Tennessee ranks low on per capita homeland security funding

Among the 50 states and District of Columbia, Tennessee was 40th in per capita grant money at $16.58, while the national average was $18.67, a study by the Public Policy Institute of California shows. At $12.92 per person, Georgia was last in grants from the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Resources.

The money helps state and local governments purchase items like hazardous materials suits, radios and firetrucks, and improve terrorism responses from police and public health departments.

The grant formula needs to be examined, said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., although he isn’t certain Tennessee is being underfunded. There are several possibilities for the state’s low per-capita funding, he said.

“We don’t have a port and … our major potential targets are actually secured by agencies other than the Department of Homeland Security,” Wamp said.

He cited the Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants that are operated and protected by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned utility.

James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and educational institute based in Washington, D.C., believes the funding formula has flaws. The federal homeland security grant formulas resemble those used to fund roads, he said.

Forty percent of most federal grants are based on state receiving minimum funding guarantees, said Tim Ransdell, an analyst for California institute. The rest are based on population, he said.

“There was no relationship whatsoever between the potential or actual terror threats and the dollars flowing to the state,” Ransdell said.

Tennessee homeland security chief Jerry Humble said he doesn’t think security in the state has been overlooked. The federal money has “come down, but the capabilities haven’t been developed,” he said.

The federal government has disbursed more than $13 billion to states since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Valerie Smith with the federal Department of Homeland Security. Tennessee received $149.7 million from fiscal year 2002 to the current fiscal year, she said.

The California study found that Tennessee received security grants last year totaling $96.1 million.

The total does not include figures from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“There will be constant evaluation as to the best way to allocate these funds,” Smith said. “We are confident in the efforts made so far. But this is just an unprecedented amount of money.”

There are bills to change the funding formulas pending in Congress. U.S. Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., wants to eliminate funding guarantees for states.

The grants “have been slow to improve homeland security because they are not risk-based, do not fund measurable goals, lack adequate planning and face numerous administrative obstacles,” according to Cox’s office.

Wyoming, a sparsely populated state, was the top-ranked state in federal homeland security spending with per capita grants of $61.02. It received $30.4 million in grants.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said that federal dollars for homeland security should be allocated in a flexible manner.

“Every state is a potential target for this cowardly enemy, and Tennessee is no different,” Frist said in a statement.
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On the Net:
Tennessee Homeland Security: http://www.state.tn.us/homelandsecurity/