AFG and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on July 11, 2017. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
AFG and SAFER Program Reauthorization Act of 2017
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to: (1) repeal the expiration dates of, and to reauthorize through FY2023, 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 (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.
(Sec. 3) 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.
(Sec. 4) 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.
(Sec. 5) 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.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed Senate amended" stage on August 2, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on August 4, 2017: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ) introduced it on April 5, 2017, and 16 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 15 Democrats, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 5, 2017, 3445 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3324 days ago, on August 4, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers