[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5392 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5392

To authorize the use of a covered grant to provide a reasonable stipend 
    to paid-on-call or volunteer first responders for travel to or 
   participation in training to prevent, prepare for, respond to, or 
          mitigate terrorist attacks, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2004

  Mr. Stupak introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
 Committees on Energy and Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to 
      be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the use of a covered grant to provide a reasonable stipend 
    to paid-on-call or volunteer first responders for travel to or 
   participation in training to prevent, prepare for, respond to, or 
          mitigate terrorist attacks, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Volunteer First Responder Fairness 
Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. STIPEND FOR PAID-ON-CALL OR VOLUNTEER FIRST RESPONDERS.

    (a) In General.--A covered grant may be used to provide a 
reasonable stipend to paid-on-call or volunteer first responders for 
travel to or participation in training to prevent, prepare for, respond 
to, or mitigate threatened or actual terrorist attacks, if such first 
responders are not otherwise compensated for such travel or 
participation.
    (b) Relation to Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.--Any stipend 
received under subsection (a) shall not be considered compensation for 
purposes of rendering a first responder an employee under the Fair 
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).
    (c) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) The term ``covered grant''--
                    (A) means a grant that--
                            (i) is provided by the Department to a 
                        State, region, or directly eligible tribe for 
                        the primary purpose of improving the ability of 
                        first responders to prevent, prepare for, 
                        respond to, or mitigate threatened or actual 
                        terrorist attacks, especially those involving 
                        weapons of mass destruction; and
                            (ii) is administered under--
                                    (I) the State Homeland Security 
                                Grant Program of the Department of 
                                Homeland Security, or any successor to 
                                such grant program;
                                    (II) the Urban Area Security 
                                Initiative of the Department, or any 
                                successor to such grant program;
                                    (III) the Law Enforcement Terrorism 
                                Prevention Program of the Department, 
                                or any successor to such grant program; 
                                or
                                    (IV) the Citizen Corps Program of 
                                the Department, or any successor to 
                                such grant program; and
                    (B) excludes any grant that is administered under--
                            (i) a Federal grant program that is not 
                        administered by the Department;
                            (ii) 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); or
                            (iii) the Emergency Management Performance 
                        Grant program and the Urban Search and Rescue 
                        Grants program authorized by title VI of the 
                        Robert T. Stafford Disaster 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 Hazards 
                        Reduction Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.).
            (2) The term ``Department'' means the Department of 
        Homeland Security.
                                 <all>