103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1727

AMENDMENT
In the Senate of the United States,

November 22, 1993.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 1727) entitled ‘‘An Act to establish a program of

grants to States for arson research, prevention, and control,

and for other purposes’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 of 1993’’.

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
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1 the United States, and is the leading cause of prop2 erty damage due to fire in the United States;

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

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

5 of every 4 dollars lost to fire;

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

7 is seriously underreported, in part because of the lack

8 of adequate participation by local jurisdictions in the

9 National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)

10 and the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program;

11 (5) there is a need for expanded training pro12 grams for arson investigators;

13 (6) there is a need for improved programs de14 signed to enable volunteer firefighters to detect arson

15 crimes and to preserve evidence vital to the investiga16 tion and prosecution of arson cases;

17 (7) according to the National Fire Protection As18 sociation, of all the suspicious and incendiary fires

estimated to occur, only 1 19 ⁄3 are confirmed as arson;

20 and

21 (8) improved training of arson investigators will

22 increase the ability of fire departments to identify

23 suspicious and incendiary fires, and will result in in24 creased and more effective prosecution of arson

25 offenses.
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1 SEC. 3. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.

2 The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974

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

4 the following new section:

5 ‘‘SEC. 25. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.

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

7 ‘‘(1) ARSON.—The term ‘arson’ includes all in8 cendiary and suspicious fires.

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

10 of Fire Prevention and Arson Control of the United

11 States Fire Administration.

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

13 Office, shall carry out a demonstration program under

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

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

16 research, prevention, and control.

17 ‘‘(c) GOALS.—In carrying out this section, the Admin18 istrator shall award 2-year grants on a competitive, merit

19 basis to States, or consortia of States, for projects that pro20 mote one or more of the following goals:

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

22 to professional certification of arson investigators, in

23 accordance with nationally recognized certification

24 standards.

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

26 arson task forces or interagency organizational ar-
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1 rangements involving police and fire departments and

2 other relevant local agencies, such as a State arson

3 bureau and the office of a fire marshal of a State.

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

5 to advance research at the State and local levels on

6 the significance and prevention of fraud as a motive

7 for setting fires.

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

9 squads, including—

10 ‘‘(A) training courses for fire departments

11 in arson case management, including standard12 ization of investigative techniques and reporting

13 methodology;

14 ‘‘(B) the preparation of arson unit manage15 ment guides; and

16 ‘‘(C) the development and dissemination of

17 new public education materials relating to the

18 arson problem.

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

20 and to advance research at the State and local levels

21 on the prevention and control of arson linked to

22 urban disorders.

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

24 fire-setter counseling programs and similar interven-
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1 tion programs, and to advance research at the State

2 and local levels on the prevention of juvenile arson.

3 ‘‘(7) To combat drug-related arson and to ad4 vance research at the State and local levels on the

5 causes and prevention of drug-related arson.

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

7 arson and to advance research at the State and local

8 levels on the prevention of arson arising from domes9 tic violence.

10 ‘‘(9) To combat arson in rural areas and to im11 prove the capability of firefighters to identify and

12 prevent arson initiated fires in rural areas and pub13 lic forests.

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

15 identify and combat arson through expanded training

16 programs, including—

17 ‘‘(A) training courses at the State fire acad18 emies; and

19 ‘‘(B) innovative courses developed with the

20 Academy and made available to volunteer fire21 fighters through regional delivery methods, in22 cluding teleconferencing and satellite delivered

23 television programs.

24 ‘‘(d) STRUCTURING OF APPLICATIONS.—The Adminis25 trator shall assist grant applicants in structuring their ap-
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1 plications so as to ensure that at least one grant is awarded

2 for each goal described in subsection (c).

3 ‘‘(e) STATE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.—In order to

4 qualify for a grant under this section, a State, or consor5 tium of States, shall provide assurances adequate to the Ad6 ministrator that the State or consortium—

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

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

9 from non-Federal sources;

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

11 decrease the prior level of spending of funds of the

12 State or consortium from non-Federal sources for

13 arson research, prevention, and control programs;

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

15 provided under the grant for administrative costs of

16 the programs; and

17 ‘‘(4) is making efforts to ensure that all local ju18 risdictions will provide arson data to the National

19 Fire Incident Reporting System or the Uniform

20 Crime Reporting program.

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

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

23 discretion of the Administrator, subject to the availability

24 of appropriations.
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1 ‘‘(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Administrator

2 shall provide technical assistance to States in carrying out

3 programs funded by grants under this section.

4 ‘‘(h) CONSULTATION AND COOPERATION.—In carrying

5 out this section, the Administrator shall consult and cooper6 ate with other Federal agencies to enhance program effec7 tiveness and avoid duplication of effort, including the con8 duct of regular meetings initiated by the Administrator

9 with representatives of other Federal agencies concerned

10 with arson and concerned with efforts to develop a more

11 comprehensive profile of the magnitude of the national

12 arson problem.

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

14 date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall

15 submit a report to Congress that—

16 ‘‘(1) identifies grants made;

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

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

19 ‘‘(4) contains a preliminary assessment of the ef20 fectiveness of the grant program under this section.

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

22 date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall

23 issue regulations to implement this section, including proce24 dures for grant applications.
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1 ‘‘(k) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator shall di2 rectly administer the grant program required by this sec3 tion, and shall not enter into any contract under which the

4 grant program or any portion of the program will be ad5 ministered by another party.’’.

6 SEC. 4. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER TRAINING.

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

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

9 inserting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘, with particu10 lar emphasis on the needs of volunteer firefighters for im11 proved and more widely available arson training courses’’.

12 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 Section 17 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control

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

15 end the following new subsection:

16 ‘‘(h) In addition to any other amounts that are author17 ized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, there are au18 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act—

19 ‘‘(1) $500,000 for fiscal year 1994 for basic re20 search on the development of an advanced course on

21 arson prevention;

22 ‘‘(2) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1995 for the ex23 pansion of arson investigator training programs at

24 the Academy under section 24 and at the Federal
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1 Law Enforcement Training Center, or through re2 gional delivery sites;

3 ‘‘(3) $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1994 and

4 1995 for carrying out section 25, except for salaries

5 and expenses for carrying out section 25; and

6 ‘‘(4) $250,000 for each of the fiscal years 1994

7 and 1995 for salaries and expenses for carrying out

8 section 25.’’.

Attest:

Secretary.