Should New Stakeholder Groups Have a Say in Homeland Security Planning? (H.R. 4509)

What is H.R. 4509?

(Updated May 2, 2017)

This bill would require states and high-risk urban areas that receive federal homeland security grants to establish a working group focused on preparing and revising the state, regional, or local homeland security plan or risk assessment. The grant programs in question are the State Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative.

Under current law, grant recipients are already required to establish a State Planning Committee, but this bill would also require the creation of an urban area working group. Members of the committee or working group would be required to be from within the state or high-risk urban area.

This legislation would also add the following new stakeholder groups that have at least one representative on a planning committee or working group:

• Public health officials and other appropriate medical practitioners;

• Individuals representing educational institutions, including elementary schools, community colleges, and other institutions of higher education;

• State and regional interoperable communications coordinators;

• State and major urban area fusion centers — which receive, analyze and share threat-related information between federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector partners.

States and high-risk urban areas that already meet this bill’s requirements would not be required to create a new State Planning Committee or urban area working group.

Argument in favor

Bringing new stakeholder groups into the homeland security planning process will ensure that recipients of federal grants develop a holistic plan that covers a variety of scenarios and enhances coordination between different groups.

Argument opposed

If a state or urban area is currently suffering from a lack of coordination in homeland security preparedness, it’s unlikely that requiring a committee with new stakeholders to collaborate will change things.

Impact

Stakeholders that participate in the state planning committee or urban area working group; law enforcement and homeland security officials at all levels of government; and DHS.

Cost of H.R. 4509

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) introduced this bill to improve coordination in the process of developing a local security plan between various community stakeholders:

“Emergency preparedness takes a whole community, but too often there is a disconnect between individuals and entities that play critical roles in disaster response. This lack of coordination makes it harder to protect against vulnerabilities and leaves our communities ill-prepared for disaster. Effective disaster preparedness requires that the right people are at the table when decisions are made about how federal grant funds are to be spent at the state and local level.”

The House Homeland Security Committee passed this bill by voice vote.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) Press Release
• Homeland Preparedness News