Final Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations Bill includes Millions for California

Final Science-State-Justice-Commerce
Appropriations Bill includes Millions for California
November 16, 2005

Washington, DC – The Senate today approved a final Science State Justice Commerce appropriations conference report to fund vital projects in California to improve communications among first responders, enhance public safety, combat methamphetamines and gangs, invest in coastal and science research, and restore criminal justice costs associated with incarcerating undocumented immigrants.

“California faces serious public safety challenges – including escalating gang violence, the scourge of methamphetamine, and the cost of incarcerating criminal aliens,” Senator Feinstein said. “This bill provides a federal hand of assistance for law enforcement agencies confronting these challenges. More funding needs to be provided, but these funds will allow us to continue the fight.”

The bill funds the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, as well as the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation, and the Small Business Administration. The bill has passed both chambers of Congress and now goes to the President for his signature.

Following is a partial list of programs and projects included in the bill important to California:

$405 million for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which assists states to bear the cost of incarcerating undocumented immigrants.

$30 million for the Southwest Border Prosecutors Initiative, which reimburses states and localities for work on federally declined cases. Since 2002 California has received almost $50 million for border prosecution cases, more than any other state involved in the program.

Methamphetamine Enforcement

$20 million for DEA to assist State and local law enforcement with proper removal and disposal of hazardous materials at clandestine meth labs and to initiate a container program
$1.5 million for Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s California Methamphetamine Strategy
$100,000 for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Methamphetamine Initiative
$100,000 for City of Woodland Methamphetamine Enforcement

“This nation needs to come to grips with the meth epidemic,” Senator Feinstein said. “This means passing a tough bill limiting access to pseudoephedrine. It means increasing interdiction efforts at the border. It means doing more research into prevention and treatments. And it means fully funding our nation’s law enforcement agencies.

There is no question that more funding is needed. The epidemic has moved from rural areas in California to a nationwide epidemic. That’s why I’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to pass the combat meth act and to support additional funding. Only if we work together will we ever be able to bring this problem under control.

I am disappointed that we have not yet been able to come to an agreement on a bill limiting access to meth, but I am still hopeful that we can work out a bill by the end of the session.

Additionally, I am disappointed that additional funding was not provided for the nation’s Drug Courts, which have proven to be an effective and important tool in fighting drug abuse.”

Gang Prevention and Intervention

$1 million for the California Department of Justice’s Gang Suppression Enforcement Teams
$1 million for the City of Los Angeles Project on Violence Prevention
$500,000 for Monterey County and Salinas Joint Gang Drug Task Forces
$400,000 for the City of Long Beach Gang Intervention Program
$400,000 for the City of San Jose’s Gang Prevention Anti-Violence Public Outreach Campaign
$250,000 for the City of Santa Monica’s Neighborhood Youth Intervention Program

Interoperable Communications Grants

$150,000 for Calaveras County Sheriff
$450,000 for Contra Costa County’s ARIES Countywide Integrated Justice System
$200,000 for Kern County Sheriff to purchase Mobile Data Terminals
$250,000 for Placer County
$2 million for Riverside and San Bernardino Sheriffs’ Regional Fingerprint Identification Project
$25,000 for San Bernardino County’s Identification Theft Prevention and Prosecution
$250,000 for the San Diego County Sheriff
$106,000 for San Luis Obispo County Sheriff
$400,000 for Stanislaus County and the City of Modesto
$150,000 for Ventura County Sheriff
$250,000 for the City of Roseville Police Department
$200,000 for the City of Inglewood
$150,000 for the City of Sonora
$100,000 for the City of Fairfield’s Police Department
$50,000 for the City of Stockton

Law Enforcement and Community Grants

$1 million for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
$2 million for the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Tools for Tolerance Program
$200,000 for the San Joaquin Valley Rural Crime Prevention Program
$300,000 for the Alameda County Children’s Assessment Center
$200,000 for the San Diego County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force
$150,000 for the San Diego Family Justice Center
$50,000 for San Diego’s Crisis Intervention Response Team
$800,000 for San Francisco’s Ex-Offender Reentry Services
$400,000 for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit
$600,000 for the San Mateo County Forensic Laboratory
$200,000 for the San Mateo Youth Services Center Girls Ranch
$200,000 for the Santa Clara County Juvenile Detention Reform Initiative
$100,000 for Ventura County
$50,000 for the We Care for Youth high school violence prevention program in Burbank

University Research

$2.5 million for California State University’s Center for Integrated Coastal Observation, Research and Education (CI- CORE)
$2.05 million for the Center for Integrated Marine Technology at UC Santa Cruz
$2 million for the Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute at NASA Ames Research Center (in conjunction with UC Santa Cruz)
$1.5 million for the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System at USC and UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Space and Science

$4.5 million for the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences
$600,000 for Chabot Space and Science Center
$900,000 for California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations
$500,000 for Griffith Observatory and Jet Propulsion Lab’s cooperative education programs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

$375,000 for a Central California Air Quality Study by the San Joaquin Valleywide Air Pollution Study Agency
$500,000 to purchase the 20-acre Piedras Blancas property near San Simeon for a new State park

National Marine Sanctuaries

$3 million for Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary’s facility construction at UC Santa Barbara
$2.5 million for Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
$1.5 million for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

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