109 HR 5595 IH: Urban Area Security Initiative Grant
U.S. House of Representatives
2006-06-13
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Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Urban Area Security Initiative Grant
Enhancement and Authorization Act of 2006
.
2.The Congress finds the following:
(1)The High Threat Urban Areas program created
under Public Law 108–7—
(A)was devised as an
additional response to the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness Program
created under title XIV of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996
(Public Law 104–201), in recognizing that certain large urban areas remain high
threat targets and are inadequately prepared to respond to a weapon of mass
destruction event;
(B)addresses the unique equipment, training,
planning and exercise needs of selected large high threat urban areas;
and
(C)has become known
as the Urban Area Security Initiative.
(2)The allocation of
the funds available for fiscal year 2006 for the Urban Areas Security
Initiative grants program of the Department of Homeland Security does not
reflect the original intent of the program.
(3)The needs-based
variable used in the funding formula for such allocation is not a proper
risk-based variable.
(4)The allocation of
funds for such program should be based solely on the risk of terrorist attack,
and determined based solely on consideration of threat of, vulnerabilities to,
and consequence of such an attack.
3.Authorization of
Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants program
(a)The
Secretary of Homeland Security may carry out an Urban Areas Security Initiative
Grants Program (in this section referred to as the Program
),
under which the Secretary may make grants for the same purposes for which
grants were made under such a program with amounts made available to the
Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2005.
(b)
(1)A grant under this section may be used—
(A)to purchase
equipment, to provide training, to conduct exercises, and to provide technical
assistance to State and local first responders;
(B)to construct,
develop, expand, modify, operate, or improve facilities to provide training or
assistance to State and local first responders, including construction relating
to target hardening, communications facilities, emergency command centers, or
medical response facilities; and
(C)if 100 or more
personnel in the relevant jurisdiction are dedicated exclusively to
counterterrorism and intelligence activities (including detection of,
collection and analysis of intelligence relating to, investigation of,
prevention of, and interdiction of suspected terrorist activities), to provide
reimbursement, consistent with a State plan as approved by the Secretary, for
expenses related to—
(i)such
personnel, including overtime pay; and
(ii)units dedicated
to such activities.
(2)
(A)A grant under this
section may not be used to supplant State or local funds that have been
obligated for homeland security or first responder-related projects.
(B)Maintenance of
expenditures not requiredThe Secretary may not require an
applicant for a grant under this section to maintain a level of expenditure
from year to year as a condition of a grant under this section
(c)Procedures,
terms, and conditions
(1)Except as provided in this Act, the Secretary shall make
grants under the Program in accordance with the procedures, terms, and
condition under which grants were made under such a program with amounts made
available to the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2005.
(2)The Secretary shall
make grants under the Program based solely on a quantitative assessment of the
risk of a terrorist attack on high-threat, high-density urban areas that
considers—
(A)threat of a
terrorist attack to particular assets;
(B)vulnerability of
particular assets to a terrorist attack; and
(C)consequences of a
terrorist attack.
(d)Notification of
grant applicantsIf the Secretary finds any problem in an
application for a grant under the Program to be funded with amounts available
for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall notify the applicant and provide the
applicant an opportunity to correct such problem before making any grant with
such amounts.
(e)Any allocation by the Secretary of funds for grants
under the Program, and any approval by the Secretary of a grant under the
Program, is subject to modification by the President.
(f)Relationship to
other lawSection 1014 of the
USA PATRIOT Act (42 U.S.C. 3714) does not apply with respect to a grant under
this section.