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‘‘(A) meets the criteria for inclusion in the 
qualified applicant pool for Self-Governance 
that are set forth in section 402(c) of the In-
dian Self-Determination and Education Assist-
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 458bb(c)); 
‘‘(B) employs at least 10 full-time per-
sonnel in a law enforcement or emergency re-
sponse agency with the capacity to respond to 
calls for law enforcement or emergency services; 
and 
‘‘(C)(i) is located on, or within 5 miles of, 
an international border or waterway; 
‘‘(ii) is located within 5 miles of a facility 
designated as high-risk critical infrastructure 
by the Secretary; 
‘‘(iii) is located within or contiguous to one 
of the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas 
in the United States; or 
‘‘(iv) has more than 1,000 square miles of 
Indian country, as that term is defined in sec-
tion 1151 of title 18, United States Code. 
‘‘(4) ELEVATIONS
IN
THE
THREAT
ALERT 
LEVEL.—The term ‘elevations in the threat alert 
level’ means any designation (including those that 
are less than national in scope) that raises the
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homeland security threat level to either the highest 
or second highest threat level under the Homeland 
Security Advisory System referred to in section 
201(d)(7). 
‘‘(5) EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.—The term 
‘emergency preparedness’ shall have the same mean-
ing that term has under section 602 of the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195a). 
‘‘(6) ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES.—The term ‘es-
sential capabilities’ means the levels, availability, 
and competence of emergency personnel, planning, 
training, and equipment across a variety of dis-
ciplines needed to effectively and efficiently prevent, 
prepare for, respond to, and recover from acts of 
terrorism consistent with established practices. 
‘‘(7) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re-
sponder’ shall have the same meaning as the term 
‘emergency response provider’. 
‘‘(8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 
means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other orga-
nized group or community, including any Alaskan 
Native village or regional or village corporation as 
defined in or established pursuant to the Alaskan 
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et
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seq.), which is recognized as eligible for the special 
programs and services provided by the United States 
to Indians because of their status as Indians. 
‘‘(9) REGION.—The term ‘region’ means— 
‘‘(A) any geographic area consisting of all 
or parts of 2 or more contiguous States, coun-
ties, municipalities, or other local governments 
that have a combined population of at least 
1,650,000 or have an area of not less than 
20,000 square miles, and that, for purposes of 
an application for a covered grant, is rep-
resented by 1 or more governments or govern-
mental agencies within such geographic area, 
and that is established by law or by agreement 
of 2 or more such governments or governmental 
agencies in a mutual aid agreement; or 
‘‘(B) any other combination of contiguous 
local government units (including such a com-
bination established by law or agreement of two 
or more governments or governmental agencies 
in a mutual aid agreement) that is formally cer-
tified by the Secretary as a region for purposes 
of this Act with the consent of— 
‘‘(i) the State or States in which they 
are located, including a multi-State entity
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established by a compact between two or 
more States; and 
‘‘(ii) the incorporated municipalities, 
counties, and parishes that they encom-
pass. 
‘‘(10) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘Task Force’ 
means the Task Force on Terrorism Preparedness 
for First Responders established under section 1805. 
‘‘(11) TERRORISM PREPAREDNESS.—The term 
‘terrorism preparedness’ means any activity designed 
to improve the ability to prevent, prepare for, re-
spond to, mitigate against, or recover from threat-
ened or actual terrorist attacks. 
‘‘SEC. 1802. FASTER AND SMARTER FUNDING FOR FIRST RE-
SPONDERS. 
‘‘(a) COVERED GRANTS.—This title applies to grants 
provided by the Department to States, regions, or directly 
eligible tribes for the primary purpose of improving the 
ability of first responders to prevent, prepare for, respond 
to, mitigate against, or recover from threatened or actual 
terrorist attacks, especially those involving weapons of 
mass destruction, administered under the following: 
‘‘(1) STATE HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT PRO-
GRAM.—The State Homeland Security Grant Pro-
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gram of the Department, or any successor to such 
grant program. 
‘‘(2) URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIATIVE.—The 
Urban Area Security Initiative of the Department, 
or any successor to such grant program. 
‘‘(3) LAW ENFORCEMENT TERRORISM PREVEN-
TION PROGRAM.—The Law Enforcement Terrorism 
Prevention Program of the Department, or any suc-
cessor to such grant program. 
‘‘(b) EXCLUDED PROGRAMS.—This title does not 
apply to or otherwise affect the following Federal grant 
programs or any grant under such a program: 
‘‘(1) NONDEPARTMENT PROGRAMS.—Any Fed-
eral grant program that is not administered by the 
Department. 
‘‘(2) FIRE GRANT PROGRAMS.—The fire grant 
programs authorized by sections 33 and 34 of the 
Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 
(15 U.S.C. 2229, 2229a). 
‘‘(3) EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING 
AND
ASSISTANCE
ACCOUNT
GRANTS.—The Emer-
gency Management Performance Grant program and 
the Urban Search and Rescue Grants program au-
thorized by title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
HR 1544 RFS 
U.S.C. 5195 et seq.); the Departments of Veterans 
Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and 
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 
(113 Stat. 1047 et seq.); and the Earthquake Haz-
ards Reduction Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et 
seq.). 
‘‘SEC. 1803. COVERED GRANT ELIGIBILITY AND CRITERIA. 
‘‘(a) GRANT ELIGIBILITY.—Any State, region, or di-
rectly eligible tribe shall be eligible to apply for a covered 
grant. 
‘‘(b) GRANT CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall award 
covered grants to assist States and local governments in 
achieving, maintaining, and enhancing the essential capa-
bilities for terrorism preparedness established by the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(c) STATE HOMELAND SECURITY PLANS.— 
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION
OF
PLANS.—The Secretary 
shall require that any State applying to the Sec-
retary for a covered grant must submit to the Sec-
retary a 3-year State homeland security plan that— 
‘‘(A) describes the essential capabilities 
that communities within the State should pos-
sess, or to which they should have access, based 
upon the terrorism risk factors relevant to such
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communities, in order to meet the Department’s 
goals for terrorism preparedness; 
‘‘(B) demonstrates the extent to which the 
State has achieved the essential capabilities 
that apply to the State; 
‘‘(C) demonstrates the needs of the State 
necessary to achieve, maintain, or enhance the 
essential capabilities that apply to the State; 
‘‘(D) includes a prioritization of such needs 
based on threat, vulnerability, and consequence 
assessment factors applicable to the State; 
‘‘(E) describes how the State intends— 
‘‘(i) to address such needs at the city, 
county, regional, tribal, State, and inter-
state level, including a precise description 
of any regional structure the State has es-
tablished for the purpose of organizing 
homeland security preparedness activities 
funded by covered grants; 
‘‘(ii) to use all Federal, State, and 
local resources available for the purpose of 
addressing such needs; and 
‘‘(iii) to give particular emphasis to 
regional planning and cooperation, includ-
ing the activities of multijurisdictional
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planning agencies governed by local offi-
cials, both within its jurisdictional borders 
and with neighboring States; 
‘‘(F) with respect to the emergency pre-
paredness of first responders, addresses the 
unique aspects of terrorism as part of a com-
prehensive State emergency management plan; 
and 
‘‘(G) provides for coordination of response 
and recovery efforts at the local level, including 
procedures for effective incident command in 
conformance with the National Incident Man-
agement System. 
‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—The State plan sub-
mitted under paragraph (1) shall be developed in 
consultation with and subject to appropriate com-
ment by local governments and first responders 
within the State. 
‘‘(3) APPROVAL
BY
SECRETARY.—The Sec-
retary may not award any covered grant to a State 
unless the Secretary has approved the applicable 
State homeland security plan. 
‘‘(4) REVISIONS.—A State may revise the appli-
cable State homeland security plan approved by the
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Secretary under this subsection, subject to approval 
of the revision by the Secretary. 
‘‘(d) CONSISTENCY WITH STATE PLANS.—The Sec-
retary shall ensure that each covered grant is used to sup-
plement and support, in a consistent and coordinated 
manner, the applicable State homeland security plan or 
plans. 
‘‘(e) APPLICATION FOR GRANT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this subsection, any State, region, or di-
rectly eligible tribe may apply for a covered grant by 
submitting to the Secretary an application at such 
time, in such manner, and containing such informa-
tion as is required under this subsection, or as the 
Secretary may reasonably require. 
‘‘(2) DEADLINES
FOR
APPLICATIONS
AND 
AWARDS.—All applications for covered grants must 
be submitted at such time as the Secretary may rea-
sonably require for the fiscal year for which they are 
submitted. The Secretary shall award covered grants 
pursuant to all approved applications for such fiscal 
year as soon as practicable, but not later than 
March 1 of such year. 
‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY
OF
FUNDS.—All funds 
awarded by the Secretary under covered grants in a
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fiscal year shall be available for obligation through 
the end of the subsequent fiscal year. 
‘‘(4) MINIMUM CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.— 
The Secretary shall require that each applicant in-
clude in its application, at a minimum— 
‘‘(A) the purpose for which the applicant 
seeks covered grant funds and the reasons why 
the applicant needs the covered grant to meet 
the essential capabilities for terrorism prepared-
ness within the State, region, or directly eligible 
tribe to which the application pertains; 
‘‘(B) a description of how, by reference to 
the applicable State homeland security plan or 
plans under subsection (c), the allocation of 
grant funding proposed in the application, in-
cluding, where applicable, the amount not 
passed through under section 1806(g)(1), would 
assist in fulfilling the essential capabilities for 
terrorism preparedness specified in such plan or 
plans; 
‘‘(C) a statement of whether a mutual aid 
agreement applies to the use of all or any por-
tion of the covered grant funds; 
‘‘(D) if the applicant is a State, a descrip-
tion of how the State plans to allocate the cov-
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ered grant funds to regions, local governments, 
and Indian tribes; 
‘‘(E) if the applicant is a region— 
‘‘(i) a precise geographical description 
of the region and a specification of all par-
ticipating and nonparticipating local gov-
ernments within the geographical area 
comprising that region; 
‘‘(ii) a specification of what govern-
mental entity within the region will admin-
ister the expenditure of funds under the 
covered grant; and 
‘‘(iii) a designation of a specific indi-
vidual to serve as regional liaison; 
‘‘(F) a capital budget showing how the ap-
plicant intends to allocate and expend the cov-
ered grant funds; 
‘‘(G) if the applicant is a directly eligible 
tribe, a designation of a specific individual to 
serve as the tribal liaison; and 
‘‘(H) a statement of how the applicant in-
tends to meet the matching requirement, if any, 
that applies under section 1806(g)(2). 
‘‘(5) REGIONAL APPLICATIONS.—
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‘‘(A) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE APPLICA-
TIONS.—A regional application— 
‘‘(i) shall be coordinated with an ap-
plication submitted by the State or States 
of which such region is a part; 
‘‘(ii) shall supplement and avoid dupli-
cation with such State application; and 
‘‘(iii) shall address the unique regional 
aspects of such region’s terrorism pre-
paredness needs beyond those provided for 
in the application of such State or States. 
‘‘(B) STATE REVIEW AND SUBMISSION.— 
To ensure the consistency required under sub-
section (d) and the coordination required under 
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, an appli-
cant that is a region must submit its applica-
tion to each State of which any part is included 
in the region for review and concurrence prior 
to the submission of such application to the 
Secretary. The regional application shall be 
transmitted to the Secretary through each such 
State within 30 days of its receipt, unless the 
Governor of such a State notifies the Secretary, 
in writing, that such regional application is in-
consistent with the State’s homeland security
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plan and provides an explanation of the reasons 
therefor. 
‘‘(C) 
DISTRIBUTION
OF
REGIONAL 
AWARDS.—If the Secretary approves a regional 
application, then the Secretary shall distribute 
a regional award to the State or States submit-
ting the applicable regional application under 
subparagraph (B), and each such State shall, 
not later than the end of the 45-day period be-
ginning on the date after receiving a regional 
award, pass through to the region all covered 
grant funds or resources purchased with such 
funds, except those funds necessary for the 
State to carry out its responsibilities with re-
spect to such regional application: Provided, 
That in no such case shall the State or States 
pass through to the region less than 80 percent 
of the regional award. 
‘‘(D) CERTIFICATIONS
REGARDING
DIS-
TRIBUTION OF GRANT FUNDS TO REGIONS.— 
Any State that receives a regional award under 
subparagraph (C) shall certify to the Secretary, 
by not later than 30 days after the expiration 
of the period described in subparagraph (C) 
with respect to the grant, that the State has
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made available to the region the required funds 
and resources in accordance with subparagraph 
(C). 
‘‘(E) DIRECT PAYMENTS TO REGIONS.—If 
any State fails to pass through a regional 
award to a region as required by subparagraph 
(C) within 45 days after receiving such award 
and does not request or receive an extension of 
such period under section 1806(h)(2), the re-
gion may petition the Secretary to receive di-
rectly the portion of the regional award that is 
required to be passed through to such region 
under subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(F) REGIONAL LIAISONS.—A regional li-
aison designated under paragraph (4)(E)(iii) 
shall— 
‘‘(i) coordinate with Federal, State, 
local, regional, and private officials within 
the region concerning terrorism prepared-
ness; 
‘‘(ii) develop a process for receiving 
input from Federal, State, local, regional, 
and private sector officials within the re-
gion to assist in the development of the re-
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gional application and to improve the re-
gion’s access to covered grants; and 
‘‘(iii) administer, in consultation with 
State, local, regional, and private officials 
within the region, covered grants awarded 
to the region. 
‘‘(6) TRIBAL APPLICATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) SUBMISSION
TO
THE
STATE
OR 
STATES.—To ensure the consistency required 
under subsection (d), an applicant that is a di-
rectly eligible tribe must submit its application 
to each State within the boundaries of which 
any part of such tribe is located for direct sub-
mission to the Department along with the appli-
cation of such State or States. 
‘‘(B) OPPORTUNITY
FOR
STATE
COM-
MENT.—Before awarding any covered grant to 
a directly eligible tribe, the Secretary shall pro-
vide an opportunity to each State within the 
boundaries of which any part of such tribe is lo-
cated to comment to the Secretary on the con-
sistency of the tribe’s application with the 
State’s homeland security plan. Any such com-
ments shall be submitted to the Secretary con-
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currently with the submission of the State and 
tribal applications. 
‘‘(C) FINAL
AUTHORITY.—The Secretary 
shall have final authority to determine the con-
sistency of any application of a directly eligible 
tribe with the applicable State homeland secu-
rity plan or plans, and to approve any applica-
tion of such tribe. The Secretary shall notify 
each State within the boundaries of which any 
part of such tribe is located of the approval of 
an application by such tribe. 
‘‘(D) TRIBAL
LIAISON.—A tribal liaison 
designated under paragraph (4)(G) shall— 
‘‘(i) coordinate with Federal, State, 
local, regional, and private officials con-
cerning terrorism preparedness; 
‘‘(ii) develop a process for receiving 
input from Federal, State, local, regional, 
and private sector officials to assist in the 
development of the application of such 
tribe and to improve the tribe’s access to 
covered grants; and 
‘‘(iii) administer, in consultation with 
State, local, regional, and private officials, 
covered grants awarded to such tribe.
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‘‘(E) LIMITATION ON THE NUMBER OF DI-
RECT GRANTS.—The Secretary may make cov-
ered grants directly to not more than 20 di-
rectly eligible tribes per fiscal year. 
‘‘(F) TRIBES
NOT
RECEIVING
DIRECT 
GRANTS.—An Indian tribe that does not receive 
a grant directly under this section is eligible to 
receive funds under a covered grant from the 
State or States within the boundaries of which 
any part of such tribe is located, consistent with 
the homeland security plan of the State as de-
scribed in subsection (c). If a State fails to 
comply with section 1806(g)(1), the tribe may 
request payment under section 1806(h)(3) in 
the same manner as a local government. 
‘‘(7) EQUIPMENT STANDARDS.—If an applicant 
for a covered grant proposes to upgrade or purchase, 
with assistance provided under the grant, new equip-
ment or systems that do not meet or exceed any ap-
plicable national voluntary consensus standards es-
tablished by the Secretary, the applicant shall in-
clude in the application an explanation of why such 
equipment or systems will serve the needs of the ap-
plicant better than equipment or systems that meet 
or exceed such standards.