I 
107TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5441
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to establish a program to provide Federal grants to first responders 
to enhance their ability to respond to incidents of terrorism, including 
incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2002
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida 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 program to provide 
Federal grants to first responders to enhance their ability 
to respond to incidents of terrorism, including incidents 
involving weapons of mass destruction, 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 ‘‘Homeland Emergency 
Responders Organization Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) the Federal Government must enhance the 
ability of first responders to coordinate and respond 
to incidents of terrorism, including incidents involv-
ing weapons of mass destruction; and 
(2) as a result of the events of September 11, 
2001, it is necessary to empower the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency (in this section referred 
to as ‘‘FEMA’’) to distribute Federal grant monies 
to States and local communities and, define and 
clarify the terms and conditions under which such 
funds will be dispersed, spent, matched, and re-
ported. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to establish within FEMA the Office of Na-
tional Preparedness; 
(2) to establish a program, with criteria and 
guidelines, for first responders to utilize Federal 
grants to enhance their ability to respond to inci-
dents of terrorism, including incidents involving 
weapons of mass destruction; and 
(3) to establish a program, with criteria and 
guidelines, for States to utilize Federal grant dollars 
in establishing coordinated interstate and intrastate 
antiterrorism programs, establishing mutual aid pro-
grams, planning, developing, and executing terrorism 
response exercises, and establishing or upgrading 
statewide emergency notification capabilities, such as 
the ‘‘Amber Alert project’’ in California and Texas, 
and such other purposes as the Director of FEMA 
determines. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) MAJOR DISASTER.—Section 102(2) of the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5122(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘incident of 
terrorism,’’ after ‘‘drought),’’. 
(b) WEAPON
OF
MASS
DESTRUCTION.—Section 
602(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165a(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(11) WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION.—The 
term ‘weapon of mass destruction’ means any weap-
on or device that is intended, or has the capability, 
to cause death or serious bodily injury to a signifi-
cant number of people through the release, dissemi-
nation, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or 
their precursors, disease organisms, or radiation or 
radioactivity.’’.
‘‘SEC. 630. PREPAREDNESS ASSISTANCE FOR FIRST RE-
SPONDERS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section and section 616, 
the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the 50 
States. 
‘‘(2) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re-
sponder’ means any local governmental entity, In-
dian tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
U.S.C. 450(b)), Indian tribe organization, or Native 
village (as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602)) that has 
jurisdiction over 1 or more of the following: 
‘‘(A) Law enforcement officers. 
‘‘(B) Firefighters. 
‘‘(C) Emergency personnel. 
‘‘(D) Public and environmental health per-
sonnel. 
‘‘(E) Such other personnel with duties re-
lated to homeland preparedness or security, or 
both, as the Director may determine. 
‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Deputy Director of the 
Office of National Preparedness shall establish a program 
to make grants to first responders and States to prepare
for and respond to incidents of terrorism, including inci-
dents involving weapons of mass destruction. 
‘‘(c) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No first responder or State 
shall be eligible to receive a grant under this section 
unless the aggregate expenditures of the first re-
sponder or State for homeland preparedness and se-
curity (as defined by the Deputy Director) are main-
tained at a level which does not fall below the aver-
age level of such expenditures for its 2 fiscal years 
preceding the date of receipt of the grant. 
‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.—If a first responder or 
State does not meet the aggregate expenditure for 
homeland preparedness and security required under 
paragraph (1) in a fiscal year, the Director shall 
withhold the amount of a grant from the first re-
sponder or State until the first responder or State 
makes such expenditure. 
‘‘(d) USES OF GRANTS.—Grants made under this 
section—
‘‘(1) may be used by a first responder only—
‘‘(A) to purchase interoperable equipment 
in compliance with Federal standards estab-
lished by the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency section 616(c)(4);
‘‘(B) to train personnel that have respon-
sibilities relating to homeland preparedness or 
security, or both, and that are under the juris-
diction of the first responder; 
‘‘(C) to upgrade emergency operating cen-
ters; 
‘‘(D) to conduct terrorism response exer-
cises; 
‘‘(E) to compensate for overtime costs in-
curred in carrying out activities under subpara-
graphs (B) and (D) or as approved by the Dep-
uty Director; and 
‘‘(F) to carry out such other related activi-
ties or to purchase materials or equipment as 
are approved by the Deputy Director; and 
‘‘(2) may be used by States only—
‘‘(A) to establish coordinated interstate 
and intrastate antiterrorism programs; 
‘‘(B) to establish mutual aid programs; 
‘‘(C) to plan and develop and execute ter-
rorism response exercises; 
‘‘(D) to establish or upgrade statewide 
emergency notification systems; and
‘‘(E) to carry out such other related activi-
ties, or to purchase such materials and equip-
ment, as are approved by the Deputy Director. 
‘‘(e) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Subject to advance 
appropriations, the Deputy Director shall make—
‘‘(1) a grant under this section to each State in 
each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007 of 
$10,000,000; 
‘‘(2) grants to first responders under this sec-
tion, through the regional points of contact of the 
Agency designated under section 616(c)(1), in an 
amount not to exceed $50,000,000 per Agency re-
gion in each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007 
based on—
‘‘(A) the likelihood of a terrorism attack as 
determined by the appropriate Federal agency 
responsible for making terrorism threat assess-
ments; 
‘‘(B) the location of the population for 
which the first responders have responsibility; 
‘‘(C) the proximity to vital infrastructure, 
including—
‘‘(i) military installations;
‘‘(ii) public buildings (as defined in 
section 13 of the Public Buildings Act of 
1959 (40 U.S.C. 612)); 
‘‘(iii) nuclear power plants; 
‘‘(iv) chemical plants; and 
‘‘(v) national landmarks; and 
‘‘(D) the proximity to international bor-
ders; 
‘‘(3) grants in such amounts to first responders 
in rural, nonurban areas as the Director determines 
appropriate; and 
‘‘(4) grants in such amounts to such other first 
responders having responsibility for homeland pre-
paredness or security, or both, as the Deputy Direc-
tor determines appropriate. 
‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—
‘‘(1) STATES.—Not more than 2 percent of a 
grant made to a State under this section may be 
used for administrative expenses of carrying out its 
responsibilities under this section. 
‘‘(2) LOCAL
FIRST
RESPONDERS.—Not more 
than 2 percent of a grant made to a first responder 
under this section may be used for administrative 
expenses of carrying out its responsibilities under 
this section.