neous. Such guidelines shall provide for an adequate 
period following the date on which the individual has 
knowledge of the information’s inclusion in the 
Internet site for the individual to seek such correc-
tion of information. 
(6) WARNING.—An Internet site established by 
a jurisdiction pursuant to paragraph (1) shall in-
clude a warning that information on the site is to be 
used for law enforcement purposes only and may 
only be disclosed in connection with such purposes. 
The warning shall note that any action in violation 
of the previous sentence may result in a civil or 
criminal penalty. 
(h) NATIONAL CRIMINAL ARSONIST REGISTRY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
maintain a national database at the Bureau of Alco-
hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for each 
criminal arsonist. The database shall be known as 
the National Arsonist Registry. 
(2) ELECTRONIC FORWARDING.—The Attorney 
General shall ensure (through the National Arsonist 
Registry or otherwise) that updated information 
about a criminal arsonist is immediately transmitted 
by electronic forwarding to all relevant jurisdictions. 
(i) NATIONAL ARSONIST INTERNET SITE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
establish and maintain a national arsonist Internet 
site. The Internet site shall include relevant informa-
tion for each criminal arsonist. The Internet site 
shall allow law enforcement officers and fire safety 
officers to obtain relevant information for each such 
arsonist by a single query for any given zip code or 
geographical radius set by the user in a form and 
with such limitations as may be established by the 
Attorney General and shall have such other field 
search capabilities as the Attorney General may pro-
vide. 
(2) PROHIBITION
ON
ACCESS
BY
THE
PUB-
LIC.—Information about a criminal arsonist shall 
not be made available under paragraph (1) on the 
Internet to the public. 
(j) NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES.—Under an arsonist 
registration program established by a jurisdiction pursu-
ant to subsection (a), immediately after a criminal arson-
ist registers or updates a registration, an appropriate offi-
cial in the jurisdiction shall provide the information in the 
registry (other than information exempted from disclosure 
by this section or by the Attorney General) about that of-
fender to the following entities:
(1) The Attorney General, who shall include 
that information in the National Arsonist Registry. 
(2) Appropriate law enforcement agencies (in-
cluding probation agencies, if appropriate) in each 
area in which the offender resides, is an employee, 
or is a student. 
(3) Each jurisdiction where the offender re-
sides, is an employee, or is a student, and each juris-
diction from or to which a change of residence, em-
ployment, or student status occurs. 
(k) ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN WHEN CRIMINAL ARSON-
IST FAILS TO COMPLY.—Under an arsonist registration 
program established by a jurisdiction pursuant to sub-
section (a), an appropriate official of the jurisdiction shall 
notify the Attorney General and appropriate law enforce-
ment agencies of any failure by a criminal arsonist to com-
ply with the requirements of the arsonist registry for such 
jurisdiction, and shall revise the registry to reflect the na-
ture of such failure. The appropriate official, the Attorney 
General, and each such law enforcement agency shall take 
any appropriate action to ensure compliance. 
(l) DEVELOPMENT AND AVAILABILITY OF REGISTRY 
MANAGEMENT AND WEBSITE SOFTWARE.— 
(1) DUTY
TO
DEVELOP
AND
SUPPORT.—The 
Attorney General shall, in consultation with the ju-
risdictions, develop and support software to enable 
jurisdictions to establish and operate uniform arson-
ist registries and Internet sites. 
(2) CRITERIA.—The software described in para-
graph (1) should facilitate— 
(A) immediate exchange of information 
among jurisdictions; 
(B) access over the Internet to appropriate 
information, including the number of registered 
criminal arsonists in each jurisdiction on a cur-
rent basis; 
(C) full compliance with the requirements 
of this section; and 
(D) communication of information as re-
quired under subsection (j). 
(3) DEADLINE.—The Attorney General shall 
make the first complete edition of this software 
available to jurisdictions not later than two years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(m) PERIOD FOR IMPLEMENTATION BY JURISDIC-
TIONS.— 
(1) DEADLINE.—To be in compliance with this 
section, a jurisdiction shall implement this section 
before the later of—
(A) three years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act; or 
(B) one year after the date on which the 
software described in subsection (l) is made 
available to such jurisdiction. 
(2) EXTENSIONS.—The Attorney General may 
authorize not more than two one-year extensions of 
the deadline under paragraph (1). 
(n) FAILURE OF JURISDICTION TO COMPLY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For any fiscal year after the 
deadline described in subsection (m), a jurisdiction 
that fails, as determined by the Attorney General, to 
substantially implement this section shall not receive 
10 percent of the funds that would otherwise be allo-
cated for that fiscal year to the jurisdiction under 
subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
3750 et seq.). 
(2) STATE CONSTITUTIONALITY.— 
(A) 
IN
GENERAL.—When 
evaluating 
whether a jurisdiction has substantially imple-
mented this section, the Attorney General shall 
consider whether the jurisdiction is unable to 
substantially implement this section because of 
a demonstrated inability to implement certain
provisions that would place the jurisdiction in 
violation of its constitution, as determined by a 
ruling of the jurisdiction’s highest court. 
(B) EFFORTS.—If the circumstances arise 
under subparagraph (A), then the Attorney 
General and the jurisdiction involved shall make 
good faith efforts to accomplish substantial im-
plementation of this section and to reconcile 
any conflicts between this section and the juris-
diction’s constitution. In considering whether 
compliance with the requirements of this section 
would likely violate the jurisdiction’s constitu-
tion or an interpretation thereof by the jurisdic-
tion’s highest court, the Attorney General shall 
consult with the chief executive and chief legal 
officer of the jurisdiction concerning the juris-
diction’s interpretation of the jurisdiction’s con-
stitution and rulings thereon by the jurisdic-
tion’s highest court. 
(C) ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES.—If a ju-
risdiction is unable to substantially implement 
this section because of a limitation imposed by 
the jurisdiction’s constitution, the Attorney 
General may determine that the jurisdiction is 
in compliance with this section if the jurisdic-
tion has made, or is in the process of imple-
menting, reasonable alternative procedures or 
accommodations, which are consistent with the 
purposes of this section. 
(3) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 
under a program referred to in this subsection to a 
jurisdiction for failure to substantially implement 
this section shall be reallocated under that program 
to jurisdictions that have not failed to substantially 
implement this section or may be reallocated to a ju-
risdiction from which they were withheld to be used 
solely for the purpose of implementing this section. 
(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The provisions 
of this section that are cast as directions to jurisdic-
tions or their officials constitute, in relation to 
States, only conditions required to avoid the reduc-
tion of Federal funding under this subsection. 
(5) EXCEPTION
FOR
FAILURES
TO
RECEIVE 
CRIMINAL ARSONIST MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM GRANTS.—For any fiscal year for which a ju-
risdiction submits an application to the Attorney 
General under subsection (b) of section 3 for a grant 
under subsection (a) of such section and is not 
awarded any grant funding under such subsection
such jurisdiction shall not be subject to paragraph 
(1). 
(o) ELECTION BY INDIAN TRIBES.— 
(1) ELECTION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—A federally recognized 
Indian tribe may, by resolution or other enact-
ment of the tribal council or comparable gov-
ernmental body, elect to carry out this subtitle 
as a jurisdiction subject to its provisions. 
(B) IMPLEMENTATION.—If a tribe does 
not, within one year of the enactment of this 
Act, make an election to take on these duties, 
it shall, by resolution or other enactment of the 
tribal council or comparable governmental body, 
enter into a cooperative agreement to arrange 
for a jurisdiction to carry out any function of 
the tribe under this Act until such time as the 
tribe elects to carry out this Act. 
(2) COOPERATION BETWEEN TRIBAL AUTHORI-
TIES AND OTHER JURISDICTIONS.— 
(A) NONDUPLICATION.—A tribe subject to 
this subtitle is not required to duplicate func-
tions under this subtitle which are fully carried 
out by another jurisdiction or jurisdictions with-
in which the territory of the tribe is located.
(B) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—A tribe 
may, through cooperative agreements with such 
a jurisdiction or jurisdictions— 
(i) arrange for the tribe to carry out 
any function of such a jurisdiction under 
this subtitle with respect to arsonists sub-
ject to the tribe’s jurisdiction; and 
(ii) arrange for such a jurisdiction to 
carry out any function of the tribe under 
this subtitle with respect to arsonists sub-
ject to the tribe’s jurisdiction. 
(3) LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY IN INDIAN 
COUNTRY.—Enforcement of this Act in Indian coun-
try, as defined in section 1151 of title 18, United 
States Code, shall be carried out by Federal, Tribal, 
and State governments under existing jurisdictional 
authorities. 
(p) IMMUNITY FOR GOOD FAITH CONDUCT.—The 
Federal Government, jurisdictions, political subdivisions of 
jurisdictions, and their agencies, officers, employees, and 
agents shall be immune from liability for good faith con-
duct under this section. 
(q) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-
tion to any amounts otherwise authorized to be appro-
priated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the At-
torney General, to carry out subsections (h) and (i) of this 
section, such sums as may be necessary for each of the 
fiscal years 2009 through 2014. 
SEC. 3. CRIMINAL ARSONIST MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab-
lish and implement a Criminal Arsonist Management As-
sistance program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘As-
sistance Program’’), under which the Attorney General 
shall award grants to jurisdictions to offset the costs of 
implementing section 2. 
(b) APPLICATION.—The chief executive of a jurisdic-
tion desiring a grant under this section, with respect to 
a fiscal year, shall for each such fiscal year submit to the 
Attorney General an application in such form and con-
taining such information as the Attorney General may re-
quire. 
(c) INCREASED GRANT PAYMENTS
FOR PROMPT 
COMPLIANCE.—A jurisdiction that, as determined by the 
Attorney General, has substantially implemented section 
2 not later than two years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act is eligible for a bonus payment in addition to 
the amount of grant funds available to such jurisdiction 
under subsection (a). The Attorney General may, with re-
spect to a jurisdiction, make such a bonus payment to the
jurisdiction for the first fiscal year beginning after the 
date such determination is made. The amount of the 
bonus payment shall be as follows: 
(1) In the case of a determination that the ju-
risdiction has substantially implemented such section 
by a date that is not later than the date that is one 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 10 
percent of the total grant funds available to the ju-
risdiction under subsection (a) for such fiscal year. 
(2) In the case of a determination that the ju-
risdiction has substantially implemented such section 
by a date that is later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, but not later than the 
date that is two years after such date of enactment, 
5 percent of such total. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-
tion to any amounts otherwise authorized to be appro-
priated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the At-
torney General, to be available to carry out this section, 
such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 
2009 through 2014. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) CRIMINAL ARSONIST.—The term ‘‘criminal 
arsonist’’ means an individual who is convicted of
any criminal offense for committing arson in viola-
tion of the laws of the jurisdiction in which such of-
fense was committed or the United States. Such 
term shall not include a juvenile who is convicted of 
such an offense unless such juvenile was tried as an 
adult for such offense. 
(2) ARSONIST REGISTRY.—The term ‘‘arsonist 
registry’’ means a registry of criminal arsonists, and 
a notification program, maintained by a jurisdiction. 
(3) CRIMINAL OFFENSE.—The term ‘‘criminal 
offense’’ means a State, local, tribal, foreign, or mili-
tary offense (to the extent specified by the Secretary 
of Defense under section 115(a)(8)(C)(i) of Public 
Law 105–119 (10 U.S.C. 951 note)) or other crimi-
nal offense. 
(4) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ includes 
an individual who is self-employed or works for any 
other entity, whether compensated or not. 
(5) FIRE
SAFETY
OFFICER.—The term ‘‘fire 
safety officer’’ means— 
(A) a firefighter, as such term is defined in 
section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Street Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b); or 
(B) an individual serving in an official ca-
pacity as a firefighter, fire investigator, or other
arson investigator, as defined by the jurisdiction 
for the purposes of this Act. 
(6) JURISDICTION.—The term ‘‘jurisdiction’’ 
means any of the following: 
(A) A State. 
(B) The District of Columbia. 
(C) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
(D) Guam. 
(E) American Samoa. 
(F) The Northern Mariana Islands. 
(G) The United States Virgin Islands. 
(H) To the extent provided and subject to 
the requirements of section 2(o), a federally 
recognized Indian tribe. 
(7) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 
‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the meaning given 
such term in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
3796b). 
(8) RESIDES.—The term ‘‘resides’’ means, with 
respect to an individual, the location of the individ-
ual’s home or other place where the individual habit-
ually lives. 
(9) STUDENT.—The term ‘‘student’’ means an 
individual who enrolls in or attends an educational
institution (whether public or private), including a 
secondary school, trade or professional school, and 
institution of higher education. 
Passed the House of Representatives December 5, 
2007. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1759 
AN ACT 
To establish guidelines and incentives for States to 
establish arsonist registries and to require the 
Attorney General to establish a national arsonist 
registry and notification program, and for other 
purposes.