§70107 Grants

Summary

Creates a grant program run by the Secretary to give money based on risk. The grants pay for work that fixes Coast Guard-identified weaknesses and helps carry out Area Maritime Transportation Security Plans and facility security plans. Before giving money, the Secretary must get review and comment from the Federal Maritime Security Coordinators and the Maritime Administrator. The Secretary must consider national economic, energy, and defense concerns using the latest risk assessments. Eligible costs include pay and benefits for extra security staff required by the Coast Guard; buying, running, and keeping security equipment and infrastructure (like cameras, gates, barriers, lighting, remote and concealed video, security boats, and related systems); screening and testing equipment for weapons and explosives; vulnerability assessments; exercises and training for prevention, response, and recovery; ways to share threat information that work with federal, state, and local systems; equipment and software to handle classified information; and training of public safety personnel to enforce or assist with security zones. Grants may not be used to build normal buildings, except for special, Secretary-approved projects that meet the Robert T. Stafford Act rules. Equipment projects cannot cost more than $1,000,000 per project unless the Secretary approves a larger amount, and that extra cannot be more than 10 percent of the total grant. Most projects get up to 75 percent federal funding. Projects of $25,000 or less need no local match. Training for enforcing security zones needs no match. The Secretary can approve a higher federal share if needed. The Secretary must coordinate projects in the same port area and can require users to sign cooperation agreements. The Secretary may sign letters of intent for multi-year projects, but no more than 20 percent of yearly grant funds may go to projects that span multiple years. Grants must support and match the applicable Area Maritime Transportation Security Plan and any State or Urban Area Homeland Security Plan. Eligible port authorities, facility operators, and required state and local agencies can apply. Each payment request must include the applicable security plan, a clear description of need and how the project fits the plan, and a Captain of the Port finding that the project fixes Coast Guard-identified vulnerabilities and ensures plan compliance. The Secretary must set rules for accounting, reporting, review, and recovery of unused funds. Recipients must keep required records and allow audits by the Secretary, the Comptroller General, or the Inspector General. The Secretary must send a secure report to Congress within 180 days after the SAFE Port Act was enacted describing how grant money is allocated by risk. The Secretary must also send an unclassified funding plan within 6 months after enactment covering fiscal years 2003–2008 and annual unclassified progress reports each year until October 1, 2009. Congress authorized $400,000,000 for each fiscal year 2007 through 2013 for this program. The Secretary must also fund investigations, pilots, and grants to test and develop new security tools. These cover targeting and inspection methods, detectors for explosives, chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological threats, improved container tags and seals with tracking and sensors, satellite and other awareness tools, mitigation and response tools, adapted technologies, better container and facility designs, and special inspection facilities. Up to $35,000,000 is authorized per year for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to test and implement these technologies. The Secretary can fund National Port Security Centers at nonprofit colleges through a competitive process, and must coordinate to avoid duplicating federal work. The Inspector General must review these programs each year and report findings to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.