I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 764

To appropriate funds for grants by the Office for Domestic Preparedness 

of the Department of Homeland Security. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2003

Mr. SKELTON (for himself and Ms. HARMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations 

A BILL

To appropriate funds for grants by the Office for Domestic 

Preparedness of the Department of Homeland Security.

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 Responders Ex5 pedited Assistance Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR GRANTS BY THE OFFICE FOR DOMES7 TIC PREPAREDNESS. 

8 (a) APPROPRIATION.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—For grants by the Office for 

10 Domestic Preparedness of the Department of Home-
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1 land Security, as authorized by the Homeland Secu2 rity Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296) and the 

3 USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–56), 

4 there is appropriated to the Secretary of Homeland 

5 Security $7,122,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 

6 $10,600,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, to remain 

7 available until expended, of which—

8 (A) not less than $1,000,000,000 each fis9 cal year shall be for grants authorized by sec10 tion 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and 

11 Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.); 

12 and 

13 (B) not less than $1,000,000,000 each fis14 cal year shall be for grants to State and local 

15 law enforcement for terrorism prevention activi16 ties. 

17 (2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary 

18 shall require, as a condition of each grant under this 

19 section, that the grantee shall provide a matching 

20 amount of not less than 25 percent of the amount 

21 of the grant, at the time of the award of the grant. 

22 (b) EXPEDITED PROCESS FOR AWARDING

23 GRANTS.—The Secretary shall award grants under this 

24 section under the following expedited process: 
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1 (1) EXPEDITED PROCESS.—Within 120 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary shall award as grants to the maximum extent 

4 practicable not less than 60 percent of the funds 

5 available for each of fiscal years 2003 and 2004 for 

6 grants referred to in subsection (a)(1). 

7 (2) WAIVER OF MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—

8 The Secretary may waive any requirement that a 

9 grantee provide a matching amount for a grant re10 ferred to in subsection (a)(1), upon certification that 

11 the grantee has expended an amount equal to at 

12 least 25 percent of the grant for domestic prepared13 ness activities since September 11, 2001. 

14 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE FLEXIBILITY.—If the Sec15 retary determines that, because of the potential for 

16 fraud or waste, the Secretary cannot award the per17 centage of funds required under paragraph (1), the 

18 Secretary may exercise flexibility regarding such per19 centage consistent with the goal of expediting the 

20 awarding of grants to eligible grantees. 

21 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Within 190 days after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

23 report to the appropriate committees of the Congress the 

24 percentage of funds awarded as grants pursuant to the 
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1 expedited process in subsection (b), the names of grantees, 

2 and the activities funded.

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