Smarter Funding for All of America's Homeland Security Act of 2009

Bill: 111-hr-1187
Sponsor: Rep. Frelinghuysen, Rodney P. [R-NJ-11]
Introduced: 2009-02-25 in the House
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
Computers and information technology
Disaster relief and insurance
Economic performance and conditions
Emergency communications systems
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Emergency planning and evacuation
Energy storage, supplies, demand
Food supply, safety, and labeling
Government studies and investigations
Homeland security
Intergovernmental relations
Monuments and memorials
State and local finance
State and local government operations
Telephone and wireless communication
Transportation safety and security
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: 
Smarter Funding for All of America's Homeland Security Act of 2009 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a State and Regional First Responder Grant Program under which the Secretary may make grants to states and eligible regional entities on the basis of the threat to a state or region's population and critical infrastructure, as determined by the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection.
 
 Requires the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary, to evaluate and prioritize grant applications, considering factors such as threats to the population, specific economic sectors, major communications nodes and transportation systems, specific elements of the food supply, the water and energy supplies, civic infrastructure and emergency response capabilities, and specific structures of symbolic national importance.
 
Bars the use of grant funds to supplant state or local funds that would otherwise be available for homeland security or first responder projects.
 
Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the Advisory Council on First Responders, which shall report to the Secretary through the head of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination; and (2) revise the Homeland Security Advisory System to require that any designation of a threat level or other warning be accompanied by a designation of the geographic regions and economic sectors to which it applies.
 
Directs the Under Secretary for Science and Technology to conduct a study of whether there is a need to assign additional bands of frequencies of electromagnetic spectrum to assist first responders.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-03-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response.
action_date: 2009-02-26
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2009-02-26
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Referred to House Energy and Commerce
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Referred to House Judiciary
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Referred to House Transportation and Infrastructure
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Judiciary, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Referred to House Homeland Security
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2009-02-25
text: Introduced in House