I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3631 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to preserve homeland security 

capability gains achieved through the Urban Area Security Initiative 

program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 9, 2011 

Mr. HIGGINS (for himself and Mr. STIVERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to preserve 

homeland security capability gains achieved through the 

Urban Area Security Initiative program, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Urban Area 

5 Security Initiative Capability Gains Act of 2011’’ or the 

6 ‘‘Preserving UASI Capability Gains Act of 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In the wake of the devastating attacks of 

2 September 11, 2001, the National Commission on 

3 Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the ‘‘9/ 

4 11 Commission’’) concluded that ‘‘[i]f New York or 

5 other major cities are to be prepared for future ter6 rorist attacks, different first responder agencies 

7 within each city must be fully coordinated, just as 

8 different branches of the U.S. military are.’’. 

9 (2) The 9/11 Commission recommended that 

10 limited Federal preparedness and response resources 

11 should be allocated to ‘‘supplement state and local 

12 resources based on risks and vulnerabilities that 

13 merit additional support.’’. 

14 (3) The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) 

15 program, as established in 2003, provides grant 

16 funding to certain high-threat, high-density urban 

17 areas that need assistance to build an enhanced and 

18 sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, re19 spond to, and recover from terrorist attacks and 

20 other catastrophic events. 

21 (4) The UASI program emphasizes multi-juris22 dictional, regional readiness and supports the unique 

23 planning, organization, equipment, training, and ex24 ercise needs of high-threat, high-density urban 

25 areas. State and local governments have leveraged 


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1 Federal investment under the UASI program to pro2 vide personnel, plans, equipment, training, and exer3 cises to first responders to address the homeland se4 curity challenges of a post-9/11 world. 

5 (5) An August 2011 report issued by the Na6 tional Urban Area Security Initiative Association 

7 stated that between fiscal years 2003 and 2010, 

8 high-threat, high-density urban areas had received 

9 6.5 billion dollars in UASI funding to achieve pre10 paredness and response capabilities. 

11 (6) Over the past eight years, UASI funding 

12 has enabled at-risk State and local governments to 

13 develop critical preparedness and response capabili14 ties that such governments could not otherwise 

15 achieve. 

16 (7) UASI funding has been used to advance the 

17 National Homeland Security Priorities promulgated 

18 by the Department of Homeland Security in the Na19 tional Preparedness Guidelines in 2007, including to 

20 strengthen information sharing and collaboration, 

21 strengthen interoperable and operable communica22 tions, strengthen planning and citizen preparedness, 

23 improve chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, 

24 and explosives detection, and improve critical infra25 structure protection. 


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1 (8) UASI funding has helped foster better de2 tection of potential threats and information sharing 

3 on the local level. In fact, an October 2010 study re4 leased by the Institute for Homeland Security Solu5 tions found that 51 percent of the 68 known ter6 rorist plots from 1999 to 2009 were thwarted when 

7 community members or local law enforcement—the 

8 first lines of defense—detected these threats. 

9 (9) For fiscal year 2010, the Department of 

10 Homeland Security identified 64 high-threat, high11 density urban areas that required UASI funding to 

12 achieve and preserve preparedness and response ca13 pabilities and provided necessary funding. 

14 (10) For fiscal year 2011, the Department of 

15 Homeland Security eliminated thirty-two high16 threat, high-density urban areas from the UASI pro17 gram when UASI funding was reduced by 18 per18 cent pursuant to the Department of Defense and 

19 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. 

20 The urban areas eliminated are Albany, NY; Austin, 

21 TX; Bakersfield, CA; Baton Rouge, LA; Bridgeport, 

22 CT; Buffalo, NY; Columbus, OH; El Paso, TX; 

23 Hartford, CT; Honolulu, HI; Indianapolis, IN; Jack24 sonville, FL; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY; 

25 Memphis, TN; Milwaukee, WI; Nashville, TN; New 


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1 Orleans, LA; Oklahoma City, OK; Omaha, KS; 

2 Oxnard, CA; Providence, RI; Richmond, VA; Roch3 ester, NY; Sacramento, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; 

4 San Antonio, TX; San Juan, PR; Syracuse, NY; To5 ledo, OH; Tucson, AZ; and Tulsa, OK. 

6 (11) As a result of the funding reductions to 

7 the UASI program for fiscal year 2011, many of 

8 these high-threat, high-density urban areas must 

9 stretch their limited financial resources to preserve 

10 the advancements made to their terrorism prevention 

11 and disaster preparedness and response capabilities 

12 with UASI funding. Some of these urban areas will 

13 not be able to sustain the advancements made under 

14 the UASI program without additional Federal as15 sistance. Nationally, this capabilities’ erosion has 

16 significant homeland security implications. 

17 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIA18 TIVE SECURITY GAINS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XX of the 

20 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 603 et seq.) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating sections 2004 through 

23 2008 as sections 2005 through 2009, respectively; 

24 and 


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1 (2) by inserting after section 2003 the following 

2 new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 2004. PRESERVATION OF URBAN AREA SECURITY INI4 TIATIVE SECURITY GAINS. 

5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis7 trator shall establish a competitive grant program to make 

8 funding available for preservation of homeland security ca9 pabilities achieved by high-risk urban areas that received 

10 Urban Area Security Initiative funding in fiscal years 

11 2009 or 2010 but were removed from the program there12 after. 

13 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—Not later than 90 days after es14 tablishment of the competitive grant program required 

15 under subsection (a), the Administrator shall accept appli16 cations with the following information: 

17 ‘‘(1) Specific homeland security capability gains 

18 achieved through previous grant awards that are at 

19 risk of being reduced or eliminated without Federal 

20 grant assistance. 

21 ‘‘(2) A description of activities, programs, and 

22 acquisitions that would be undertaken with Federal 

23 grant assistance to enhance homeland security capa24 bilities. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The proposed division of responsibilities 

2 and distribution of funding among the local and 

3 tribal governments in each high-risk urban area. 

4 ‘‘(4) The name of an individual to serve as a 

5 high-risk urban area point of contact (in each such 

6 area) for communication with the Department and 

7 among the various jurisdictions in each high-risk 

8 urban area. 

9 ‘‘(5) Such information in support of the appli10 cation as the Administrator may reasonably require. 

11 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA.—In awarding grants under this sec12 tion, the Administrator shall evaluate each grant applica13 tion and give priority to those applications that best— 

14 ‘‘(1) preserve capabilities needed to prevent, 

15 protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover 

16 from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest 

17 risk to the United States, as reflected in the Presi18 dential Policy Directive 8 and the National Pre19 paredness Goal; 

20 ‘‘(2) preserve core capabilities developed 

21 through previous Urban Area Security Initiative 

22 grant allocations; 

23 ‘‘(3) align with strategies and principles of the 

24 National Preparedness Goal, including the pro25 motion of national preparedness within the private 


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1 and nonprofit sectors, nongovernmental organiza2 tions, and the public; 

3 ‘‘(4) support capabilities that enhance regional 

4 catastrophic planning that could be used nationally 

5 through mutual aid agreements before, during, and 

6 after incidents; and 

7 ‘‘(5) align with other established grant funding 

8 priorities identified by the Administrator. 

9 ‘‘(d) CONFORMANCE WITH THE URBAN AREA SECU10 RITY INITIATIVE PROGRAM.—All provisions relating to 

11 State review and transmission, opportunity to amend, and 

12 distribution of awards, as established in section 2003, 

13 shall apply to the competitive grant program under this 

14 section. 

15 ‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS OF AWARDS.—No one applicant 

16 may receive more than seven percent of the total amount 

17 authorized for the competitive grant program under this 

18 section. 

19 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

21 $58,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2014, 

22 of which not more than five percent shall be available each 

23 fiscal year for the costs of administering the grant pro24 gram.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by increasing by 

3 one the section number in each of the items in the table 

4 relating sections 2004 through 2008, and by inserting 

5 after the item relating to section 2003 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 2004. Preservation of Urban Area Security Initiative security gains.’’. 

6 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Sections 

7 2003(b)(2)(A)(i) and 2005(e) of such Act (6 U.S.C. 

8 604(b)(2)(A)(i), 606(e)) are each amended by striking 

9 ‘‘section 2007’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2008’’. 

Æ 


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