NGA Outlines How States Would Use Fed Funds

A substantial amount of the funding that state governments are requesting for homeland security would help them sustain and possibly expand integrated criminal justice initiatives and public safety communications, according to the National Governors Association.

States are expected to spend $4 billion on homeland security in the first year following Sept. 11, said the Washington-based organization. Of that amount, states will spend $398 million on efforts to integrate criminal history and another $66 million on fielding interoperable communications systems as part of their electronic monitoring initiatives, NGA said.

States also are expected to spend $188 million to enhance profiling and threat assessment capabilities and $186 million to enhance intelligence gathering capabilities, according to NGA.

The estimates are based on data received by the NGA Center for Best Practices from one-third of the states in response to a survey mailed to the membership in November.

Based on the preliminary survey results, the NGA is planning to ask Congress for $3 billion in immediate assistance to the states for homeland security. The request includes $2 billion to enhance the capabilities of state and local health systems to respond to bioterrorism threats. The governors also are asking for at least $1 billion in grants for public safety, emergency response and related costs, NGA said.

Other areas in which states are expected to incur high costs are overtime pay for employees, recruitment and training for new employees, purchasing equipment, security measures for private and federal facilities, and enchancing intelligence gathering and threat assessment capabilities, according to the NGA.

Seventeen states and one U.S. territory have responded to the survey so far, NGA said. Only Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia gave the organization permission to disclose that they participated in the survey.

John Thomasian, director of the NGA's Center for Best Practices, said many of the larger states have not been able to get a firm estimate on their expenses, and that the survey is intended in part to "get them started to thinking about what they are spending their money on."

As it receives additional responses, NGA will revise the cost estimates and forward the information to the Office of Homeland Security, he said.

Thomasian said that the discussion in Congress is focused on the needs of the federal government, and that a parallel discussion of state government needs is noticeably absent. Because of this, NGA felt it was imperative to take prompt action and provide the state's version of a homeland security expense report.

"Because there is legislative activity right now, we did not want this story to be lost," Thomasian said.