109TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1544
AN ACT
To provide faster and smarter funding for first responders,
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 ‘‘Faster and Smarter
Funding for First Responders Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) In order to achieve its objective of pre-
venting, minimizing the damage from, and assisting
in the recovery from terrorist attacks, the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security must play a leading role
in assisting communities to reach the level of pre-
paredness they need to prevent and respond to a ter-
rorist attack.
(2) First responder funding is not reaching the
men and women of our Nation’s first response teams
quickly enough, and sometimes not at all.
(3) To reform the current bureaucratic process
so that homeland security dollars reach the first re-
sponders who need it most, it is necessary to clarify
and consolidate the authority and procedures of the
Department of Homeland Security that support first
responders.
(4) Ensuring adequate resources for the new
national mission of homeland security, without de-
grading the ability to address effectively other types
of major disasters and emergencies, requires a dis-
crete and separate grant making process for home-
land security funds for first response to terrorist
acts, on the one hand, and for first responder pro-
grams designed to meet pre-September 11 priorities,
on the other.
(5) While a discrete homeland security grant
making process is necessary to ensure proper focus
on the unique aspects of terrorism preparedness, it
is essential that State and local strategies for uti-
lizing such grants be integrated, to the greatest ex-
tent practicable, with existing State and local emer-
gency management plans.
(6) Homeland security grants to first respond-
ers must be based on the best intelligence con-
cerning the capabilities and intentions of our ter-
rorist enemies, and that intelligence must be used to
target resources to the Nation’s greatest threats,
vulnerabilities, and consequences.
(7) The Nation’s first response capabilities will
be improved by sharing resources, training, plan-
ning, personnel, and equipment among neighboring
jurisdictions through mutual aid agreements and re-
gional cooperation. Such regional cooperation should
be supported, where appropriate, through direct
grants from the Department of Homeland Security.
(8) An essential prerequisite to achieving the
Nation’s homeland security objectives for first re-
sponders is the establishment of well-defined na-
tional goals for terrorism preparedness. These goals
should delineate the essential capabilities that every
jurisdiction in the United States should possess or
to which it should have access.
(9) A national determination of essential capa-
bilities is needed to identify levels of State and local
government terrorism preparedness, to determine
the nature and extent of State and local first re-
sponder needs, to identify the human and financial
resources required to fulfill them, to direct funding
to meet those needs, and to measure preparedness
levels on a national scale.
(10) To facilitate progress in achieving, main-
taining, and enhancing essential capabilities for
State and local first responders, the Department of
Homeland Security should seek to allocate homeland
security funding for first responders to meet nation-
wide needs.
(11) Private sector resources and citizen volun-
teers can perform critical functions in assisting in
preventing and responding to terrorist attacks, and
should be integrated into State and local planning
efforts to ensure that their capabilities and roles are
understood, so as to provide enhanced State and
local operational capability and surge capacity.
(12) Public-private partnerships, such as the
partnerships between the Business Executives for
National Security and the States of New Jersey and
Georgia, can be useful to identify and coordinate pri-
vate sector support for State and local first respond-
ers. Such models should be expanded to cover all
States and territories.
(13) An important aspect of terrorism pre-
paredness is measurability, so that it is possible to
determine how prepared a State or local government
is now, and what additional steps it needs to take,
in order to prevent, prepare for, respond to, mitigate
against, and recover from acts of terrorism.
(14) The Department of Homeland Security
should establish, publish, and regularly update na-
tional voluntary consensus standards for both equip-
ment and training, in cooperation with both public
and private sector standard setting organizations, to
assist State and local governments in obtaining the
equipment and training to attain the essential capa-
bilities for first response to acts of terrorism, and to
ensure that first responder funds are spent wisely.
SEC. 3. FASTER AND SMARTER FUNDING FOR FIRST RE-
SPONDERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Homeland Security Act of
2002 (Public Law 107–296; 6 U.S.C. 361 et seq.) is
amended—
(1) in section 1(b) in the table of contents by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘TITLE XVIII—FUNDING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS
‘‘Sec. 1801. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 1802. Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders.
‘‘Sec. 1803. Covered grant eligibility and criteria.
‘‘Sec. 1804. Risk-based evaluation and prioritization.
‘‘Sec. 1805. Task Force on Terrorism Preparedness for First Responders.
‘‘Sec. 1806. Use of funds and accountability requirements.
‘‘Sec. 1807. National standards for first responder equipment and training.’’.
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘TITLE XVIII—FUNDING FOR
FIRST RESPONDERS
‘‘SEC. 1801. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘In this title:
‘‘(1) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the
First Responder Grants Board established under
section 1804.
‘‘(2) COVERED
GRANT.—The term ‘covered
grant’ means any grant to which this title applies
under section 1802.
‘‘(3) DIRECTLY
ELIGIBLE
TRIBE.—The term
‘directly eligible tribe’ means any Indian tribe or
consortium of Indian tribes that—
‘‘(A) meets the criteria for inclusion in the
qualified applicant pool for Self-Governance
that are set forth in section 402(c) of the In-
dian Self-Determination and Education Assist-
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 458bb(c));
‘‘(B) employs at least 10 full-time per-
sonnel in a law enforcement or emergency re-
sponse agency with the capacity to respond to
calls for law enforcement or emergency services;
and
‘‘(C)(i) is located on, or within 5 miles of,
an international border or waterway;
‘‘(ii) is located within 5 miles of a facility
designated as high-risk critical infrastructure
by the Secretary;
‘‘(iii) is located within or contiguous to one
of the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas
in the United States; or
‘‘(iv) has more than 1,000 square miles of
Indian country, as that term is defined in sec-
tion 1151 of title 18, United States Code.
‘‘(4) ELEVATIONS
IN
THE
THREAT
ALERT
LEVEL.—The term ‘elevations in the threat alert
level’ means any designation (including those that
are less than national in scope) that raises the
homeland security threat level to either the highest
or second highest threat level under the Homeland
Security Advisory System referred to in section
201(d)(7).
‘‘(5) EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.—The term
‘emergency preparedness’ shall have the same mean-
ing that term has under section 602 of the Robert
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195a).
‘‘(6) ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES.—The term ‘es-
sential capabilities’ means the levels, availability,
and competence of emergency personnel, planning,
training, and equipment across a variety of dis-
ciplines needed to effectively and efficiently prevent,
prepare for, respond to, and recover from acts of
terrorism consistent with established practices.
‘‘(7) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first re-
sponder’ shall have the same meaning as the term
‘emergency response provider’.
‘‘(8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’
means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other orga-
nized group or community, including any Alaskan
Native village or regional or village corporation as
defined in or established pursuant to the Alaskan
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et
seq.), which is recognized as eligible for the special
programs and services provided by the United States
to Indians because of their status as Indians.
‘‘(9) REGION.—The term ‘region’ means—
‘‘(A) any geographic area consisting of all
or parts of 2 or more contiguous States, coun-
ties, municipalities, or other local governments
that have a combined population of at least
1,650,000 or have an area of not less than
20,000 square miles, and that, for purposes of
an application for a covered grant, is rep-
resented by 1 or more governments or govern-
mental agencies within such geographic area,
and that is established by law or by agreement
of 2 or more such governments or governmental
agencies in a mutual aid agreement; or
‘‘(B) any other combination of contiguous
local government units (including such a com-
bination established by law or agreement of two
or more governments or governmental agencies
in a mutual aid agreement) that is formally cer-
tified by the Secretary as a region for purposes
of this Act with the consent of—
‘‘(i) the State or States in which they
are located, including a multi-State entity
established by a compact between two or
more States; and
‘‘(ii) the incorporated municipalities,
counties, and parishes that they encom-
pass.
‘‘(10) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘Task Force’
means the Task Force on Terrorism Preparedness
for First Responders established under section 1805.
‘‘(11) TERRORISM PREPAREDNESS.—The term
‘terrorism preparedness’ means any activity designed
to improve the ability to prevent, prepare for, re-
spond to, mitigate against, or recover from threat-
ened or actual terrorist attacks.
‘‘SEC. 1802. FASTER AND SMARTER FUNDING FOR FIRST RE-
SPONDERS.
‘‘(a) COVERED GRANTS.—This title applies to grants
provided by the Department to States, regions, or directly
eligible tribes for the primary purpose of improving the
ability of first responders to prevent, prepare for, respond
to, mitigate against, or recover from threatened or actual
terrorist attacks, especially those involving weapons of
mass destruction, administered under the following:
‘‘(1) STATE HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT PRO-
GRAM.—The State Homeland Security Grant Pro-
gram of the Department, or any successor to such
grant program.
‘‘(2) URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIATIVE.—The
Urban Area Security Initiative of the Department,
or any successor to such grant program.
‘‘(3) LAW ENFORCEMENT TERRORISM PREVEN-
TION PROGRAM.—The Law Enforcement Terrorism
Prevention Program of the Department, or any suc-
cessor to such grant program.
‘‘(b) EXCLUDED PROGRAMS.—This title does not
apply to or otherwise affect the following Federal grant
programs or any grant under such a program:
‘‘(1) NONDEPARTMENT PROGRAMS.—Any Fed-
eral grant program that is not administered by the
Department.
‘‘(2) FIRE GRANT PROGRAMS.—The fire grant
programs authorized by sections 33 and 34 of the
Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974
(15 U.S.C. 2229, 2229a).
‘‘(3) EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
AND
ASSISTANCE
ACCOUNT
GRANTS.—The Emer-
gency Management Performance Grant program and
the Urban Search and Rescue Grants program au-
thorized by title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5195 et seq.); the Departments of Veterans
Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000
(113 Stat. 1047 et seq.); and the Earthquake Haz-
ards Reduction Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et
seq.).
‘‘SEC. 1803. COVERED GRANT ELIGIBILITY AND CRITERIA.
‘‘(a) GRANT ELIGIBILITY.—Any State, region, or di-
rectly eligible tribe shall be eligible to apply for a covered
grant.
‘‘(b) GRANT CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall award
covered grants to assist States and local governments in
achieving, maintaining, and enhancing the essential capa-
bilities for terrorism preparedness established by the Sec-
retary.
‘‘(c) STATE HOMELAND SECURITY PLANS.—
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION
OF
PLANS.—The Secretary
shall require that any State applying to the Sec-
retary for a covered grant must submit to the Sec-
retary a 3-year State homeland security plan that—
‘‘(A) describes the essential capabilities
that communities within the State should pos-
sess, or to which they should have access, based
upon the terrorism risk factors relevant to such
communities, in order to meet the Department’s
goals for terrorism preparedness;
‘‘(B) demonstrates the extent to which the
State has achieved the essential capabilities
that apply to the State;
‘‘(C) demonstrates the needs of the State
necessary to achieve, maintain, or enhance the
essential capabilities that apply to the State;
‘‘(D) includes a prioritization of such needs
based on threat, vulnerability, and consequence
assessment factors applicable to the State;
‘‘(E) describes how the State intends—
‘‘(i) to address such needs at the city,
county, regional, tribal, State, and inter-
state level, including a precise description
of any regional structure the State has es-
tablished for the purpose of organizing
homeland security preparedness activities
funded by covered grants;
‘‘(ii) to use all Federal, State, and
local resources available for the purpose of
addressing such needs; and
‘‘(iii) to give particular emphasis to
regional planning and cooperation, includ-
ing the activities of multijurisdictional