By Larry Jones and Conference Staff
January 11, 2010

President Barack Obama signed the 2010 omnibus spending bill on December 18. The measure funds a number of key city priorities for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2010, which ends on September 30. The bill includes funding for six of the federal government's 12 regular appropriations bills, including Commerce-Justice-Science, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, and Transportation-Housing-Urban Development, which fund most key local priorities. Other bills that include local priorities: Agriculture, Homeland Security, Energy and Water were approved earlier in the year. The following highlights a few key local priorities in the 2010 appropriations:

• Law Enforcement — COPS programs are funded at $792 million, which is slightly above the President's request of $761 million and significantly (44 percent) above the $551 million available last year. Within this, $298 million is included for COPS hiring grants; no funding was provided through regular appropriations for this purpose last year. Second Chance Reentry programs are funded at $100 million, the same amount proposed by the President and four times more than the $25 million available last year.

• Homeland Security — Funds for both Port Security Grants and Transportation Security Grants are reduced from $400 million last year to $300 million this year. While Firefighter Assistance Grants are reduced from $565 million to $390 million, Fire Department Staffing Assistance Grants doubled from $210 million last year to $420 million this year.

• Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) — Funding for CDBG increased by $348 million (almost 10 percent) over last year, increasing from $3,642 million to $3,990 million in the final FY 2010 appropriations.

• Choice Neighborhoods — A new program aimed at providing assistance to local communities to help transform neighborhoods experiencing high levels of poverty will receive only a portion of what the President requested. A total of $250 million was requested but only $65 million was approved for 2010. Although the Choice Neighborhoods program was intended to replace it, HOPE VI was retained in the final measure and slightly increased from $120 million to $135 million.

• High-Speed Rail — Funds for high'speed rail are increased significantly over the President's request. The President requested $1 billion for investments in a high- speed rail system in 2010. The final measure includes $2.5 billion, which is more than double the amount requested.

• National Infrastructure Investment — Similar to the TIGER program, this new program will provide $600 million to state and local governments for transportation infrastructure projects. The funds may be used to support a wide variety of infrastructure improvements including highways and bridges, public transportation, passenger and freight railroads, and ports.

The charts (1, 2) that follow provide a more comprehensive list of programs showing how final funding for 2010 compares with funding in 2009 and the President's budget request.