FEDERAL HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING FOR FIRST
RESPONDERS
WHEREAS,
America’s mayors are 100 percent committed to the homeland war against
terrorism; and
WHEREAS, cities throughout the nation
have already dedicated unprecedented, and mostly unbudgeted, resources to the
new war on terrorism as detailed in surveys released by the Conference of
Mayors; and
WHEREAS,
over $7 billion in new funding has been appropriated by Congress for Fiscal
Years 2003 and 2004 for first responder assistance; and
WHEREAS,
despite a major lobbying effort by the nation’s mayors - in partnership
with local first responders including police chiefs, fire chiefs, police
officers and fire officers – the majority of this funding has been sent through
the states; and
WHEREAS,
two 50 state surveys conducted by the Conference of Mayors Homeland Security
Monitoring Center in September of 2003 and January of 2004 found that a
majority of cities had not yet received funding from the largest federal first
responder program; many states had chosen to send funding to regional or county
governments; and problems exist regarding the involvement of cities in state
planning processes; and
WHEREAS,
because each state can establish its own funding distribution plan, local
governments do not have a predictable source of funding that can be integrated
into local homeland security plans; and
WHEREAS,
there has not been established a detailed, transparent monitoring system to
track the federal funding through the states to local governments and first
responders; and
WHEREAS,
President Bush acknowledged that a logjam existed in the states on this funding
during the Conference of Mayors’ 72nd Winter Meeting in January of
2004, and pledged to help “unstick” the funds; and
WHEREAS,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge immediately responded
to the President’s statements by forming a special Task Force on State and
Local Homeland Security Funding, with the Conference of Mayors top three
officers and Criminal and Social Justice Committee Chair serving as members;
and
WHEREAS, that DHS Task Force has been working to
refine the existing funding system through the states to ensure that funding
reaches local first responders quickly and efficiently; and
WHEREAS,
the DHS Task Force has identified a number of structural problems that have
accounted for funding difficulties including, but not limited to, the
reimbursement nature of the program and the multiple layers of governmental
involvement in funding distribution; and
WHEREAS,
the Task Force did not address the issue of direct funding; and
WHEREAS, the Administrations FY 2005 budget includes a
request for $3.2 billion in additional first responders assistance, and with
the exception of the $500 million requested for fire grants, the remaining
funding would continue to flow through the states; and
WHEREAS,
reauthorization bills currently moving forward in the United States Senate and
House of Representatives would significantly alter the nature of the first
responder program, including a provision in the Senate bill to provide high
threat funding directly to local governments without a state passthrough,
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors calls
on the Congress to pass, and the President to sign, legislation creating a new
formula-based first responder funding program with direct local assistance and
maximum flexibility to cover costs such as equipment, communications
interoperability, training, exercises, planning, critical infrastructure
protection, and overtime related to homeland security; and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress should approve retroactive changes to
ensure that the more than $7 billion in the pipeline, as well as future
appropriations, can be quickly and efficiently accessed by local governments
and first responders including eliminating the reimbursement nature of the
first responder program and providing pass-through deadlines for when funding
is sent by the states to counties or regional governments.
©2004 U.S. Conference of Mayors 