103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1727
AMENDMENT
TO
SENATE AMENDMENT
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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 estab-
lish a program of grants to States for arson research, preven-
tion, and control, and for other purposes’’, with the following
AMENDMENT:
In lieu of the matter inserted by said amendment, in-
sert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arson Prevention Act
of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) arson is a serious and costly problem, and is
responsible for approximately 25 percent of all fires
in the United States;
(2) arson is a leading cause of fire deaths, ac-
counting for approximately 700 deaths annually in
the United States, and is the leading cause of prop-
erty damage due to fire in the United States;
(3) estimates of arson property losses are in the
range of $2,000,000,000 annually, or approximately 1
of every 4 dollars lost to fire;
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(4) the incidence of arson in the United States
is seriously underreported, in part because of the lack
of adequate participation by local jurisdictions in the
National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)
and the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program;
(5) there is a need for expanded training pro-
grams for arson investigators;
(6) there is a need for improved programs de-
signed to enable volunteer firefighters to detect arson
crimes and to preserve evidence vital to the investiga-
tion and prosecution of arson cases;
(7) according to the National Fire Protection As-
sociation, of all the suspicious and incendiary fires
estimated to occur, only 1⁄3 are confirmed as arson;
and
(8) improved training of arson investigators will
increase the ability of fire departments to identify
suspicious and incendiary fires, and will result in in-
creased and more effective prosecution of arson
offenses.
SEC. 3. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.
The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974
is amended by inserting after section 24 (15 U.S.C. 2220)
the following new section:
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‘‘SEC. 25. ARSON PREVENTION GRANTS.
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) ARSON.—The term ‘arson’ includes all in-
cendiary and suspicious fires.
‘‘(2) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Office
of Fire Prevention and Arson Control of the United
States Fire Administration.
‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Administrator, acting through the
Office, shall carry out a demonstration program under
which not more than 10 grant awards shall be made to
States, or consortia of States, for programs relating to arson
research, prevention, and control.
‘‘(c) GOALS.—In carrying out this section, the Admin-
istrator shall award 2-year grants on a competitive, merit
basis to States, or consortia of States, for projects that pro-
mote one or more of the following goals:
‘‘(1) To improve the training by States leading
to professional certification of arson investigators, in
accordance with nationally recognized certification
standards.
‘‘(2) To provide resources for the formation of
arson task forces or interagency organizational ar-
rangements involving police and fire departments and
other relevant local agencies, such as a State arson
bureau and the office of a fire marshal of a State.