United States Fire Administration, AFG, and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017
Public Law 115-98 · H.R. 4661 · 115th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Jan 3, 2018 · Emergency Management
Sponsor: Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA-10)
Cosponsors (8): Rep. Lamar Smith, Rep. Neal Dunn,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
United States Fire Administration, AFG, and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017
This bill amends the the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to: (1) reauthorize through FY2024 the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program, the Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FPSG) Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) Program, and reauthorizes provisions regarding firefighting technology evaluation and standards development; and (2) authorize the use of AFG Program grants, instead of SAFER Program grants, to provide specialized training to first responders on how to recognize and properly intervene with individuals with mental illness.
The SAFER Program is revised to permit the use of grants to change the status of part-time or paid-on-call firefighters to full-time firefighters.
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) may develop and make widely available an electronic, online training course for members of the fire and emergency response community on matters related to the administration of AFG, FPSG, and SAFER grants. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shall ensure that any such training is: (1) tailored to the financial and time constraints of members of the fire and emergency response community; and (2) accessible to all individuals in the career, combination, paid-on-call, and volunteer fire and emergency response community.
The USFA shall develop and implement a grant monitoring and oversight framework to mitigate and minimize risks of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement relating to such grants programs.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 3881Related bill
AFG and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 12 actions.
- Jan 3, 2018Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Jan 2, 2018FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 22, 2017FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 21, 2017FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Dec 19, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate, read twice.
- Dec 18, 2017FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4661.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mrs. Comstock moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Dec 15, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.