I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3028 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to establish a grant program to assist innovative natural disaster 
first responder programs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2009 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to establish a grant program to 
assist innovative natural disaster first responder pro-
grams, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘First Responder Inno-
vation and Support Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 
Title II of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 205. FIRST RESPONDER INNOVATION AND SUPPORT 
GRANT PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President may make grants 
to eligible entities to assist innovative natural disaster first 
responder programs in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 
this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application 
to the President. Such application shall include, at a min-
imum, a description of each of the following: 
‘‘(1) The purpose for which the grant is sought 
and the reason Federal assistance is needed for such 
purpose. 
‘‘(2) The innovation with respect to natural dis-
aster first responders to be achieved with the grant. 
‘‘(3) The plans, if any, of the eligible entity to 
allocate amounts from the grant to local govern-
ments and federally recognized Indian tribes. 
‘‘(4) A budget for the expected expenditure of 
the grant amounts. 
‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The President shall 
issue regulations establishing selection criteria for making 
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grants under this section. Such criteria shall include con-
sideration of the following: 
‘‘(1) The severity and frequency of natural dis-
asters that affect the eligible entity applying for the 
grant. 
‘‘(2) Whether existing natural disaster first re-
sponder systems would be improved by the grant. 
‘‘(3) Whether the grant would provide natural 
disaster first responder support for special popu-
lations, including children, pregnant women, the el-
derly, and the disabled. 
‘‘(4) Whether the activity assisted by the grant 
is sustainable with non-Federal amounts after such 
grant is made. 
‘‘(d) TIMING AND NUMBER OF GRANTS.—The Presi-
dent shall make grants under this section annually and 
an eligible entity may apply for multiple grants under this 
section each year. An eligible entity is not limited in the 
number of grants such entity may receive under this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE
BASIS.—The President shall 
make grants under this section on a competitive basis sub-
ject to the requirements of this section. 
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‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after 
the date of enactment of this section, the President shall 
issue regulations necessary to carry out this section. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-
tity’ means any of the 50 States, the District of Co-
lumbia, any federally recognized Indian tribe, and 
any territory or possession of the United States that 
has an approved mitigation plan under section 322. 
‘‘(2) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re-
sponder’ means an individual who in the early stages 
of an incident is responsible for the protection and 
preservation of life, property, evidence, and the envi-
ronment, including emergency response providers (as 
such term is defined under section 2 of the Home-
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101)) and 
emergency management, public health, clinical care, 
public works, and other skilled support personnel, 
including equipment operators, that provide imme-
diate support services during prevention, response, 
and recovery operations. 
‘‘(3) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 
disaster’ has the meaning given such term under 
section 602. 
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‘‘(4) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘President’ means 
the President, acting through the Administrator of 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry 
out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 
through 2015. Such sums shall remain available until ex-
pended.’’. 
Æ 
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