FEMA Announces End of Manual Review of AFG, SAFER, and FP&S Grants
On Monday, April 21, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that “[e]ffective immediately and pursuant to the Court’s Orders dated March 6, 2025, April 4, 2025, and April 14, 2025 in the matter of State of New York, et al v. Trump, et al., Case No. 25-cv-39-JJM_PAS (D.R.I), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security will resume processing grant payment requests and obligations using the same processes and procedures it was using prior to the implementation of the manual review process. At this time, FEMA will not require additional reviews on grant payments and obligations other than for grants that were subject to manual review prior to February 14, 2025, or for grants where FEMA is investigating payment requests for potential non-compliance with federal law, regulations, or the terms and conditions of the grant award. “
The IAFC is investigating to see if this announcement will result in the payment of grant disbursements for the AFG, SAFER, and FP&S grants.
House of Representatives Plans to Vote on Lithium-Ion Battery Legislation Next Week
Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act (H.R. 973). Sponsored by Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY), this legislation would instruct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop federal safety standards for lithium-ion batteries in micromobility devices. These batteries are commonly found in e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards.
To show Congress that this bill is important to the fire service, we need your help. The IAFC is calling upon all fire chiefs to reach out to their Congressional Representatives. Please tell them that it is time to make micromobility devices fire-safe and ask their representative to support the passage of H.R. 973. Hopefully, H.R. 973 will pass with an overwhelming margin so the Senate can swiftly advance its version of this bill (S.389), and it can head to President Trump’s desk.
Please Ask Your Members of Congress to Add the High-Rise Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act to Pending Tax Legislation
Recently, Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced the High-Rise Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act of 2025 (H.R. 173/S. 504). The bill incentivizes owners of existing non-sprinklered, residential high rises to install fire sprinkler systems through decreasing the cost recovery time in the tax code from 39 to 15 years. The IAFC is seeking to pass this bill through the upcoming reconciliation package that contains the renewal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97). The IAFC asks you to contact your representative and tell them to include the High-Rise Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act in the reconciliation package.