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For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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June
27, 2005
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Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
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Roger
Shatzkin
609-292-4791
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Counties
Receiving $21.7 Million in 2005 Federal
Homeland Security Grants; State Approves
Funding for First Responder Equipment, Target
Hardening, Other Activities
Additional $8 Million
Slated for State-Provided County Services
and Initiatives
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TRENTON
— The state has approved all 21
county plans for spending federal fiscal
year (FY) 2005 homeland security grant
funds and has begun to release more than
$21.7 million to the counties, Attorney
General Peter C. Harvey said today. The
counties can use the funds to purchase
additional first responder equipment,
“harden” potential terrorist
targets against attack, develop buffer
zone protection plans around critical
facilities, fund security-related training
and exercising and other homeland security
and domestic preparedness initiatives.
Attorney General Harvey also noted that
an additional $8 million will be provided
to underwrite statewide programs and services
provided to counties and municipalities,
such as improved access to the state’s
computerized security information management
systems, the state’s regionalized
bomb detection and response initiative
and participation in federal Citizen Corps
programs such as the Citizen Emergency
Response Team (CERT) program. As part
of this $8 million, Harvey said that for
the first time the state is also offering
a $1.5 million competitive grant program
to foster regional planning and preparedness
efforts.
“New
Jersey has used its share of federal homeland
security funding on programs throughout
New Jersey to train and equip first responders,
secure our infrastructure, and keep our
communities and residents as safe as possible,”
Acting Governor Richard J. Codey said.
“We are making sure every dime awarded
to New Jersey is spent. Unfortunately,
this funding is still not distributed
to New Jersey and other states based on
actual risk. We will not rest until the
federal government provides the funding
New Jersey needs and deserves.”
Expediting
“Draw Down”
Governor Codey also noted that his administration
was working with representatives of every
New Jersey county, the cities of Newark
and Jersey City, and the state Attorney
General’s Office, and the departments
of Community Affairs and Treasury, to
solve problems related to “drawing
down” federal homeland security
grant money more quickly. The “draw
down” of federal funds is the final
step in the complex grant making and procurement
process, but is the only measure by which
the federal government considers New Jersey’s
funds “spent.” As a result
of a meeting convened by the Governor
last month, state, county and city officials
are developing plans to fast-track their
reporting of federal funds spent on homeland
security equipment and training.
New
Jersey’s Commitment and Risk-Based
Funding
Since January 2002, New Jersey has provided
approximately $572 million in state funds
for homeland security efforts, including
$189.7 million in Governor Codey's proposed
FY 2006 Budget. While New Jersey continues
to spend additional funds to protect its
citizens and communities, total federal
homeland security funding for first responders
to the state was cut more than a third,
from $55.4 million last year to $36.6
million this year. New Jersey’s
share of federal Urban Area Security Initiative
(UASI) funds for preparedness efforts
in the state’s six northeast counties
(Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic
and Union, as well as Newark and Jersey
City) was cut nearly 40 percent, from
$32 million in FY 2004 to $19.4 million
in FY 2005.
The federal Homeland Security Grant Program
currently distributed to states is not
based on risk, but rather on a formula
that provides all 50 states a guaranteed
minimum of funding, Harvey said. Congress
is currently considering changes to that
formula that would provide a smaller guaranteed
minimum to each state and distribute the
remaining funds based on risk.
For the past three years of federal funding
in New Jersey, the Domestic Security Preparedness
Task Force has applied a funding strategy
that does link funding to risk, said Harvey.
Each county’s allocation is based
on the number of critical facilities identified
in the county by state and county officials,
the Attorney General said, with funding
keyed to the added risk factors of hosting
facilities that might be the most likely
to attract a devastating terrorist attack.
Harvey serves as chair of the Domestic
Security Preparedness Task Force, the
cabinet-level body that oversees state
homeland security policy and coordination
efforts.
“New
Jersey’s strategy for protecting
its citizens and infrastructure recognizes
the necessity for statewide and regional
solutions based on principles of mutual
aid,” said Harvey. “Additionally,
although the federal government is still
not distributing the majority of homeland
security grants to the states based on
a realistic assessment of New Jersey and
other state’s security needs, we
have recognized the necessity for protecting
critical facilities and first responders
across the state based on an assessment
of potential vulnerability and risk of
attack.
County
Working Groups and County-Based Decision
Making
“Counties and municipalities play
a key role in protecting New Jersey citizens,”
he said. “The state has developed
the overarching strategy for protection,
but has relied extensively on the counties,
which have a clearer understanding of
the strengths and particular vulnerabilities
within their borders, to help determine
how funds are distributed locally.”
Harvey
said the Domestic Security Preparedness
Task Force required that each county form
a County Multi-Disciplinary Working Group
and charged the working group with developing
funding plans centered on protecting —
and responding to potential incidents
at — sites where threats or hazards
had been identified within the county.
At a minimum, he said, the county working
group includes the county office of emergency
management coordinator, county freeholder
director or county administrator or executive,
county fiscal officer, county prosecutor
or designee, county police chiefs’
association representative, county fire
coordinator or fire marshal, county emergency
medical services coordinator, and county
hazmat team representative. Beginning
with the FY 2005 grant, the working group
has been expanded to include the county’s
medical examiner, health officer, critical
infrastructure coordinator, domestic preparedness
planner, as well as representatives from
county healthcare institutions and from
the county’s cities with the two
largest populations.
During the FY 2005 grant process, the
state worked directly with representatives
of the county working groups to review
and approve the specific spending plan
for each county’s share of funding.
In addition to the Governor’s task
force to expedite the state’s draw
down of federal funds, the state has implemented
a new Web-based “eGrants”
management system for the FY 2005 federal
homeland security grant cycle. Since each
of the counties must enter all their grant
programming and procurement information
into this system, Harvey said that it
too should speed up both the grant making
and procurement process by providing real-time
reporting to the state.
State
Share of 2005 Homeland Grant
In addition to the $29.7 million going
directly to the counties or being returned
to them in the form of services provided
by the state, the state is receiving $6.9
million as its share of the total federal
FY 2005 grant of $36.6 million from ODP.
These funds will be used for such state
activities as implementing the Governor’s
School Security Initiative, improved access
to the state’s emergency preparedness
information network, improved protection
against cyberterrorism, additional support
to the state’s exercise team that
coordinates readiness drills and exercises
statewide, as well as providing for the
purchase of two mobile command centers
and four boats designed to respond to
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear
and explosive (CBRNE) events on state
waterways.
#
# #
New
Jersey’s Federal FY 2005 Homeland
Security Grant Program*
Direct
and Indirect Allocations to Counties
Funding
by County** Totals
- ATLANTIC
$ 1,191,054
- BERGEN
$ 1,387,027
- BURLINGTON
$ 881,215
- CAMDEN
$
1,109,399
- CAPE
MAY
$ 211,642
- CUMBERLAND
$ 472,939
- ESSEX
$ 2,072,480
- GLOUCESTER
$ 1,044,527
- HUDSON
$ 2,007,607
- HUNTERDON
$ 832,222
- MERCER
$ 1,338,485
- MIDDLESEX
$ 1,681,437
- MONMOUTH
$ 734,235
- MORRIS
$ 750,115
- OCEAN
$ 619,918
- PASSAIC
$ 1,942,284
- SALEM
$ 554,594
- SOMERSET
$ 701,574
- SUSSEX
$ 358,622
- UNION
$ 1,272,710
- WARREN
$ 538,263
SUBTOTAL $
21,702,349
Initiatives
Supporting County Programs
- Overtime
Reserve for Periods of Raised Homeland
Security Alerts
$ 1,936,447
- Detect
and Render Safe Task Force (9 County
and Municipal Bomb Squads)
$ 1,179,900
- Statewide
Security Information Management Initiatives
$ 3,400,000
- Competitive
Grants for Regions?
$ 1,500,000
SUBTOTAL $
8,016,347
TOTAL
$ 29,718,696
*
Funding from Office for Domestic Preparedness,
U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)
also includes Law Enforcement Terrorism
Prevention Program (LETPP) and Citizen
Corps Program funding. This total
does not include (1) $19,353,418 in
Urban Area Security Initiative funds
for the core cities of Newark and
Jersey City and Bergen, Essex, Hudson,
Morris, Passaic and Union counties,
and (2) $455,184 in Metropolitan Medical
Response System (MMRS) Program funds
provided to Office of the Attorney
General for pass through to Newark
and Jersey City. This total does include
$672,000 ($32,000 to each county)
out of a total of $4,356,164 in Emergency
Management Performance Grant (EMPG)
Program funds. The remaining $3,684,164
in EMPG funds goes directly to municipal
and state emergency planning councils.
**Allocations
to counties are based on presence
of critical infrastructure sites identified
by counties and state.
Four
of the state’s five homeland security
regions, which were designated by the
New Jersey Domestic Security Preparedness
Task Force, are eligible to compete for
this grant money. The regions are: Northwest
Region (Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon counties);
Central Region (Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer
and Monmouth counties); Delaware River
Region (Burling-ton, Camden, Gloucester,
Salem and Cumberland counties); and Shore
Region (Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties).
The Northeast Urban Area Security Initiative
Region, or UASI Region (Bergen, Essex,
Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union Counties,
as well as Newark and Jersey City), receives
separate funding and is not eligible for
this competitive program.
NJ
Office of the Attorney General, June 2005
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