I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3028 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to establish a grant program to assist innovative natural disaster 

first responder programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to establish a grant program to 

assist innovative natural disaster first responder programs, 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 Inno5 vation and Support Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 Title II of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

3 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131 et seq.) is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 205. FIRST RESPONDER INNOVATION AND SUPPORT 

6 GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President may make grants 

8 to eligible entities to assist innovative natural disaster first 

9 responder programs in accordance with this section. 

10 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

11 this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application 

12 to the President. Such application shall include, at a min13 imum, a description of each of the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) The purpose for which the grant is sought 

15 and the reason Federal assistance is needed for such 

16 purpose. 

17 ‘‘(2) The innovation with respect to natural dis18 aster first responders to be achieved with the grant. 

19 ‘‘(3) The plans, if any, of the eligible entity to 

20 allocate amounts from the grant to local govern21 ments and federally recognized Indian tribes. 

22 ‘‘(4) A budget for the expected expenditure of 

23 the grant amounts. 

24 ‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The President shall 

25 issue regulations establishing selection criteria for making 


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1 grants under this section. Such criteria shall include con2 sideration of the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) The severity and frequency of natural dis4 asters that affect the eligible entity applying for the 

5 grant. 

6 ‘‘(2) Whether existing natural disaster first re7 sponder systems would be improved by the grant. 

8 ‘‘(3) Whether the grant would provide natural 

9 disaster first responder support for special popu10 lations, including children, pregnant women, the el11 derly, and the disabled. 

12 ‘‘(4) Whether the activity assisted by the grant 

13 is sustainable with non-Federal amounts after such 

14 grant is made. 

15 ‘‘(d) TIMING AND NUMBER OF GRANTS.—The Presi16 dent shall make grants under this section annually and 

17 an eligible entity may apply for multiple grants under this 

18 section each year. An eligible entity is not limited in the 

19 number of grants such entity may receive under this sec20 tion. 

21 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—The President shall 

22 make grants under this section on a competitive basis sub23 ject to the requirements of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after 

2 the date of enactment of this section, the President shall 

3 issue regulations necessary to carry out this section. 

4 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

5 definitions apply: 

6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en7 tity’ means any of the 50 States, the District of Co8 lumbia, any federally recognized Indian tribe, and 

9 any territory or possession of the United States that 

10 has an approved mitigation plan under section 322. 

11 ‘‘(2) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re12 sponder’ means an individual who in the early stages 

13 of an incident is responsible for the protection and 

14 preservation of life, property, evidence, and the envi15 ronment, including emergency response providers (as 

16 such term is defined under section 2 of the Home17 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101)) and 

18 emergency management, public health, clinical care, 

19 public works, and other skilled support personnel, 

20 including equipment operators, that provide imme21 diate support services during prevention, response, 

22 and recovery operations. 

23 ‘‘(3) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 

24 disaster’ has the meaning given such term under 

25 section 602. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘President’ means 

2 the President, acting through the Administrator of 

3 the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

4 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry 

6 out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 

7 through 2015. Such sums shall remain available until ex8 pended.’’. 

Æ 


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