SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing February 14, 2007 Crystal City, VA

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding On June 22, 2006, the House approved the FY 2007 SSJC Appropriations bill (H.R. 5672). On July 13th, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out their version of the DOJ appropriation A final bill was not enacted Instead, Justice funding will be carried in a Continuing Resolution (CR), HJ Res. 20 Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding For most Justice programs, the funding level will be at FY ‘06 levels (subject to some small, across-the-board recisions) There are, however, some increases over FY ‘06 $520 million for Byrne block grants, an increase of more than $100 million over FY ’06; [but about $35 million less than ’07 House and Senate figures] $542 million for COPS, an increase of over $60 million over FY ’06; down almost $30 million from House ’07; and up about $5 million from Senate ’07 Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding For many Justice programs, staying at FY ’06 levels is far better than what were likely to be ’07 levels NIJ: $55 million, same as House ’07; up $12 million over Senate ’07 BJS: $35 million, down $1 million from House ‘07; up $15 million over Senate ’07 White Collar: $9 million, up $1 million over House ’07; up $9 million over Senate ’07 RISS: $40.2 million, about same as House ’07; down $5 million from Senate ’07 Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding Missing Children: $48 million, down $7.5 million from House ’07; down about $2.5 from Senate ’07 Global Justice Information Sharing Program: $10 million, up $8 million over House ’07; up $10 million over Senate ’07 Sex Offender Registry: $0.00, down $1.9 million from House and Senate ’07 COPS Interoperable Communications: $139.9 million, up $39.9 million over House ’07; $29.9 million over Senate ’07 Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding NCHIP: $10 million, up about $5.2 million over House; $5 million over Senate DNA: $108.5, down about $42.5 million from ’07 House and Senate CITA: $28.7 million, up $28.7 million from both House and Senate Reentry: $5 million, approximately same as House and Senate Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding Weed and Seed: $50 million, about the same as House ’07; up $10 million from Senate ’07 Anti-gang: $15 million, down about $40 million from House ’07; down about $15 million from Senate ’07 Robert R. Belair

FY ’07 Criminal Justice Funding The House and Senate bills both included a “soft” earmark for SEARCH’s National Technical Assistance and Training Program SEARCH funding for FY ’06 was at $2 million Funding request for FY ’07 - $4 million Authorization level for SEARCH - $4 million The CR states: “Any language specifying an earmark…shall have no legal effect…” Robert R. Belair

Homeland Security Funding One of only two appropriations bills to be enacted, HR 5441 signed into law on October 4, 2006 ODP: $525 million; down $25 million from ’06 Terrorism Prevention Grants: $375 million; down $25 million from ’06 High-Threat Area Grants: $770 million; up $5 million from ’06 Firefighters Grant: $662 million; up $7 million from ‘06 Robert R. Belair

Homeland Security Funding Information Analysis and Infrastructure: $547.6 million; up about $22.5 million from ’06 US Visit: $362.5 million; up $12.5 million from ’06 DHS Information Technology Enhancements: $349 million; up about $128 million from ’06 TSA Screening: $3.768 billion; up about $160 million from ‘06 Robert R. Belair

JIEM Language in FY ‘07 Homeland Security Appropriation The DHS Conference Report incorporates, by reference, House Report language which makes specific and positive mention of SEARCH’s JIEM software “The Committee is aware that Justice Information Exchange Modeling (JIEM) software is being used successfully by criminal justice agencies. The Committee expects that the Department of Homeland Security will investigate this software and, if appropriate, encourage and promote its use by first responders to build integrated information systems to effectuate the sharing of critical information among first responders and criminal justice agencies and between these agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and other appropriate federal agencies.” Robert R. Belair

Sex Offender Registry Statute On July 27, 2006, HR 4472 signed into law A tiered system which divides sex offenders into three categories Content requirements for state repositories Duration requirement for information on the registries Prescribed time periods for re-registration by sex offenders Community notification requirements Robert R. Belair

Sex Offender Registry Statute Penalties for jurisdictions which fail to comply Punishment for sex offenders who fail to register and re-register Establishment of a national sex offender registry Public access 3 year state implementation period State grants for sex offender management Studies Robert R. Belair

Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 Part of DHS appropriation Requires DHS to adopt regulations for chemical plant security DHS has published a Proposed Rule Requires an identification verification process Includes a criminal history background check requirement No identification of the scope or nature of the background check Robert R. Belair

Bills of Interest to SEARCH Expected to Be in Play in 110th Congress NICS improvement legislation Disposition reporting Mental health reporting Watch lists Anti-gang legislation Reentry legislation Background checks on school officials Immigration reform HAZMAT credentialing enhancement Robert R. Belair

Bills of Interest to SEARCH Expected to Be in Play in 110th Congress Interoperable communications Expungement of criminal records Child abuse registry Biometrics applications Border control Tax breaks for businesses using biometrics NICS Gun show checks Robert R. Belair

Issues of Interest to SEARCH Expected to Be in Play in 110th Congress REAL ID Act compliance TWIC implementation Registered Traveler deployment Data mining Omnibus privacy Robert R. Belair