By Ed Somers
October 20, 2003

"Mayors believe that without some kind of predictable, direct funding — rather than year-by-year decisions made at the state level — it will be difficult to budget for long-term homeland security activities at the local level," Conference President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner told a key House subcommittee on October 16.

The hearing in the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and Response of the Select Committee on Homeland Security was chaired by Rep. John Shadegg (AZ), and focused on new legislation designed to change the way homeland security funding flows from Washington.

Rep. Chris Cox (CA), who chairs the full Homeland Security Committee, has introduced HR 3266, the "Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act."

Rep. Cox has expressed concern that first responder money is not moving quickly enough through the states, and is not being targeted to those most at risk. His bill would allow regions within a state to apply for money, in addition to states, and apply risk-based criteria to the process.

In commenting on the bill, Garner said, "while HR 3266 does not contain direct funding for cities — as we continue to call for — we recognize the effort to move the funding more locally by allowing regions to apply for assistance." Garner added, "we also appreciate the support in the bill for existing law enforcement partnership programs such as COPS, Local Law Enforcement Block Grants, and Fire Grants."

However, the mayor added, "it is not clear to us how a region would be defined, and to what extent individual cities would have a say in this process. We would be very concerned if regional authorities would have the ability to apply for funding on behalf of cities without their consent or engagement in the process." Chairman Cox agreed with this point, and said he would work with the Conference to ensure that his bill requires city engagement in regional planning.

Garner also said, "we are not clear on what the requirements would be for the Department of Homeland Security to approve regional applications, or instead continue to send funding through the states."

Garner urged that overtime be authorized under the bill, saying, "There is no equivalent for more officers on the streets engaging with the community to provide local intelligence and prevent attacks."

In arguing for direct funding, Garner cited the recent Conference of Mayors survey which found that over half of the cities responding have either not been consulted or have had no opportunity to influence state decision-making about how to use and distribute funding, and that 80 to 90 percent of cities had not received funds from the country's largest federal homeland security program — the state block grant.

In addition to the Cox bill, legislation has been introduced by the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Jim Turner (TX), called the PREPARE Act (HR 3158). As Garner testified, "we appreciate that this bill works to develop standards based on threat and vulnerability assessments, foster state-wide planning with local input, and provide for personnel reimbursement during elevated threat levels."

"However, we remain concerned about that lack of direct funding and lack of pass-through guaranteesÉand that the planning processes contained in the bill at both the federal and state levels could further delay funding from reaching first responders," Garner said.

Additional hearings are expected on the legislation, and markup has not been scheduled.