103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 1727

AMENDMENT

TO

SENATE AMENDMENT
★

In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

April 26, 1994.

Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment of

the Senate to the bill (H.R. 1727) entitled ‘‘An Act to establish a program of grants to States for arson research, prevention, and control, and for other purposes’’, with the following

AMENDMENT:

In lieu of the matter inserted by said amendment, insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arson Prevention Act

3 of 1994’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) arson is a serious and costly problem, and is

7 responsible for approximately 25 percent of all fires

8 in the United States;

9 (2) arson is a leading cause of fire deaths, ac10 counting for approximately 700 deaths annually in

11 the United States, and is the leading cause of prop12 erty damage due to fire in the United States;

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

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

15 of every 4 dollars lost to fire;
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1 (4) the incidence of arson in the United States

2 is seriously underreported, in part because of the lack

3 of adequate participation by local jurisdictions in the

4 National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)

5 and the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program;

6 (5) there is a need for expanded training pro7 grams for arson investigators;

8 (6) there is a need for improved programs de9 signed to enable volunteer firefighters to detect arson

10 crimes and to preserve evidence vital to the investiga11 tion and prosecution of arson cases;

12 (7) according to the National Fire Protection As13 sociation, of all the suspicious and incendiary fires

estimated to occur, only 1 14 ⁄3 are confirmed as arson;

15 and

16 (8) improved training of arson investigators will

17 increase the ability of fire departments to identify

18 suspicious and incendiary fires, and will result in in19 creased and more effective prosecution of arson

20 offenses.

21 SEC. 3. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.

22 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

23 is amended by inserting after section 24 (15 U.S.C. 2220)

24 the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 25. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

3 ‘‘(1) ARSON.—The term ‘arson’ includes all in4 cendiary and suspicious fires.

5 ‘‘(2) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Office

6 of Fire Prevention and Arson Control of the United

7 States Fire Administration.

8 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Administrator, acting through the

9 Office, shall carry out a demonstration program under

10 which not more than 10 grant awards shall be made to

11 States, or consortia of States, for programs relating to arson

12 research, prevention, and control.

13 ‘‘(c) GOALS.—In carrying out this section, the Admin14 istrator shall award 2-year grants on a competitive, merit

15 basis to States, or consortia of States, for projects that pro16 mote one or more of the following goals:

17 ‘‘(1) To improve the training by States leading

18 to professional certification of arson investigators, in

19 accordance with nationally recognized certification

20 standards.

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

22 arson task forces or interagency organizational ar23 rangements involving police and fire departments and

24 other relevant local agencies, such as a State arson

25 bureau and the office of a fire marshal of a State.
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1 ‘‘(3) To combat fraud as a cause of arson and

2 to advance research at the State and local levels on

3 the significance and prevention of fraud as a motive

4 for setting fires.

5 ‘‘(4) To provide for the management of arson

6 squads, including—

7 ‘‘(A) training courses for fire departments

8 in arson case management, including standard9 ization of investigative techniques and reporting

10 methodology;

11 ‘‘(B) the preparation of arson unit manage12 ment guides; and

13 ‘‘(C) the development and dissemination of

14 new public education materials relating to the

15 arson problem.

16 ‘‘(5) To combat civil unrest as a cause of arson

17 and to advance research at the State and local levels

18 on the prevention and control of arson linked to

19 urban disorders.

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

21 fire-setter counseling programs and similar interven22 tion programs, and to advance research at the State

23 and local levels on the prevention of juvenile arson.
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1 ‘‘(7) To combat drug-related arson and to ad2 vance research at the State and local levels on the

3 causes and prevention of drug-related arson.

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

5 arson and to advance research at the State and local

6 levels on the prevention of arson arising from domes7 tic violence.

8 ‘‘(9) To combat arson in rural areas and to im9 prove the capability of firefighters to identify and

10 prevent arson initiated fires in rural areas and pub11 lic forests.

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

13 identify and combat arson through expanded training

14 programs, including—

15 ‘‘(A) training courses at the State fire acad16 emies; and

17 ‘‘(B) innovative courses developed with the

18 Academy and made available to volunteer fire19 fighters through regional delivery methods, in20 cluding teleconferencing and satellite delivered

21 television programs.

22 ‘‘(d) STRUCTURING OF APPLICATIONS.—The Adminis23 trator shall assist grant applicants in structuring their ap24 plications so as to ensure that at least one grant is awarded

25 for each goal described in subsection (c).
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1 ‘‘(e) STATE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.—In order to

2 qualify for a grant under this section, a State, or consor3 tium of States, shall provide assurances adequate to the Ad4 ministrator that the State or consortium—

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

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

7 from non-Federal sources;

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

9 decrease the prior level of spending of funds of the

10 State or consortium from non-Federal sources for

11 arson research, prevention, and control programs;

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

13 provided under the grant for administrative costs of

14 the programs; and

15 ‘‘(4) is making efforts to ensure that all local ju16 risdictions will provide arson data to the National

17 Fire Incident Reporting System or the Uniform

18 Crime Reporting program.

19 ‘‘(f) EXTENSION.—A grant awarded under this section

20 may be extended for one or more additional periods, at the

21 discretion of the Administrator, subject to the availability

22 of appropriations.

23 ‘‘(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Administrator

24 shall provide technical assistance to States in carrying out

25 programs funded by grants under this section.
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1 ‘‘(h) CONSULTATION AND COOPERATION.—In carrying

2 out this section, the Administrator shall consult and cooper3 ate with other Federal agencies to enhance program effec4 tiveness and avoid duplication of effort, including the con5 duct of regular meetings initiated by the Administrator

6 with representatives of other Federal agencies concerned

7 with arson and concerned with efforts to develop a more

8 comprehensive profile of the magnitude of the national

9 arson problem.

10 ‘‘(i) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 18 months after the

11 date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall

12 submit a report to Congress that—

13 ‘‘(1) identifies grants made under this section;

14 ‘‘(2) specifies the identity of grantees;

15 ‘‘(3) states the goals of each grant; and

16 ‘‘(4) contains a preliminary assessment of the ef17 fectiveness of the grant program under this section.

18 ‘‘(j) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the

19 date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall

20 issue regulations to implement this section, including proce21 dures for grant applications.

22 ‘‘(k) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator shall di23 rectly administer the grant program required by this sec24 tion, and shall not enter into any contract under which the
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1 grant program or any portion of the program will be ad2 ministered by another party.

3 ‘‘(l) PURCHASE OF AMERICAN MADE EQUIPMENT AND

4 PRODUCTS.—

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

6 Congress that any recipient of a grant under this sec7 tion should purchase, when available and cost-effec8 tive, American made equipment and products when

9 expending grant monies.

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

11 In allocating grants under this section, the Adminis12 trator shall provide to each recipient a notice describ13 ing the statement made in paragraph (1) by the Con14 gress.’’.

15 SEC. 4. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER TRAINING.

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

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

18 inserting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘, with particu19 lar emphasis on the needs of volunteer firefighters for im20 proved and more widely available arson training courses’’.

21 SEC. 5. CPR TRAINING.

22 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

23 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 32. CPR TRAINING.

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

3 government under section 25 unless such government has

4 a policy to actively promote the training of its firefighters

5 in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.’’.

6 SEC. 6. FEDERAL EMPLOYEE HOUSING EXCEPTIONS.

7 Section 31(c)(1) of the Federal Fire Prevention and

8 Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2227(c)(1)) is amended—

9 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘No Fed10 eral’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Except as other11 wise provided in this paragraph, no Federal’’; and

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub13 paragraphs:

14 ‘‘(C) Housing covered by this paragraph that does not

15 have an adequate and reliable electrical system shall not

16 be subject to the requirement under subparagraph (A) for

17 protection by hard-wired smoke detectors, but shall be pro18 tected by battery operated smoke detectors.

19 ‘‘(D) If funding has been programmed or designated

20 for the demolition of housing covered by this paragraph,

21 such housing shall not be subject to the fire protection re22 quirements of subparagraph (A), but shall be protected by

23 battery operated smoke detectors.’’.
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 Section 17 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control

3 Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2216) is amended by adding at the

4 end the following new subsection:

5 ‘‘(h) In addition to any other amounts that are author6 ized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, there are au7 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act—

8 ‘‘(1) $500,000 for fiscal year 1995 for basic re9 search on the development of an advanced course on

10 arson prevention;

11 ‘‘(2) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1996 for the ex12 pansion of arson investigator training programs at

13 the Academy under section 24 and at the Federal

14 Law Enforcement Training Center, or through re15 gional delivery sites;

16 ‘‘(3) $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1995 and

17 1996 for carrying out section 25, except for salaries

18 and expenses for carrying out section 25; and

19 ‘‘(4) $250,000 for each of the fiscal years 1995

20 and 1996 for salaries and expenses for carrying out

21 section 25.’’.

22 SEC. 8. SUNSET.

23 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no

24 funds are authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year

25 after fiscal year 1996 for carrying out the programs for
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1 which funds are authorized by this Act, or the amendments

2 made by this Act.

Attest:

Clerk.