Senator seeks flexibility for first responders

When Congress passed the Homeland Security Act last year, it left out a lot of details when it came to how the new Homeland Security Department would help state and local governments deal with their new role on the front lines in the battle against terrorism. Since then, state and local governments have grumbled that federal dollars are slow in coming and their hands are often tied when it comes to spending the money.

The current "one-size-fits-all" approach to homeland security grants is not working, said Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine. "The needs of our states and their first responders vary widely and are as diverse as the people who live there," she said earlier this month. "We must make sure that federal assistance is sufficiently flexible to meet these differing needs."

One of the problems, she said, is that the current homeland security grant program-administered by the Homeland Security Department's Office of Domestic Preparedness-is based on a uniform, predetermined formula for every state. As a result, states must spend the same percentage-70 percent for equipment, 18 percent for exercises, 7 percent for planning, 5 percent for training-on each category and cannot move surplus money from one to another.

In an effort to address the issue, Collins is holding hearings on the challenges facing those on the front lines in large and small cities across the country. On Thursday, her committee will discuss streamlining the grant process with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. A department spokesman declined to say whether the secretary would unveil any new grant procedures, adding only that he planned to talk about the fiscal 2004 budget. Another hearing on the subject is planned for later next month.

Earlier this month, the committee heard from police and fire chiefs from Prince George's County, Md.; Arlington, Va.; Portland, Maine; and Dover, Del.

"In Portland, the policing imperatives of a post 9-11 world have cost taxpayers close to $1 million in police staffing and overtime," Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood told the committee. "Without a more thoughtful and significant partnership, taxpayers will continue to pay more than their fair share, and the federal government won't get the most for its federal dollars."

The city is home to the Portland International Jetport-where two of the Sept. 11 hijackers began their journey-as well as a waterfront that serves as a gateway for cruise ships, oil tankers, fishing vessels, cargo carriers and a pipeline, Chitwood said.

Collins is sponsoring two bills aimed at increasing the flexibility and coordination of money going to local and state first responders. One would allow agencies to use the money based on their needs. The other would move the Office of Domestic Preparedness from the department's Border and Transportation Directorate to Ridge's office.

Senate Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., is a cosponsor of both bills, which have the committee's support as well as the administration's backing, a committee spokesman said. Ridge's office declined to indicate whether the secretary supports the measures, only saying that the department is working to address "the challenges facing state and local governments and enhancing their ability to respond."

Earlier this month, Ridge urged the Senate Commerce Committee to change the Office of Domestic Preparedness grant formulas-which are now based on population-to reflect an area's vulnerability and likelihood of a terrorist threat.

But some lawmakers, such as Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, are concerned that the funding formula could leave rural areas shortchanged and vulnerable to attack. "While I do not disagree with the underlying philosophy of a threat-based formula, I would like to point out that each state and community is unique and faces very unique challenges," Snowe wrote Ridge earlier this month.

Snowe also has introduced a bill aimed at increasing flexibility for how first responders use federal homeland security money. Under that measure, state and local governments could use up to 20 percent of any federal dollars provided for new equipment to train personnel how to use the equipment. It would also let state emergency management personnel to conduct planning and other activities for smaller communities that do not have the resources to do so.

Deborah Rigsby of the National League of Cities agrees cities need more money to meet homeland security needs and more flexibility in spending it. Cities complain that the process is cumbersome, confusing and involves a lot of red tape, she said.