[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10548-H10550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 2145
UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEARS
1998 AND 1999
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the Senate bill (S. 1231) to authorize appropriations for fiscal years
1998 and 1999 for the United States Fire Administration, and for other
purposes.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 1231
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 ``United States Fire
Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and
1999''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 17(g)(1) of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control
Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2216(g)(1)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (E);
(2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (F)
and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(G) $29,664,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30,
1998; and
``(H) $30,554,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30,
1999.''.
SEC. 3. SUCCESSOR FIRE SAFETY STANDARDS.
The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15
U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 29(a)(1), by inserting ``or any successor
standard to that standard'' after ``Association Standard
74'';
(2) in section 29(a)(2), by inserting ``, or any successor
standard to that standard'' before ``, whichever is
appropriate,'';
(3) in section 29(b)(2), by inserting ``, or any successor
standard to that standard'' after ``Association Standard 13
or 13-R'';
(4) in section 31(c)(2)(B)(i), by inserting ``or any
successor standard to that standard'' after ``Life Safety
Code)''; and
(5) in section 31(c)(2)(B)(ii), by inserting ``or any
successor standard to that standard'' after ``Association
Standard 101''.
SEC. 4. TERMINATION OR PRIVATIZATION OF FUNCTIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days before the
termination or transfer to a private sector person or entity
of any significant function of the United States Fire
Administration, as described in subsection (b), the
Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall
transmit to Congress a report providing notice of that
termination or transfer.
(b) Covered Terminations and Transfers.--For purposes of
subsection (a), a termination or transfer to a person or
entity described in that subsection shall be considered to be
a termination or transfer of a significant function of the
United States Fire Administration if the termination or
transfer--
(1) relates to a function of the Administration that
requires the expenditure of more than 5 percent of the total
amount of funds made available by appropriations to the
Administration; or
(2) involves the termination of more than 5 percent of the
employees of the Administration.
SEC. 5. NOTICE.
(a) Major Reorganization Defined.--With respect to the
United States Fire Administration, the term ``major
reorganization'' means any reorganization of the
Administration that involves the reassignment of more than 25
percent of the employees of the Administration.
(b) Notice of Reprogramming.--If any funds appropriated
pursuant to the amendments made by this Act are subject to a
reprogramming action that requires notice to be provided to
the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House
of Representatives, notice of that action shall concurrently
be provided to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science of
the House of Representatives.
(c) Notice of Reorganization.--Not later than 15 days
before any major reorganization of any program, project, or
activity of the United States Fire Administration, the
Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall
provide notice to the Committees on Science and
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and
Appropriations of the Senate.
SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.
With the year 2000 rapidly approaching, it is the sense of
Congress that the Administrator of the United States Fire
Administration should--
(1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit date-
related problems in the computer systems of the United States
Fire Administration to ensure that those systems continue to
operate effectively in the year 2000 and in subsequent years;
(2) as soon as practicable after the date of enactment of
this Act, assess the extent of the risk to the operations of
the United States Fire Administration posed by the problems
referred to in paragraph (1), and plan and budget for
achieving compliance for all of the mission-critical systems
of the system by the year 2000; and
(3) develop contingency plans for those systems that the
United States Fire Administration is unable to correct by the
year 2000.
SEC. 7 ENHANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS PROGRAMS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator, means the
Administrator of the United States Fire Administration.
(2) Educationally useful federal equipment.--The term
``educationally useful Federal equipment'' means computers
and related peripheral tools and research equipment that is
appropriate for use in schools.
(3) School.--The term ``school'' means a public or private
educational institution that serves any of the grades of
kindergarten through grade 12.
(b) Sense of Congress.--
(1) In general.--It is the sense of Congress that the
Administrator should, to the greatest extent practicable and
in a manner consistent with applicable Federal law (including
Executive Order No. 12999), donate educationally useful
Federal equipment to schools in order to enhance the science
and mathematics programs of those schools.
(2) Reports--
(A) In general--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Administrator shall prepare and submit to the President a
report that meets the requirements of this paragraph. The
President shall submit that report to Congress at the same
time as the President submits a budget request to Congress
under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code.
(B) Contents of report.--The report prepared by the
Administrator under this paragraph shall describe any
donations of educationally useful Federal equipment to
schools made during the period covered by the report.
sec. 8. report to congress.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States
Fire Administration (referred to in this section as the
``Administrator'') shall prepare and submit to the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and
the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives a
report that meets the requirements of this section.
(b) Contents of Report.--The report under this section
shall--
[[Page H10549]]
(1) examine the risks to firefighters in suppressing fires
caused by burning tires;
(2) address any risks that are uniquely attributable to
fires described in paragraph (1), including any risks
relating to--
(A) exposure to toxic substances (as that term is defined
by the Administrator);
(B) personal protection;
(C) the duration of those fires; and
(D) site hazards associated with those fires;
(3) identify any special training that may be necessary for
firefighters to suppress those fires; and
(4) assess how the training referred to in paragraph (3)
may be provided by the United States Fire Administration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lazio of New York). Pursuant to the
rule, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Sensenbrenner] and the
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Barcia] each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr.
Sensenbrenner].
General Leave
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks on H.R. 1231.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, Senate bill 1231, an act to authorize appropriations for
the United States Fire Administration for the fiscal years 1998 and
1999, is nearly identical to H.R. 1272, a bill favorably reported by
voice vote by the Committee on Science on April 16, 1997, and which was
later passed by the full House by voice vote on April 23, 1997.
Senate bill 1231 is the result not only of a bipartisan effort, but
also a bicameral effort to craft legislation that is in the national
interest. This bill reauthorizes the programs and activities of the
United States Fire Administration, a small but important organization
within the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The U.S. Fire Administration was created by Congress in 1974 in
response to a report by the President's National Commission on Fire
Prevention and Control entitled America Burning, which presented a
dismal assessment of the Nation's fire problem. The report found that
nearly 12,000 lives were lost to fire annually in this country. In
addition, fire was found responsible for more than 300,000 injuries and
over $3 billion of economic losses annually.
Congress reacted to the report by declaring a Federal role for
reducing fire losses, and created the United States Fire Administration
and the National Fire Academy. The U.S. Fire Administration provides
vital assistance to the Nation's fire and emergency services
communities which helps them to save lives and property. The Fire
Administration is able to perform this service through four primary
missions: First, fire service training; second, fire-related data
collection and analysis; third, public education and awareness; and
fourth, research and technology development.
The National Fire Academy provides management-level training and
education to fire and emergency service personnel and fire protection
and control activities. The Fire Academy, located in Emmitsburg,
Maryland, trains tens of thousands of fire and emergency personnel a
year through its on- and off-campus programs.
Annually during budget authorization hearings held by the Committee
on Science, witnesses from the volunteer and paid fire services as well
as emergency services have testified as to the important and
indispensable role the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire
Academy play in their ability to perform their job.
Senate 1231 establishes funding levels sufficient to preserve all the
missions and functions of the Fire Administration and the Academy.
Specifically, this bill authorizes just over $29.6 million for the Fire
Administration's fiscal 1998 budget, and just over $30.5 million for
fiscal year 1999. These Senate-approved authorization levels are
slightly higher, $64,000 and $54,000 respectively, than the previously
approved House authorizations.
I believe this 3-percent increase is justified and necessary in order
to ensure that the agency can continue its current mission activities,
as well as to perform a new and important counterterrorism training
function. The Fire Administration's new mission, counterterrorism
training for emergency response personnel, arose from the enactment of
the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act passed last year by
Congress and signed by the President.
Counterterrorism training for first responders is an appropriate
function of the Fire Administration, as it is frequently local fire and
emergency departments who are first on the scene not only to battle
fires, but also to react to acts of terrorism, such as the bombings in
Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center in New York. In addition,
counterterrorism training complements and supplements many of the
traditional first responder training programs currently offered through
the Academy.
The other sections of S. 1231 include, first, technical changes to
fire protection standards; second, a provision requiring that the
administrator inform Congress in advance of any effort to privatize or
terminate agency activities; third, a requirement that reprogramming
notices required by the Committee on Appropriations committees must
also be provided to the authorizing committees; and fourth, a sense of
Congress resolution emphasizing that planning should begin immediately
to assess and correct any computer systems affected by the year 2000
date-related software problem; fifth, a provision allowing the
Administrator to donate excess Federal computer equipment to schools;
and sixth, a requirement that no later than 180 days after the
enactment of this bill, the Fire Administration submit a report to
Congress examining the risks faced by firefighters in suppressing tire
fires. This report was also added by the Senate, and we agree as to its
need.
Mr. Speaker, I applaud the efforts of the U.S. Fire Administration
and the National Fire Academy, and I believe this bill is a reflection
of strong bipartisan support for these agencies and will enable them to
continue their missions and to accomplish their goals.
In closing, I want to thank the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr.
Schiff], chairman of the subcommittee, and the gentleman from Michigan
[Mr. Barcia], the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Basic Research,
for their hard work on this legislation, as well as the full
committee's ranking member, the gentleman from California [Mr. Brown].
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks on Senate 1231, I want to say
what a pleasure and privilege it has been to work with Chairman
Sensenbrenner and the acting subcommittee chairman, and I want to
commend them for, again, their bipartisan effort at producing in the
House version of this legislation what is a great step forward in terms
of expanding the education for firefighters and first responders of
emergency situations so we can best cope not only with those typical
disasters that occur around the country, but also the new focus on
counterterrorism and associated efforts to control that new threat to
the Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1231, which authorizes
appropriations for the U.S. Fire Administration. This bill was
developed in consultation with the Committee on Science and contains
acceptable amendments to House Resolution 1272, the House-passed Fire
Administration authorization bill.
The U.S. Fire Administration deserves the support of Congress because
its mission is important to the safety of every American, and because
it is an agency widely acknowledged to be doing its job well. It was
created, as the distinguished chairman just mentioned, by the Federal
Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 in response to a growing
awareness that the high loss of life and destruction of property due to
fire was a national problem that could be ameliorated by focused and
coordinated education, training, and research efforts.
During the past 25 years, significant progress has been made through
programs of the Fire Administration to increase public awareness of
fire safety measures, to improve the effectiveness of fire and
emergency services, and to spur the wider use of home fire safety
devices.
[[Page H10550]]
Much has been accomplished by the Fire Administration, but the record
of fire death rates and property loss in the Nation reveals that much
remains to be done. I believe this bill will give the Fire
Administration the resources needed to allow it to continue to excel.
S. 1231 will not support just another bureaucratic program. The very
small expenditure of funds provided by the Fire Administration will be
used to improve the skills of firefighters and emergency response
personnel, to increase public awareness of fire safety, and to improve
the equipment available for suppressing fires and protecting
firefighters.
In short, the program, sponsored by the Fire Administration, will
increase the level of excellence of a national service that is critical
to every one of us. The Fire Administration has long enjoyed the
bipartisan support of Congress because of the recognition of its vital
mission to increase public safety.
I would like to commend the majority members of the Committee on
Science once again for working in a bipartisan way with the minority to
develop the House companion bill to S. 1231. Mr. Speaker, I fully
support S. 1231, and recommend the measure to the House for its
favorable consideration.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lazio of New York). The question is on
the motion offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Sensenbrenner]
that the House suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1231.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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