Firefighter Assistance Grants: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress

INSIGHTi Firefighter Assistance Grants: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress Updated March 4, 2019 Background

Background

Structural firefighting—which typically refers to fighting fires in residential, commercial, and other types of buildings—is primarily the responsibility of local governments. During the 1990s, shortfalls in state and local budgets, coupled with increased responsibilities of local fire departments, led many in the fire service community to call for additional financial support from the federal government. In response, Congress established firefighter assistance grant programs within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide additional support for local fire departments. In 2000, the 106th Congress established106^th Congress established the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG), which provides grants directly to local fire departments and unaffiliated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations to help address a variety of equipment, vehicle, training, and other firefighter-related and EMS needs. AFG also supports fire prevention projects and firefighter health and safety research and development through the Firefighter Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant program. Subsequently, in 2003, the 108th Congress established108^th Congress established the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) ProgramProgram, which provides grants to fund firefighter hiring by career and combination fire departments, and recruitment and retention by volunteer and combination fire departments. Funding

Funding

Firefighter assistance grants are distributed nationwidenationwide to career, volunteer, combination, and paid-on-call fire departments serving urban, suburban, and rural areas. There is no set geographical formula for the distribution of AFG or SAFER grants. Award decisions are made by a peer panel based on the merits of the application and the needs of the community. The majority of AFG funding goes to rural (mostly volunteer) fire departments, while the majority of SAFER funding goes to urban (mostly career) fire departments. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 116-6) appropriated $700 million for firefighter assistance grants, consisting of $350 million for AFG and $350 million for SAFER, with funds to remain available through September 30, 2020. Dating back to the programs’ establishment, Congress Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11022 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Congressional Research Service 2 has appropriated a total' establishment, Congress has appropriated a total of $8.325 billion to AFG (since FY2001), and $4.235 billion to SAFER (since FY2005). Reauthorization FY2005).

The Administration's FY2020 budget proposal requests $688.688 million for firefighter assistance, consisting of $344.344 million for AFG and $344.344 for SAFER. This is a 1.6% decrease from the FY2019 level.

Reauthorization

On January 3, 2018, the President signed the United States Fire Administration, AFG, and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-98). P.L. 115-98 extended the AFG and SAFER authorization through FY2023 at a level of $750 million for each program (plus additional annual increases based on the Consumer Price Index); extended sunset provisions for AFG and SAFER through September 30, 2024; provided that the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) may develop and make widely available an online training course on AFG and SAFER grant administration; expanded SAFER hiring grant eligibility to cover the conversion of part-time or paid-on-call firefighters to full-time firefighters; directed FEMA, acting through the Administrator of USFA, to develop and implement a grant monitoring and oversight framework to mitigate and minimize risks of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement related to the AFG and SAFER grant programs; and made various technical corrections to the AFG and SAFER statute. Impact of Government Shutdown Firefighter assistance grants were impacted by the partial government shutdown. For all three grant programs (AFG, SAFER, and FP&S) the application and awards process was delayed. For the 2018 round, the application windows for AFG and FP&S closed in October and December, respectively, but the processing of those applications could not move forward until the shutdown ended. The opening of the 2018 round application window for SAFER grants was also delayed, and subsequently opened on February 15, 2019. For grants already awarded (in the 2017 and previous rounds), grant recipients were unable to draw down funds during the shutdown, which may have disrupted the ability of the grantees to continue grant-funded activities, including personnel costs covered by SAFER grants. This disruption may continue after the government shutdown due to a backlog of payment requests that will need to be processed once furloughed FEMA grant personnel return to work. For additional discussion on the impact of delayed grant payments due to a government shutdown, see CRS In Focus IF11020, Introduction to the U.S. Economy: Business Investment. Issues An issue for the 116th related to the AFG and SAFER grant programs; and made various technical corrections to the AFG and SAFER statute.

Issues

An issue for the 116^th Congress is how equitably and effectively grants are being distributed and used to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards. Another issue is annual appropriationsannual appropriations for AFG and SAFER. As is the case with many federal programs, concerns over the federal budget deficit could impact funding levels for AFG and SAFER. At the same time, firefighter assistance budgets will likely receive heightened scrutiny from the fire service community, given the local budgetary shortfalls that many fire departments may face. Additionally, a continuing issue related to SAFER hiring grants has been whether SAFER statutory restrictions should be waivedwaived to permit granteesgrantees to use SAFER funds forfor retention and rehiring. Division F, Title III, Section 307 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 states that FEMA “may” states that FEMA "may" grant SAFER waiver authority. However, forfor the 2018 round of SAFER awards, FEMA has chosen not to exercise that authority, and thus will not provide SAFER hiring grants for retaining or rehiring grants for retaining or rehiring firefighters. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 1166) 116-6) (Division A, Title III, Section §307) also includes SAFER waiver authority for the FY2019 round of SAFER awards. Congressional Research Service 3 Author Information Lennard G. Kruger Specialist in Science and Technology Policy Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material. IN11022 · VERSION 3 · UPDATED round of SAFER awards. The Administration's FY2020 budget proposal does not request SAFER waiver authority.