The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATE AND HIGH-RISK URBAN AREA WORKING GROUP ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1665-H1667 on April 13, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATE AND HIGH-RISK URBAN AREA WORKING GROUP ACT
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4509) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to clarify membership of State planning committees or urban area working groups for the Homeland Security Grant Program, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4509
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``State and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act''.
SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATION AND COORDINATION OF CERTAIN DHS
GRANTS.
Subsection (b) of section 2021 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 611) is amended to read as follows:
``(b) Planning Committees.--
``(1) In general.--Any State or high-risk urban area receiving a grant under section 2003 or 2004 shall establish a State planning committee or urban area working group to assist in preparation and revision of the State, regional, or local homeland security plan or the threat and hazard identification and risk assessment, as the case may be, and to assist in determining effective funding priorities for grants under such sections.
``(2) Composition.--
``(A) In general.--The State planning committees and urban area working groups referred to in paragraph (1) shall include at least one representative from each of the following significant stakeholders:
``(i) Local or tribal government officials.
``(ii) Emergency response providers, which shall include representatives of the fire service, law enforcement, emergency medical services, and emergency managers.
``(iii) Public health officials and other appropriate medical practitioners.
``(iv) Individuals representing educational institutions, including elementary schools, community colleges, and other institutions of higher education.
``(v) State and regional interoperable communications coordinators, as appropriate.
``(vi) State and major urban area fusion centers, as appropriate.
``(B) Geographic representation.--The members of the State planning committee or urban area working group, as the case may be, shall be a representative group of individuals from the counties, cities, towns, and Indian tribes within the State or high-risk urban area, including, as appropriate, representatives of rural, high-population, and high-threat jurisdictions.
``(3) Existing planning committees.--Nothing in this subsection may be construed to require that any State or high-risk urban area create a State planning committee or urban area working group, as the case may be, if that State or high-risk urban area has established and uses a multijurisdictional planning committee or commission that meets the requirements of this subsection.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Donovan) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
As the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, I rise in support of H.R. 4509, the State and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act, which was introduced by the subcommittee's ranking member, Congressman Payne.
The Homeland Security Act requires States and urban areas that are receiving State Homeland Security Grant Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative funds to have planning committees to determine how to efficiently and effectively expend these funds. H.R. 4509 expands the stakeholders who are required to be involved in these committees to include representatives from public health, educational institutions, fusion centers, and interoperability coordinators, as appropriate.
In New York City, the New York City Police Department, the FDNY, emergency management, and public health, along with other partners, work together to ensure that these grant funds provide the biggest return on investment for the city's security. Time and again, these officials have told me how important these funds are to their ability to ensure the security of millions of residents, commuters, and visitors in the city each day. They have used these funds to train personnel, to conduct exercises, and to procure helicopters, fireboats, cameras, and radiation detection equipment.
This funding is vital now more than ever. Securing high-risk urban areas, like New York City, becomes more challenging every day considering the fact that we are at our highest threat level since the September 11 terrorist attacks. That is why it is so outrageous that the President's fiscal year 2017 budget proposes to cut more than $500 million from grants to support States, localities, ports, and transit systems.
The Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications held a hearing last month on the proposed cuts. We heard from representatives of emergency management, law enforcement, the fire service, and fusion centers. They all had the same message: these grants have made a difference, and cutting them now would have disastrous effects on their ability to prevent, to prepare for, and to respond to terrorist attacks. Not only would they be unable to make new security investments, but the investments they have made since 9/11 would be eroded. In this threat environment, this is not the time to back away from our support of our Nation's first responders.
Mr. Speaker, the States and urban areas that are receiving Homeland Security grant funding take their responsibilities to secure their areas very seriously. They diligently work through the planning committees that are discussed in this bill in order to make sure they make sound investments to secure their jurisdictions. The President must take the security of these jurisdictions equally as seriously and fund these programs accordingly.
I support the passage of H.R. 4509.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 4509, the State and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act.
Before I begin my statement, I would like to support the comments made by my chairman in his being very concerned about the cuts to the grant that have been proposed.
{time} 1630
Mr. Speaker, I represent the 10th Congressional District of the State of New Jersey. Communities throughout my district from Newark to Jersey City have built robust capabilities to prevent, protect against, and respond to terrorist attacks and natural disasters with State Homeland Security grants and the Urban Areas Security Initiative funding.
I am proud of the progress New Jersey has made in preparing and protecting against terrorist attacks with these important grant dollars. I cannot stress enough the critical role these funds play in my district's ability to protect itself from terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Over the past 3\1/2\ years, I have served as the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security's Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee. In this capacity, I have seen the benefits realized across the Nation from DHS' Homeland Security Grant Program.
With this funding, State and local governments equip first responders with the much-needed protective equipment and emergency communications technologies as well. These grants also help jurisdictions develop and exercise disaster response plans. These activities facilitate important relationships among the individuals and entities that play critical roles in disaster prevention and response.
As successful as DHS' Homeland Security Grant Programs have been, however, more needs to be done to ensure those who are responsible for the various aspects of the disaster response plan, train, and exercise together before a disaster strikes.
Indeed, Save the Children testified before my subcommittee about the disconnect in some communities between emergency planners and school districts and childcare facilities.
A GAO report I requested with former subcommittee chair Susan Brooks released earlier this week revealed that about 68 percent of school districts surveyed incorporate the district emergency management plans into the broader community's emergency management plan. That is good progress, but we must do better.
The State and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act seeks to build upon the relationships that the State Homeland Security Grant Programs and the Urban Areas Security Initiative facilitate and to ensure decisionmakers have a complete understanding of a community's vulnerabilities so that investments can be prioritized appropriately.
H.R. 4509 would facilitate the whole community approach to disaster planning by identifying key players to be included in the State planning committee's Urban Area Working Groups.
From firefighters and police to medical community and school officials, H.R. 4509 would ensure that the right people are at the table when decisions are made about how Federal Homeland Security Grant funds are to be spent at the State and local levels.
H.R. 4509 was approved by the Committee on Homeland Security by voice vote, and similar language was approved in a larger package late last year.
The legislation also has the support of the Security Industry Association, and I include in the Record a letter from the Association.
Security Industry Association,
March 22, 2016.Hon. Donald Payne,House of Representatives,Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Payne: On behalf of the Security Industry Association (SIA), and its more than 600 corporate members, I would like to express our strong support for H.R. 4509, the State and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act, which clarifies the roles and responsibilities of state planning committees and urban area working groups under the Homeland Security Grant Program.
H.R. 4509 amends Title 6 U.S.C. 611 to include additional stakeholder representation in committees and working groups that set local priorities for grants awarded through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP). We believe this is critical in light of recent attacks and broader terrorist threats against vulnerable targets such as schools and workplaces, and the desire of state and local governments to provide additional protections and response capabilities.
SIA and its members believe that the inclusion of educational facilities, emergency communications coordinators and fusion centers will help improve state and local homeland security grant planning processes as they are aligned with evolving threats.
SIA members have assisted many homeland security grantees with technology solutions essential to securing critical infrastructure such as maritime ports and airports, schools, power generation and transmission systems, hospitals, factories, transit systems, and governmental buildings.
SIA urges swift consideration of H.R. 4509 by the House Homeland Security Committee, and on the House floor. We stand ready to provide any further information you may need. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Don Erickson,
CEO, Security Industry Association.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4509, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. If the gentleman from New Jersey has no other speakers, I am prepared to close once the gentleman does.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4509. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his astuteness, along with Mr. Walden, for a very important initiative.
Having been on the Homeland Security Committee since the tragic terrorist attack against the United States, I have watched the formation of this department and the issues that are important to secure America.
I have lived through various processes and various disasters that are not terrorist related to know how important these grants overall are.
The grants, in particular, that are dealing with this bill in planning committee are extremely important to add to the planning committee those individuals who are beyond the very able work of our firefighters and police officers. Those are first responders. But it is very important to engage the community, such as schools, medical professions, and beyond.
I hope, as this legislation passes, we will also look to having on the planning committee some of the leaders on Homeland Security issues that are in our community.
For example, I have an individual by the name of Charles X. White who has led issues on homeland security for a very long time. His activism created an opportunity for there to be a homeland security specialty and discipline at Texas Southern University because the community is involved, involved on issues of evacuation, involved on issues of restoration, involved on issues of making sure funding gets to those necessary entities that may not be known on a global sense and, when I say that, in a countywide, city-wide, or statewide sense.
They provide the insight into neighborhoods. I think it is important that, as this bill makes its way, its interpretation will be that we add community leaders who are the kind of persons who are engaged with the day-to-day goings-on of neighborhoods, knowing how important it is for them to be heard during times of a terrorist act or any other disaster to be restored.
Again, I am grateful for this legislation and the leadership of Mr. Payne and Mr. Walden. I ask my colleagues to enthusiastically support this legislation.
To those who may be engaged all around America with preparedness, it is important, of course, to have every aspect of our community involved in these planning committees so that their voices can be heard on how best to heal, to solve, and to restore after a tragedy has occurred in our local communities.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4482, a legislation that will require an analysis of the Southwest Border Threat from the Secretary of Homeland Security and a Border Patrol Strategic Plan from the Chief of the Border Patrol.
I support this legislation as a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations; I believe that Congress can and should do more to ensure the safety of our southern border from terrorism and criminal threats.
My service in the House of Representatives has focused on making sure that our nation is secure and prosperous.
The U.S. has thousands of miles of coastlines, lakes, and rivers and hundreds of ports that provide opportunities for legitimate travel, trade, and recreation.
Ports serve as America's gateway to the global economy since the nation's economic prosperity rests on the ability of containerized and bulk cargo arriving unimpeded at U.S. ports to support the rapid delivery system that underpins the manufacturing and retail sectors.
A central component of national security is the ability of our international ports to move goods in and out of the country.
According to the Department of Commerce in 2012, Texas exports totaled $265 billion.
In 2012, ship channel-related businesses contributed 1,026,820 jobs and generated more than $178.5 billion in statewide economic activity.
The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2014, the Port of Houston was ranked among U.S. ports:
1st in foreign tonnage;
1st among Texas ports with 46% of market share by tonnage and 95% market share in containers by total TEUS in 2014;
1st among Gulf Coast container ports, handling 67% of U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic in 2014; and
2nd in U.S. ports in terms of total foreign cargo value (based on U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census).
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), reports that the Port of Houston and its waterways and vessels, are part of an economic engine handling more than $700 billion in cargo annually.
The Port of Houston houses approximately 100 steamship lines offering services that link Houston with 1,053 ports in 203 countries.
The Port of Houston is home to a $15 billion petrochemical complex, the largest in the nation and second largest in the world.
With the nation's largest petrochemical complex supplying over 40 percent of the nation's base petrochemical manufacturing capacity, what happens at the Port of Houston affects the entire nation.
At the same time, these waterways offer opportunities for terrorists and their instruments, drug smugglers, and undocumented persons to enter our country.
U.S. seaports, like the Port of Houston, are vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
H.R. 4482 will require the Secretary of Homeland Security to analyze and assess the southwest border threat:
Terrorism and criminal threats seeking unlawful entrance to the U.S. through the southwest border or exploiting border vulnerabilities;
Improvements needed in border ports to prevent the entrance of terrorism into the U.S.;
Law, policy, cooperation between state, local or tribal law enforcement, international or tribal agreements that hinder effective and efficient border security, counterterrorism, anti-human smuggling and trafficking efforts and legitimate trade along the southwest border;
Current percentage of situational awareness and operational control of U.S. borders achieved by DHS of international land and maritime borders of the U.S.
H.R. 4482 will require the Chief of the Border Patrol to issue by March 1, 2017, and every five years after, a Border Patrol Strategic Plan:
Evaluation of southwest border threat analysis;
Assessment of principal border security threats;
Efforts to focus intelligence collection to disrupt transnational criminal organizations outside of U.S. borders;
Ensure new border security technology can be operationally integrated with existing DHS technologies;
Technology required to maintain, support, and enhance security and facilitate trade at ports of entry;
Cooperative agreements and information sharing with state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction on the northern and southern borders;
Prioritized list of research and development objective to enhance the security of borders;
Assessment of training programs for detecting fraudulent documents, understanding scope of enforcement authorities and the use of force policies, and screening, identifying, and addressing vulnerable populations;
Assessment of how border security operations affect crossing times.
Let me close by reminding my colleagues that earlier this year we passed the Northern Border Security Act, which secured our border with Canada.
Now it is time to protect our Southern Border, therefore I urge all Members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 4482.
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Time and time again, we have learned the true value of Homeland Security grant dollars comes from the relationships built through planning, training, and exercises that are done in these communities.
H.R. 4509 would facilitate the whole community approach to disaster response and planning by adopting a more inclusive definition of emergency response.
I would like to thank my colleagues on the Committee on Homeland Security as well as the Security Industry Association for their support.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DONOVAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
I once again urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4509.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Donovan) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4509, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________
