I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3260 
To establish a pilot grant program for first responder agencies that experience 
an extraordinary financial burden resulting from the deployment of employees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 25, 2011 
Mr. ROSS of Arkansas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
Committees on the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, and Homeland Se-
curity, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a pilot grant program for first responder agen-
cies that experience an extraordinary financial burden 
resulting from the deployment of employees. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Commu-
nity Safety Act of 2011’’. 
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‘‘(I) authorized or licensed by a 
State to engage in rescue activity or 
to provide emergency medical services; 
and 
‘‘(II) designated by a State as a 
prehospital emergency medical re-
sponse agency; and 
‘‘(B) shall not include a for-profit organi-
zation; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘reservist’ means a member of a 
reserve component of the Armed Forces, as defined 
in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code. 
‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
the Administrator may make a grant to an eligible 
first responder agency for the additional costs in-
curred by the eligible first responder agency as a di-
rect result of 1 or more employees of the agency or 
service who are reservists being placed on active 
duty. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION FOR FEDERALLY FUNDED PO-
SITIONS.—The Administrator may not make a grant 
under this section for costs relating to an employee 
being placed on active duty if Federal funds are 
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used, in whole or in part, for the pay or benefits of 
the employee. 
‘‘(3) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total amount of 
all grants made under this section to an eligible first 
responder agency in any fiscal year may not exceed 
$100,000. 
‘‘(4) TERMINATION
OF
GRANT
AUTHORITY.— 
The authority of the Administrator to make a grant 
under this section shall terminate 3 years after the 
date of enactment of this section. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this section 
may be used for— 
‘‘(A) pay and benefits for an individual 
hired to replace an employee placed on active 
duty that are in addition to any pay and bene-
fits that would have been provided to the de-
ployed employee; 
‘‘(B) overtime expenses for an employee 
who performs tasks that would have been per-
formed by an employee placed on active duty; 
and 
‘‘(C) the costs associated with filling a va-
cancy created by an employee placed on active 
duty, including costs for advertising, inter-
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viewing, performing background investigations, 
employment training, and hiring bonuses and 
incentives. 
‘‘(2) TIME
PERIOD
FOR
REIMBURSABLE
EX-
PENSES.—An eligible first responder agency that re-
ceives a grant under this section may use the grant 
funds to cover expenses incurred during the period 
that begins 90 days before the deployment of an em-
ployee of the agency and ends on the date on which 
the employee returns to fully paid employment sta-
tus. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Each eligible first re-
sponder agency desiring a grant under this section 
shall submit an application to the Administrator at 
such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 
such information as the Administrator may reason-
ably require. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 
under paragraph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) describe the activities for which as-
sistance under this section is sought; and 
‘‘(B) provide documentation that dem-
onstrates that the first responder agency meets 
the requirements in subsection (a)(2). 
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‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 
$5,000,000 to carry out this section for fiscal years 2012 
through 2014.’’. 
(b) REPORTING.— 
(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 
terms ‘‘active duty’’, ‘‘first responder agency’’, and 
‘‘reservist’’ have the meanings given those terms in 
section 2041 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, 
as added by subsection (a). 
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 
submit to Congress a report regarding the placing 
on active duty of employees of first responder agen-
cies that are reservists, including an evaluation of— 
(A) the effects, including financial effects, 
of placing the employees on active duty on— 
(i) the operation of the first responder 
agencies; and 
(ii) the services the first responder 
agencies provide to the communities served 
by the first responder agencies; and 
(B) first responder agency grants under 
section 2041 of the Homeland Security Act of 
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2002, as added by subsection (a), including the 
effect of the grants on— 
(i) the operation of the first responder 
agencies; and 
(ii) the services the first responder 
agencies provide to the communities served 
by the first responder agencies. 
(c) OFFSET.—Section 1532(k)(1)(D) of the Imple-
menting Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 
2007 (6 U.S.C. 1182(k)(1)(D)) is amended by striking 
‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000’’. 
(d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Se-
curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Subtitle C—Other Assistance 
‘‘Sec. 2041. First responder agency grants.’’. 
Æ 
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