By Ed Somers
April 14, 2003

On April 8, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that seven cities will receive a total of almost $100 million provided in the FY 2003 omnibus funding bill for high- threat areas. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), "the cities were chosen by applying a formula based upon a combination of factors including population density, critical infrastructure and threat/vulnerability assessment." The Department of Homeland Security has said that in that the formula contains classified data, and so cannot provide a copy to the Conference. The funding was provided as follows: New York City - $24.76 million Washington, DC - National Capital Region - $18.08 million Los Angeles - $12.42 million Seattle - $11.2 million Chicago - $10.89 million San Francisco - $10.74 million Houston - $8.63 million As U.S. Mayor goes to press, transportation concerns in the fiscal 2003 supplemental spending bill appear to have been reached by the conferees including $390 million for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), $3.1 billion for airline assistance, and $630 million for the coast guard. The TSA summary includes $235 million for physical modification of commercial airports to install checked baggage explosive detection machines, $85 million to reimbursement to local and state law enforcement officers assigned to airport security duties, $40 million for port security grants, and $30 million for surface transportation security initiatives, including $8 million for transit security. The coast guard will apparently will receive $630 million for additional operating expenses including $230 million for additional increases related to Operation Liberty Shield in militarily and economic strategic ports. Furthermore, it appears that the conferees have reached agreement to include $3.1 billion for airline assistance.

As U.S.MAYOR went to press, Congress had not yet completed action on the FY 2003 war/homeland security supplemental appropriations bill. However, based on the House and Senate bills in conference committee and feedback from Congressional staff, it is expected that $700 million will be included for high-threat urban areas in the legislation to fund the war in Iraq. The Administration had requested $50 million for this program.

However, key details as to how this money will be allocated remain unclear. The language in the House bill would guarantee that 80 percent of these funds would go to local governments through the states, while the Senate language would leave it up to the Secretary of Homeland Security. In addition, there is some indication that conferees may approve a portion of this funding for overtime reimbursements related to homeland security. And, it is not yet clear what formula factors and Congress will provide guidance to the Department of Homeland Security in allocating these funds.

In addition to the high-threat funding, the supplemental is expected to include $1.5 billion in additional money, which will go to the states. The majority of this funding (expected at around $1.3 billion) will be used for the existing Office of Domestic Preparedness grant program, with a requirement that states sub-allocate at least 80 percent of the funding. There may also be up to $200 million for critical infrastructure grants which can be used for overtime, but it is not clear how much of this will be sub-allocated.

A major issue also under discussion is whether or not the Department of Homeland Security will be allowed to develop a new formula for allocating the state money, either for the supplemental funds or for FY 2004 funding. Currently, every state receives a minimum of 0.75 percent, and then the remainder of the funding is allocated based on population.

A number of states and cities have complained that this results in smaller states receiving significantly more per-capita than larger states, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has now said that he would like to change the state formula to include risk factors. A number of Members of Congress from smaller states are resisting this proposed change. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has no policy and had taken no position on the state formula question.

Senate Tables Schumer-Clinton-Mikulski Amendment

Late in the evening of April 3, the Senate voted 51-46 to table the Schumer-Clinton-Mikulski amendment, which would have provided local governments with $3.58 billion in first responder funding. This amendment was strongly supported by The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Instead, the Senate voted 66-31 for an amendment by Senator Arlen Specter (PA), which added $500 million for high-risk areas, with $200 million in new money and $300 million coming from other first responder funding in the bill.

In addition, Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) was successful in including $219 million for interoperable communications grants in the Senate bill, but it is not yet known if this funding made it into the final bill.

Support Growing for Direct Funding

Neither the House nor Senate bills contain direct formula funding for first responders. However, support is growing for this effort, as seen by fact that up to $700 million will be provided for high-threat areas. The Conference of Mayors continues to advocate that the state program be changed to provide direct formula funding for cities.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Susan Collins (ME) has said she is working on legislation to authorize a new program, which may contain direct funding, and focused her first committee hearing on the needs of local first responders. In that April 12 hearing, police and fire chiefs were adamant that state funding is not reaching cities, and urged that direct formula funding be authorized. Also, USAToday recently published an editorial, which says, "Fund Cities Directly."