I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 764
To appropriate funds for grants by the Office for Domestic Preparedness 
of the Department of Homeland Security. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Mr. SKELTON (for himself and Ms. HARMAN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations 
A BILL 
To appropriate funds for grants by the Office for Domestic 
Preparedness of the Department of Homeland Security.
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 Responders Ex-
pedited Assistance Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR GRANTS BY THE OFFICE FOR DOMES-
TIC PREPAREDNESS. 
(a) APPROPRIATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For grants by the Office for 
Domestic Preparedness of the Department of Home-
land Security, as authorized by the Homeland Secu-
rity Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296) and the 
USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–56), 
there is appropriated to the Secretary of Homeland 
Security $7,122,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 
$10,600,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, to remain 
available until expended, of which—
(A) not less than $1,000,000,000 each fis-
cal year shall be for grants authorized by sec-
tion 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and 
Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.); 
and 
(B) not less than $1,000,000,000 each fis-
cal year shall be for grants to State and local 
law enforcement for terrorism prevention activi-
ties. 
(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary 
shall require, as a condition of each grant under this 
section, that the grantee shall provide a matching 
amount of not less than 25 percent of the amount 
of the grant, at the time of the award of the grant. 
(b) 
EXPEDITED
PROCESS
FOR
AWARDING 
GRANTS.—The Secretary shall award grants under this 
section under the following expedited process:
(1) EXPEDITED
PROCESS.—Within 120 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall award as grants to the maximum extent 
practicable not less than 60 percent of the funds 
available for each of fiscal years 2003 and 2004 for 
grants referred to in subsection (a)(1). 
(2) WAIVER
OF
MATCHING
REQUIREMENT.—
The Secretary may waive any requirement that a 
grantee provide a matching amount for a grant re-
ferred to in subsection (a)(1), upon certification that 
the grantee has expended an amount equal to at 
least 25 percent of the grant for domestic prepared-
ness activities since September 11, 2001. 
(3) ADMINISTRATIVE FLEXIBILITY.—If the Sec-
retary determines that, because of the potential for 
fraud or waste, the Secretary cannot award the per-
centage of funds required under paragraph (1), the 
Secretary may exercise flexibility regarding such per-
centage consistent with the goal of expediting the 
awarding of grants to eligible grantees. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Within 190 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
report to the appropriate committees of the Congress the 
percentage of funds awarded as grants pursuant to the
expedited process in subsection (b), the names of grantees, 
and the activities funded.
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