By By Laura DeKoven Waxman
April 30, 2012

FY 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bills are among the first to move through the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, with the Senate Committee reporting out its bill April 19 and the House Committee approving its bill April 26. The Senate bill would provide $215 million for COPS hiring grants, expected to be enough to hire or rehire 1,700 officers; the House bill would provide just $40 million. The Senate bill also would provide slightly more funding than the House bill for Byrne Justice Assistance block grants – $375 million versus $361 million – and both numbers are higher than this year’s funding level of $352 million. Second Chance prisoner reentry programs fare better in the House, which would provide $70 million next, slightly more than what is available this year; the Senate bill would provide just $25 million.

In all, the Senate bill would provide $27.8 billion for the Department of Justice, $421 million more than is available this year. Within this $2.2 billion designated for state and local law enforcement activities, $26.1 million below this year’s level. The House bill would provide $27 billion to the Justice Department, with the various grant programs receiving $1.85 billion, $378 million less than is available this year.

The table below shows funding levels for key state and local programs in millions of dollars.