By Ed Somers
June 23, 2003

As the nation's mayors returned from the 71st Annual Conference in Denver, Congress moved forward on authorization and appropriation bills related to homeland security.

Senate Authorization Bill

On Tuesday, June 17 the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved legislation (S 1245) to authorize a new grant program for homeland security. The Conference has testified before the Committee, and has been working closely with majority and minority staff. Unfortunately, the bill still sends most of the funding through the states, a mechanism opposed by the Conference of Mayors but supported by all the other state and local organizations including the National League of Cities and National Association of Counties.

Conference President James A. Garner of Hempstead, Homeland Security Task Force Chair Martin O'Malley of Baltimore and Criminal and Social Justice Committee Chair J. Christian Bollwage of Elizabeth sent a letter to the Committee prior to markup stating continued support for direct funding, and recommending specific changes to the bill. Working with Ranking Member Joseph Lieberman (CT) and Chair Susan Collins (ME), the Conference was able to secure key amendments during markup including:

• A process to appeal to the Department of Homeland Security if states fail to meet deadlines for sub-allocating funding, and for DHS to move money directly to locals if states don't act. This was a major priority which emerged in Denver.
• The allowance of overtime reimbursement for high alerts.
• Waiver authority for the 25 percent match (which kicks in after two years) for economic distress.
• Clarification that funding is for local governments and not also "local groups" as in the original bill.
• Suballocation reduced from 60 days to 45 days.

Sen. Lieberman was unable to secure two additional amendments to authorize a specific amount for the program (instead of "such sums as necessary") and to increase the money set-aside for high-threat areas from the 10 percent in the bill. These will be issues for debate when the bill reaches the Senate floor.

House FY 2004 Appropriations

On June 17, the full House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2004 funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill provides $4.4 billion for the Office of Domestic Preparedness, Firefighters, and Emergency Management, $888 million above the amounts proposed by the Administration. Specifically, the bill includes:

• $1.9 billion for the Office for Domestic Preparedness' basic state formula grant program;
• $500 million for state and local law enforcement terrorism prevention grants (new — details not yet available);
• $500 million for high-threat, high-density urban areas;
• $200 million Infrastructure Grants;
• $750 million for Firefighter Grants;
• $168 million for Emergency Management Performance Grants;
• $35 million for a new competitive grant program for Centers for Emergency Preparedness;
• $125 million for the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium; and
• $134 million for technical assistance, national exercises, standards, and testing.

The bill provides $9 billion for border protection and related activities. This includes $2 billion for U.S. Coast Guard homeland security activities. Specific initiatives and efforts for border security include:

• $100 million for TSA port security grants;
• $129 million for inspection technologies for vehicles and cargo;
• $61.7 million for the Container Security Initiative;
• $12.1 million for the Customs'Trade Partnership Against Terrorism;
• $175 million for Air and Marine Interdiction for border and airspace security; and
• $530 million for "Deepwater."