Union Calendar No. 96

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1727

[Report No. 103–172]

A BILL

To establish a program of grants to States for

other purposes.arson research, prevention, and control, and for

JULY 13, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 96

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1727

[Report No. 103–172]

To establish a program of grants to States for arson research, prevention,

and control, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 20, 1993

Mr. BOUCHER (for himself, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr.

HOYER, Mr. WELDON, Mr. STOKES, Mr. LEACH, Mr. BARLOW, Mr.

MCHUGH, Mr. LAZIO, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr.

TOWNS, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. MEEHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science,

Space, and Technology

JULY 13, 1993

Additional sponsors: Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. BONIOR, Mr.

CASTLE, Mr. FISH, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. WISE, and Mr. KLEIN

JULY 13, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 20, 1993]

A BILL

To establish a program of grants to States for arson

research, prevention, and control, and for other purposes.
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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 ‘‘Arson Prevention Act

5 of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) arson is a serious and costly problem in both

9 rural and urban areas, and is responsible for ap10 proximately 25 percent of all fires in the United

11 States;

12 (2) arson is a leading cause of fire deaths, ac13 counting for approximately 700 deaths annually in

14 the United States, and is the leading cause of prop15 erty damage due to fire in the United States;

16 (3) estimates of arson property losses are in the

17 range of $2,000,000,000 annually, or approximately 1

18 of every 4 dollars lost to fire;

19 (4) the incidence of arson in the United States

20 is seriously underreported, in part because of the lack

21 of adequate participation by local jurisdictions in the

22 National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)

23 and the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program;

24 (5) there is a need for expanded training pro25 grams for arson investigators;
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1 (6) there is a need for improved programs de2 signed to enable volunteer firefighters to detect arson

3 crimes and to preserve evidence vital to the investiga4 tion and prosecution of arson cases;

5 (7) according to the National Fire Protection As6 sociation, of all the suspicious and incendiary fires

7 estimated to occur, only one-third are confirmed as

8 arson; and

9 (8) improved training of arson investigators will

10 increase the ability of fire departments to identify

11 suspicious and incendiary fires, and will result in

12 increased and more effective prosecution of arson

13 offenses.

14 SEC. 3. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.

15 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

16 is amended by adding after section 24 the following new

17 section:

18 ‘‘ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS

19 ‘‘SEC. 25. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator,

20 through the Office, shall carry out a demonstration program

21 of grant awards, not to exceed 10 in number, to States, or

22 consortia thereof, for programs relating to arson research,

23 prevention, and control. In carrying out the requirements

24 of this section, the Administrator shall award 2-year grants

25 on a competitive, merit basis to States for projects which

26 have one or more of the following goals:
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1 ‘‘(1) To improve the training by States leading

2 to professional certification of arson investigators, in

3 accordance with nationally recognized certification

4 standards.

5 ‘‘(2) To provide resources for the formation of

6 arson task forces or interagency organizational ar7 rangements involving police and fire departments and

8 other relevant local agencies such as State arson bu9 reaus and the State fire marshal’s office.

10 ‘‘(3) To combat fraud as a cause of arson and

11 to advance research at the State and local levels on

12 the significance and prevention of fraud as a motive

13 for setting fires.

14 ‘‘(4) To provide for management of arson squads,

15 including—

16 ‘‘(A) training courses for fire departments

17 in arson case management, including standard18 ization of investigative techniques and reporting

19 methodology;

20 ‘‘(B) preparation of arson unit management

21 guides; and

22 ‘‘(C) the development and dissemination of

23 new public education materials relating to the

24 arson problem.
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1 ‘‘(5) To combat civil unrest as a cause of arson

2 and to advance research at the State and local levels

3 on the prevention and control of arson linked to

4 urban disorders.

5 ‘‘(6) To combat juvenile arson, such as juvenile

6 fire-setter counseling programs and similar interven7 tion programs, and to advance research at the State

8 and local levels on the prevention of juvenile arson.

9 ‘‘(7) To combat drug-related arson and to ad10 vance research at the State and local levels on the

11 causes and prevention of drug-related arson.

12 ‘‘(8) To combat domestic violence as a cause of

13 arson and to advance research at the State and local

14 levels on the prevention of arson arising from domes15 tic violence.

16 ‘‘(9) To combat arson in rural areas and to im17 prove the capability of firefighters to identify and

18 prevent arson initiated fires in rural areas and pub19 lic forests.

20 ‘‘(10) To improve the capability of firefighters to

21 identify and combat arson through expanded training

22 programs, including—

23 ‘‘(A) training courses at the State fire acad24 emies; and
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1 ‘‘(B) innovative courses developed with the

2 National Fire Academy and made available to

3 volunteer firefighters through regional delivery

4 methods, including teleconferencing and satellite

5 delivered television programs.

6 ‘‘(b) GOALS TO BE REFLECTED IN GRANT AWARDS.—

7 The Administrator shall ensure that each goal described in

8 subsection (a) is embodied within one or more grant

9 awards.

10 ‘‘(c) STATE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.—In order to

11 qualify for a grant under this section, a State or consortium

12 thereof shall provide assurances adequate to the Adminis13 trator that it—

14 ‘‘(1) will obtain at least 25 percent of the cost of

15 programs funded by the grant, in cash or in kind,

16 from non-Federal sources;

17 ‘‘(2) will not as a result of receiving the grant

18 decrease its prior level of spending of funds from non19 Federal sources for arson research, prevention, and

20 control programs;

21 ‘‘(3) will use no more than 10 percent of funds

22 provided under the grant for administrative costs of

23 the programs; and

24 ‘‘(4) is making efforts to ensure that all local ju25 risdictions will provide arson data to the National
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1 Fire Incident Reporting System or the Uniform

2 Crime Reporting program.

3 ‘‘(d) EXTENSION.—Grants awarded under this section

4 may be extended for additional periods, at the discretion

5 of the Administrator, subject to the availability of appro6 priations.

7 ‘‘(e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Office shall pro8 vide technical assistance to States in carrying out programs

9 funded by grants under this section.

10 ‘‘(f) CONSULTATION AND COOPERATION.—In carrying

11 out the requirements of this section, the Administrator shall

12 consult and cooperate with other Federal agencies to en13 hance program effectiveness and avoid duplication of effort,

14 including the conduct of regular meetings initiated by the

15 Administrator with other Federal agencies concerned with

16 arson and concerned with efforts to develop a more com17 prehensive profile of the magnitude of the national arson

18 problem.

19 ‘‘(g) ASSESSMENT.—The Administrator shall, not later

20 than 18 months after the date of enactment of this section,

21 submit a report to the Congress identifying grants made,

22 specifying the identity of grantees, stating the goals of each

23 grant, and containing a preliminary assessment of the effec24 tiveness of the grants program under this section.
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1 ‘‘(h) REGULATIONS.—Within 180 days after the date

2 of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall issue

3 regulations to implement this section, which shall establish

4 procedures for grant applications.

5 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

6 ‘‘(1) the term ‘arson’ includes all incendiary and

7 suspicious fires; and

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Office’ means the Office of Fire

9 Prevention and Arson Control of the United States

10 Fire Administration.

11 ‘‘(j) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator shall di12 rectly administer the grants program required by this sec13 tion, and shall not enter into any contract under which the

14 grants program or any portion thereof will be administered

15 by another party.

16 ‘‘(k) PURCHASE OF AMERICAN MADE EQUIPMENT AND

17 PRODUCTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of

19 Congress that any recipient of a grant under this sec20 tion should purchase, when available and cost-effec21 tive, American made equipment and products when

22 expending grant monies.

23 ‘‘(2) NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS OF ASSISTANCE.—

24 In allocating grants under this section, the Adminis25 trator shall provide to each recipient a notice describ-
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1 ing the statement made in paragraph (1) by the Con2 gress.’’.

3 SEC. 4. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER TRAINING.

4 Section 24(a)(2) of the Federal Fire Prevention and

5 Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2220(a)(2)) is amended by

6 inserting ‘‘, with particular emphasis on the needs of volun7 teer firefighters for improved and more widely available

8 arson training courses’’ after ‘‘detection, and control’’.

9 SEC. 5. CPR TRAINING.

10 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

11 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

12 ‘‘SEC. 32. CPR TRAINING.

13 ‘‘No funds shall be made available to a State or local

14 government under section 25 unless such government has

15 a policy to actively promote the training of its firefighters

16 in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.’’.

17 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Admin19 istrator of the United States Fire Administration—

20 (1) $500,000 for fiscal year 1994 for basic re21 search on the development of an advanced course on

22 arson prevention;

23 (2) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1995 for the expan24 sion of arson investigator training programs at the

25 National Fire Academy under section 24 of the Fed-
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1 eral Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, at the

2 Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and at

3 the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy, or

4 through regional delivery sites;

5 (3) $4,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1994

6 and 1995 for carrying out section 25 of the Federal

7 Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974; and

8 (4) $250,000 for each of the fiscal years 1994

9 and 1995 for salaries and expenses for carrying out

10 such section 25.

11 SEC. 7. SUNSET.

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no

13 funds are authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year

14 after fiscal year 1995 for carrying out the programs for

15 which funds are authorized by this Act, or the amendments

16 made by this Act.