| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 345 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require the standardization of reciprocal fire suppression cost share |
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| 6 | 6 | | agreements, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY13, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. H |
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| 10 | 10 | | ARDERof California (for himself and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the fol- |
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| 11 | 11 | | lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, |
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| 12 | 12 | | and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Armed Services, and |
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| 13 | 13 | | Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently deter- |
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| 14 | 14 | | mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions |
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| 15 | 15 | | as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned |
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| 16 | 16 | | A BILL |
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| 17 | 17 | | To require the standardization of reciprocal fire suppression |
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| 18 | 18 | | cost share agreements, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Department Re-4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | payment Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H345.IH H345 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | •HR 345 IH |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CERTAIN FIRE SUP-1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | PRESSION COST SHARE AGREEMENTS. 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | (a) E |
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| 30 | 30 | | STABLISHMENT OF STANDARDOPERATING 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | P |
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| 32 | 32 | | ROCEDURES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | the enactment of this section, the Secretaries shall— 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (1) establish standard operating procedures re-6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | lating to payment timelines for fire suppression cost 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | share agreements established under the Act of May 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | 27, 1955 (42 U.S.C. 1856a) (commonly known as 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | the ‘‘Reciprocal Fire Protection Act’’); and 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (2) with respect to each fire suppression cost 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | share agreement in operation on such date— 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (A) review each such agreement; and 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (B) modify each agreement as necessary to 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | comply with the standard operating procedures 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | required under paragraph (1). 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (b) A |
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| 46 | 46 | | LIGNMENT OFFIRESUPPRESSIONCOSTSHARE 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | A |
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| 48 | 48 | | GREEMENTS WITHCOOPERATIVEFIREPROTECTION 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | A |
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| 50 | 50 | | GREEMENTS.—The standard operating procedures re-19 |
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| 51 | 51 | | quired under subsection (a)(1) shall include a requirement 20 |
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| 52 | 52 | | that each fire suppression cost share agreement be aligned 21 |
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| 53 | 53 | | with each of the cooperative fire protection agreements ap-22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | plicable to the entity subject to such fire suppression cost 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | share agreement. 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | (c) P |
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| 57 | 57 | | AYMENTSPURSUANT TOCOSTSHAREAGREE-25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | MENTS.—With respect to payments made pursuant to fire 26 |
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| 59 | 59 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H345.IH H345 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •HR 345 IH |
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| 62 | 62 | | suppression cost share agreements, the standard operating 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | procedures required under subsection (a)(1) shall require 2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | that the Federal paying entity reimburse a local fire de-3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | partment if such fire department submits an invoice in 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | accordance with cost settlement procedures. 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (d) S |
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| 68 | 68 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-6 |
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| 69 | 69 | | gress that the Secretaries should carry out reciprocal fire 7 |
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| 70 | 70 | | suppression cost share agreement repayments to local fire 8 |
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| 71 | 71 | | suppression organizations as soon as practicable after fire 9 |
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| 72 | 72 | | suppression occurs but not later than 1 year after fire sup-10 |
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| 73 | 73 | | pression occurs. 11 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (e) S |
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| 75 | 75 | | ECRETARIESDEFINED.—In this section, the 12 |
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| 76 | 76 | | term ‘‘Secretaries’’ means— 13 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (1) the Secretary of Agriculture; 14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (2) the Secretary of the Interior; 15 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (3) the Secretary of Homeland Security; and 16 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (4) the Secretary of Defense. 17 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Æ |
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| 82 | 82 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H345.IH H345 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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