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Call to Action: AFG/SAFER Reauthorization to be Voted on Today by the House
Contact Your Member of Congress
Today, November 18, H.R. 3791, the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2009, is scheduled to be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, which was introduced on October 13 by Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), along with 40 original co-sponsors, extends for five years and make changes to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant programs. The provisions in H.R. 3791 are based on a series of policy recommendations that were agreed to by the NVFC and other national fire service organizations.
H.R. 3791 makes various changes to AFG and SAFER, including:
AFG
H.R. 3791 makes various changes to AFG and SAFER, including:
AFG
- Guarantees 25 percent of AFG funds each to career, combination, and volunteer fire departments, respectively.
- Under current law, volunteer departments are guaranteed a percentage of the funds at least equal to the percentage of the population that they protect nationally (19.8 percent) and there are no guarantees for career or combination departments. The bill specifies that departments already recognized by the grants office as “paid on-call/stipend” departments should be considered combination departments for the purpose of applying for AFG.
- Increases from five to ten percent the funds set aside for the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) Grant program and eliminates the matching requirement for fire departments through FP&S. The bill would also increase the maximum award amount through FP&S from $1 million to $1.5 million.
- Makes volunteer non-fire service-based EMS and rescue agencies eligible to receive up to two percent of AFG funds.
- Makes state fire training agencies eligible to receive up to three percent of AFG funds.
- Leaves 10 percent of AFG funds open for competition between career, combination, and volunteer fire departments.
- Reduces the matching requirement for fire departments protecting populations of 50,000 or greater from 20 percent to ten percent. Departments protecting populations of 20,000-49,999 will continue to have a ten percent match, and departments protecting populations of 19,999 or less will continue to have a five percent match.
- Allows the Grants Preparedness Directorate to waive the matching requirement for fire departments that can demonstrate financial hardship.
- Establishes new maximum award amounts:
- $9 million for jurisdictions serving a population of 2.5 million or more.
- $6 million for jurisdictions serving a population of between 1 million and 2.5 million.
- $3 million for jurisdictions serving a population of between 500,000 and 1 million.
- $2 million for jurisdictions serving a population of between 100,000 and 500,000.
- Jurisdictions serving a population of 100,000 or less will continue to have a grant cap of $1 million.
- Creates “Research and Development Grants” as part of the FP&S Grant Program, which would be projects focusing on firefighter health and life safety.
- Allows departments to purchase EMS training through AFG in addition to firefighter training.
- Codifies the current practice of prioritizing AFG awards based on a department’s call volume and population protected.
- Requires that training purchased using AFG funds adhere to national voluntary consensus standards, if they are applicable.
- Authorizes a new fire service needs assessment study.
SAFER
- Makes national organizations eligible to apply for SAFER recruitment and retention funds.
- Reduces the length of SAFER hiring grants from four to three years.
- Reduces the matching requirement for SAFER hiring grants to 20 percent each year. Under current law, the local match is low in the first year and increases in each successive year.
- Eliminates the $100,000 cap per-firefighter hired using SAFER funds.
- Allows the Grants Preparedness Directorate to waive the matching requirement for fire departments that can demonstrate financial hardship.
In July, Jack Carriger, the NVFC’s First Vice Chair and Oregon State Director, testified before the House Science and Technology Committee regarding AFG and SAFER reauthorization. In his testimony, Carriger stressed the importance of reauthorizing AFG and SAFER, eliminating the match for fire departments through FP&S, allowing state training agencies to be eligible to apply for AFG, allowing national organizations to be eligible to apply for SAFER recruitment and retention grants, and the continuing need to assess the impact of AFG and SAFER grants.
On October 13, the NVFC sent a letter of support for H.R. 3791 to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee. The bill was subsequently considered and amended by the subcommittee and the full committee, which favorably reported H.R. 3791 on October 21.
On October 13, the NVFC sent a letter of support for H.R. 3791 to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee. The bill was subsequently considered and amended by the subcommittee and the full committee, which favorably reported H.R. 3791 on October 21.
“I urge all NVFC members to contact their U.S. Representative to ask them to support H.R. 3791,” said NVFC Executive Director Heather Schafer. “Passage of this legislation in the House is a crucial step towards reauthorizing AFG and SAFER, and Congress needs to hear from the volunteer fire service so that they understand how important that is to us.”
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Kimberly Ettinger
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David Finger
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