 ‘‘(B) COST SHARING.—

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share 

16 of the costs of an activity carried out with 

17 a grant to an applicant awarded under this 

18 section shall not exceed 75 percent. 

19 ‘‘(ii) IN-KIND MATCHING.—Each re20 cipient of a covered grant may meet the 

21 matching requirement under clause (i) by 

22 making in-kind contributions of goods or 

23 services that are directly linked with the 

24 purpose for which the grant is made, in25 cluding personnel overtime, contractor 
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1 services, administrative costs, equipment 

2 fuel and maintenance, and rental space. 

3 ‘‘(6) REIMBURSEMENT.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise re5 quested by the recipient of a grant under this 

6 subsection, grants shall not be awarded to reim7 burse the recipient for prior expenditures re8 lated to achieving communications interoper9 ability. 

10 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary shall re11 imburse public safety agencies directly for costs 

12 incurred for expenditures related to achieving 

13 communications interoperability, if—

14 ‘‘(i) the public safety agency expended 

15 funds after September 11, 2001, and be16 fore the date of enactment of this sub17 section; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) such expenditures are consistent 

19 with and supportive of the communications 

20 interoperability plan approved by the Sec21 retary under paragraph (4)(A)(iii). 

22 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The 

23 authority of the Secretary under subparagraph 

24 (B) shall terminate one year after the date on 
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1 which the Department of Homeland Security 

2 first allocates grant funds for this program. 

3 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, 

6 $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, $1,000,000,000 

7 for fiscal year 2007, $1,250,000,000 for fiscal year 

8 2008, $1,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such 

9 sums as are necessary each fiscal year thereafter, to 

10 carry out the purposes of this subsection.’’.

Æ