[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 764 Introduced in House (IH)]






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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``First Responders Expedited 
Assistance Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR GRANTS BY THE OFFICE FOR DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS.

    (a) Appropriation.--
            (1) In general.--For grants by the Office for Domestic 
        Preparedness of the Department of Homeland Security, as 
        authorized by the Homeland Security 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 fiscal year 
                shall be for grants authorized by section 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 fiscal year 
                shall be for grants to State and local law enforcement 
                for terrorism prevention activities.
            (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 Secretary 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 referred 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 preparedness 
        activities since September 11, 2001.
            (3) Administrative flexibility.--If the Secretary 
        determines that, because of the potential for fraud or waste, 
        the Secretary cannot award the percentage of funds required 
        under paragraph (1), the Secretary may exercise flexibility 
        regarding such percentage 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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