By Rachael Bade, CQ Staff

House appropriators backed legislation Wednesday that would cut the Homeland Security Department’s funding by $484 million from current levels while boosting spending for first-responder grants, an account Republicans have sought to trim in recent years.

The Homeland Security Subcommittee gave swift voice vote approval to a fiscal 2013 draft bill that would provide $39.1 billion to the department. The total is about $393 million less than President Obama requested. Under the measure, the Transportation Security Administration’s funding would be cut by $422 million from current levels to $5.1 billion, the largest reduction among departmental agencies. (more…)

To: Emergency Managers

From: Martha Braddock, Policy Advisor
U.S. Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM-USA)

Subject: FY 2013 DHS Appropriations Bill—House Draft

Date: May 8, 2012

This morning (May 8th) the House Appropriations Committee released the draft of the FY 2013 Appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The Subcommittee on Homeland Security will mark up the bill Wednesday morning. Full Appropriations Committee markup is expected next week.

A copy of this memo including the Committee press release is attached in case the format is not stable. The complete text of the FY 2013 Subcommittee Draft Homeland Security Appropriations bill is available at– http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-112HR-SC-AP-FY13-Homeland.pdf. (more…)

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) has announced a funding opportunity for research related to Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS), as referenced in the 2012 DHS S&T Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (LRBAA).

CMAS enables geographically targeted alert messages to reach people on their mobile devices, enhancing the nation’s capability to deliver emergency messages to the public. To support this mission, S&T is looking for academic institutions, private sector organizations, government laboratories, and other entities to perform RDT&E activities that improve CMAS geo-targeting capabilities and enhance understanding of public response to CMAS messages. These research and development initiatives will improve the functionality of CMAS both in reaching geographically targeted recipients with CMAS alerts and by enabling CMAS alert recipients to act in a way that increases individual and collective safety and security. (more…)

Nevada’s Homeland Security Commission today adopted a drastically reduced plan to continue the fight against potential terrorist attacks, leaving six ongoing programs without funding because of declining federal support.

Led by Commission Chairman and Gov. Brian Sandoval, the panel of law enforcement and other emergency services providers unanimously adopted a plan that will see $4.3 million in total federal funding this year, a 60 percent reduction in funding from 2011 when Nevada received $10.8 million.

Read more @ carsonnow.org