HAMILTON - The federal government today
awarded New Jersey almost $52 million in homeland security
dollars for 2006, Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness
Director Richard L. Cañas said. Cañas noted
that Governor Corzine has given his office a mandate to
allocate these funds, approximately 80 percent of which
go to counties and municipalities, according to clear
guidelines based on risk.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
today announced that it was distributing $1.7 billion
in fiscal year 2006 to states across the country. This
represents a 29 percent decrease from the previous year's
total of $2.4 billion. While the federal government has
significantly reduced the absolute amount of funding,
New Jersey's share of the total increased. In 2005, New
Jersey received $56.5 million and ranked eleventh among
all states and the District of Columbia in the amount
of total federal homeland security funds awarded. This
year, the state's share will increase from 2.4 to 3.1
percent, and the state will now rank seventh in the nation.
Specifically, New Jersey will be provided
more than $34.3 million in Urban Area Security Initiative
(UASI) funds, which are targeted toward urban areas across
the nation deemed to be at greater risk of terrorist attack.
In 2005, New Jersey received $19.4 million for the UASI
region, which encompasses Jersey City and Newark and the
six contiguous Northeast counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson,
Morris, Passaic and Union. This represents a 77 percent
increase.
The state will also receive $17.7 million
in statewide funds for the State Homeland Security Program
(SHSP), the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program
(LETPP), Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) and
the Citizen Corps Program (CCP). Last year, the comparable
federal allocation to New Jersey for the programs was
$37.1 million.
“While in the United States Senate,
I worked to allocate homeland security funds based on
risk. Today's announcement recognizes movement toward
that responsible approach," Corzine said. "I
am disappointed that the overall size of homeland security
grants has been reduced for the nation; the amount of
funds available should be growing, not declining. Protecting
families and communities is the most important role of
government, and I will continue to work with our Congressional
delegation on this pressing issue.”
“Even though New Jersey received
fewer absolute dollars compared to last year, the state's
share of the entire federal homeland security funding
pie increased slightly,” Cañas said.
Cañas went on to say that that
the state will inform each county of their grant share
by the time DHS awards the funds to the state in July.
"The counties will be funded based
on clearly articulated guidelines related to the specific
risks we face in New Jersey," he said.
In the past, Cañas said, these
funds have been used to equip and train emergency responders,
protect the state's critical facilities against potential
terrorist attacks and for a variety of other homeland
security and domestic preparedness initiatives.
Once the specific funding amounts are
announced, Cañas said that each county will continue
to work with its multi-disciplinary Working Group to refine
its specific spending and protection plans along with
the state. Each county previously developed a spending
plan that was factored into the state's overall grant
submission.
At a minimum, the county working group
includes the county office of emergency management coordinator,
freeholder, director, administrator or executive, fiscal
officer, county prosecutor or designee, county police
chiefs' association representative, county fire coordinator
or fire marshal, county emergency medical services coordinator,
hazmat team representative, medical examiner, health officer,
critical infrastructure coordinator, domestic preparedness
planner, as well as representatives from county healthcare
institutions and from the county's largest cities.
Urban Area Security Initiative
New Jersey's UASI, which received more than $34.3 million
in today's funding, provides a regional approach to security
that is being modeled statewide. Spanning 1,164 square
miles - more than 15 percent of New Jersey's total square
mileage - this six-county metropolitan area has a population
of 3.8 million, which is more than 44 percent of the State's
total population. The area also incorporates many core
elements of New Jersey's transportation infrastructure
and is dense with chemical manufacturing plants and other
critical infrastructure. To date, UASI focus areas have
included spending grant funds to enhance security of:
