HR2979-119

What This Bill Does

The BUILD Act creates parallel capital-infrastructure grant programs for small public safety agencies. The Justice Department program authorizes grants to state and local law enforcement agencies serving jurisdictions with fewer than 50,000 residents for projects to modify, upgrade, or construct law-enforcement facilities. Eligible projects must have a substantial nexus to emergency services, officer training and development, recruitment and retention, community engagement, or community safety, and each grant is capped at 4,000,000 dollars. The Attorney General must issue guidance within 120 days, distribute information, seek equitable geographic distribution, report to Congress beginning two years after enactment and biannually until six years, and publish studies of law enforcement construction and renovation needs, while GAO studies small-agency capital infrastructure needs within one year. The fire department title authorizes FEMA grants to career, combination, and volunteer fire departments serving 50,000 people or fewer for facility modification, upgrade, or construction, with similar eligible uses, geographic distribution, reports, studies, a 4,000,000 dollar cap, and 250,000,000 dollars annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2028.

Who Benefits and How

Small-jurisdiction law enforcement agencies benefit from Justice Department grants for facility construction, renovation, and upgrades. Career fire departments serving small jurisdictions benefit from FEMA facility grants. Volunteer fire departments benefit because all-volunteer departments serving 50,000 people or fewer are eligible. Residents in small jurisdictions benefit if upgraded facilities improve emergency services, training, recruitment, retention, and community safety.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Attorney General must issue guidance, run the law enforcement grant program, report biannually, and study facility needs. FEMA administrators must run the fire department grant program and report to Congress for six years. GAO must study capital infrastructure sufficiency and project law enforcement and fire department needs over one-to-five, five-to-ten, and longer-than-ten-year periods. Grant applicants must show financial need, project costs, jurisdiction size, and eligible public-safety nexus.

Key Provisions

• Creates Justice Department grants for law enforcement facility projects in jurisdictions under 50,000 residents.
• Creates FEMA grants for career, combination, and volunteer fire department facility projects in jurisdictions under 50,000 residents.
• Limits each grant to 4,000,000 dollars and requires eligible public-safety uses.
• Authorizes 250,000,000 dollars per year for each program for fiscal years 2026 through 2028.
• Requires guidance, information distribution, equitable geographic distribution, public reports, and federal infrastructure-needs studies.