PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 3444, 3596 PRINTER'S NO. 3732
No. 2433 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY SAYLOR, SEMMEL, TIGUE, DeLUCA, SATHER, GOOD, PAYNE, O'NEILL, FLEAGLE, FORCIER, STERN, ALLEN, ARGALL, ARMSTRONG, BAKER, BALDWIN, BARRAR, BASTIAN, BEBKO-JONES, BELARDI, BELFANTI, BOYD, BROWNE, BUNT, CAPPELLI, CASORIO, CAUSER, CAWLEY, CORRIGAN, COSTA, COY, CRAHALLA, CURRY, DAILEY, DALEY, DALLY, DENLINGER, DeWEESE, D. EVANS, FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, FEESE, FICHTER, FLICK, GEIST, GEORGE, GERGELY, GILLESPIE, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHAI, HARHART, HARPER, HARRIS, HASAY, HERMAN, HERSHEY, HESS, HICKERNELL, HUTCHINSON, KENNEY, KIRKLAND, KOTIK, LAUGHLIN, LEACH, LEH, MAJOR, MANN, MARKOSEK, MARSICO, McILHATTAN, McNAUGHTON, MILLARD, R. MILLER, S. MILLER, MUNDY, MUSTIO, NAILOR, PALLONE, PETRARCA, PICKETT, READSHAW, REED, REICHLEY, ROSS, RUBLEY, SAINATO, SANTONI, SCAVELLO, SCHRODER, SCRIMENTI, SHANER, B. SMITH, SOLOBAY, STABACK, R. STEVENSON, T. STEVENSON, SURRA, E. Z. TAYLOR, THOMAS, TRUE, VANCE, WASHINGTON, WEBER, WILT, WOJNAROSKI, YUDICHAK, ZUG, YOUNGBLOOD, YEWCIC, FREEMAN, BARD, ROBERTS AND SAMUELSON, MARCH 16, 2004
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, APRIL 13, 2004
AN ACT 1 Amending the act of July 31, 2003 (P.L.73, No.17), entitled "An 2 act establishing a grant program for volunteer fire companies 3 and volunteer ambulance services; and providing for grant 4 funding," further providing for award of grants, for expenses 5 incurred by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and <-- 6 for appropriations; and making appropriations.; AND PROVIDING <-- 7 FOR ALLOCATION OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS. 8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 9 hereby enacts as follows: 10 Section 1. Sections 303, 503, 703, 901 and 902 of the act of 11 July 31, 2003 (P.L.73, No.17), known as the Volunteer Fire
1 Company and Volunteer Ambulance Service Grant Act, are amended 2 to read: 3 Section 303. Award of grants. 4 (a) Authorization.--The agency is hereby authorized to make 5 a [one-time] grant award to each eligible volunteer fire company 6 for the following: 7 (1) Construction and/or renovation of the fire company's 8 facility and purchase or repair of fixtures and furnishings 9 necessary to maintain or improve the capability of the 10 company to provide fire, ambulance and rescue services. 11 (2) Repair of firefighting, ambulance or rescue 12 equipment or purchase thereof. 13 (3) Debt reduction associated with paragraph (1) or (2). 14 (4) Training and certification of members. 15 (b) Limits.-- 16 (1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), grants shall be 17 not less than $2,500 and not more than $15,000 per volunteer 18 fire company. 19 (2) Grants may be awarded on a pro rata basis if the 20 total dollar amount of approved applications exceeds the 21 amount of funds [allocated in section 702] appropriated by 22 the General Assembly for this purpose. 23 (3) In a municipality where there are two or more 24 volunteer fire companies and if two or more fire companies 25 consolidated their use of equipment, firefighters and 26 services between July 1, 1998, and the date of enactment of 27 this act, each entity from which the consolidated entity was 28 created will be eligible for a grant as though it had not 29 consolidated. 30 (c) Time for filing application and department action.-- 20040H2433B3732 - 2 -
1 (1) The agency shall provide applications for grants 2 under this act to the fire chief and president of every 3 volunteer fire company in this Commonwealth on or before July 4 31, [2003] 2004. 5 (2) Volunteer fire companies seeking grants under this 6 act shall submit completed applications to the agency on or 7 before December 31, [2003] 2004. The agency shall act to 8 approve or disapprove the application by May 1, [2004] 2005. 9 Applications which have not been approved or disapproved by 10 the agency by May 1, [2004] 2005, shall be deemed approved. 11 (d) Eligibility.--To receive grant funds under this act, a 12 volunteer fire company shall have actively responded to one or 13 more fire or rescue emergencies since July 1, [2002] 2003, and 14 must sign an agreement to actively participate in the 15 Pennsylvania Fire Information Reporting System which is 16 administered by the agency. 17 Section 503. Award of grants. 18 (a) Authorization.--The agency is hereby authorized to make 19 a [one-time] grant award to each eligible volunteer ambulance 20 service for the following: 21 (1) Construction and/or renovation of the volunteer 22 ambulance service's facility and purchase or repair of 23 fixtures, furnishings, office equipment and support services 24 necessary to maintain or improve the capability of the 25 ambulance service to provide ambulance, emergency medical, 26 basic life support and advanced life support services. 27 (2) Repair of ambulance equipment or purchase thereof. 28 (3) Debt reduction associated with paragraph (1) or (2). 29 (4) Training and certification of members. 30 (b) Limits.-- 20040H2433B3732 - 3 -
1 (1) Grants shall be not less than $2,500 and not more 2 than $10,000 per volunteer ambulance service. 3 (2) Grants may be awarded on a pro rata basis if the 4 total dollar amount of approved applications exceeds the 5 amount of funds [allocated in section 703] appropriated by 6 the General Assembly for this purpose. 7 (c) Time for filing application and department action.-- 8 (1) The agency shall provide applications for grants 9 under this act to the president of every volunteer ambulance 10 service in this Commonwealth on or before July 31, [2003] 11 2004. 12 (2) Volunteer ambulance services seeking grants under 13 this chapter shall submit completed applications to the 14 agency on or before December 31, [2003] 2004. The agency 15 shall act to approve or disapprove the application by May 1, 16 [2004] 2005. Applications which have not been approved or 17 disapproved by the agency by May 1, [2004] 2005, shall be 18 deemed approved. 19 Section 703. [Prohibition] ALLOCATION OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS. <-- 20 (A) PROHIBITION.--No moneys from the appropriation for <-- 21 volunteer company grants [under section 225 of the act of March 22 20, 2003 (P.L.463, No.1A), known as the General Appropriation 23 Act of 2003,] shall be used for expenses or costs incurred by 24 the agency for the administration of the grant programs 25 authorized under Chapters 3 and 5. 26 (B) GRANT ALLOCATION.--UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED, <-- 27 MONEYS APPROPRIATED UNDER GENERAL APPROPRIATION ACTS TO THE 28 AGENCY FOR PURPOSES OF VOLUNTEER COMPANY GRANTS SHALL BE 29 ALLOCATED AS FOLLOWS: 30 (1) 88% OF THE AMOUNT APPROPRIATED SHALL BE USED FOR 20040H2433B3732 - 4 -
1 MAKING GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANIES UNDER 2 CHAPTER 3. 3 (2) 12% OF THE AMOUNT APPROPRIATED SHALL BE USED FOR 4 MAKING GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE COMPANIES UNDER 5 CHAPTER 5. 6 Section 901. Expiration of authority. 7 The authority of the agency to award grants under Chapters 3 8 and 5 shall expire June 30, [2004] 2005. 9 [Section 902. Declaration. 10 The General Assembly declares that this act satisfies the 11 enabling legislation requirement contained in the appropriation 12 to the agency for volunteer company grants under section 225 of 13 the act of March 20, 2003 (P.L.463, No.1A), known as the General 14 Appropriation Act of 2003, that no moneys from said 15 appropriation may be expended until enabling legislation is 16 enacted.] 17 Section 2. (a) The sum of $22,000,000 is appropriated to <-- 18 the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency for the purpose of 19 making grants to eligible volunteer fire companies pursuant to 20 Chapter 3 of the act. 21 (b) The sum of $3,000,000 is appropriated to the 22 Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency for the purpose of 23 making grants to eligible volunteer ambulance companies pursuant 24 to Chapter 5 of the act. 25 Section 3 2. This act shall take effect immediately. <-- B17L35JLW/20040H2433B3732 - 5 -