Congressman Salazar's Funding Priorities for Commerce, Justice, Science

As a new member of the Appropriations Committee, I have new oversight responsibilities for the spending of federal dollars, as well as an increased role in the prioritization of federal spending.

For too long, the process of Congressional funding requests lacked transparency and accountability, leading some members of Congress to abuse it and the public trust. Since assuming the majority in 2007, Congressional Democrats have significantly reformed the process, including ensuring that every American can easily determine which member of Congress has submitted a requests.

Below you will find a list of my funding requests for the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill.

Alamosa Public Safety Mobile DATA
$127,000
City of Alamosa Police Department
425 4th Street
Alamosa, CO 81101
Explanation: While a small city, Alamosa hosts the largest police force in the entire San Luis Valley. The City provides, through mutual aide, the only critical incident response law enforcement team in the valley. The Alamosa Police Department provides equipment and manpower for these types of incidents to 19 valley communities. Any hostage or serious situation is responded to by Alamosa PD regardless of location. The Alamosa PD is in need of Mobile Data to better utilize resources and respond to the need of the public. These funds will fund the acquisition of needed computers and hardware to improve communications, reduce response time, and more efficiently meet the needs of the community.

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco Counties
$500,000
ChildHelp River Bridge Center
520 21st Street
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Explanation: The requested funding would assist Childhelp in providing increased services to abused children in Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties. Specifically, funding will be used for, increased advocacy and investigative services, mental health services and community outreach.

Durango Police Department Interoperability Completion
$500,000
City of Durango
949 E. 2nd Avenue
Durango, CO 81301
Explanation: This project consists of two related components to increase the interoperability for Durango Police Officers. The first component is the installation of laptops, 900MHz radios, in-car cameras, and access points for the remaining eight patrol cars. This system has already been installed in the majority of the patrol cars. The second component is a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software system that provides an interface between the in-car computers and Dispatch. This is a regional solution that allows for redundancies and provides interoperability for 10 local agencies.

Montrose County Justice Center Expansion
$2,000,000
Montrose County
161 S. Townsend Ave
Montrose, CO 81401
Explanation: One of the more prominent issues is the effect of growth on the County’s entire criminal justice system, including the courts, jail, Sheriff’s Office, and support services. Continued growth in the County, and surrounding areas, has stressed the existing facility and necessitate expanding the Justice Center to accommodate the increased demand. In particular, the court and jail expansions are necessary to accommodate the increasing number of individuals passing through the justice system, including inmates. The number of detainees in the jail continues to rise as does the number of temporary inmates ultimately taken into custody by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. An independent needs assessment estimates the additional space needed for the Justice Center will be an additional 23,000 square feet by 2012 and 38,000 square feet by 2027.

Montrose Safe and Secure Schools
$485,000
Montrose Police Department
433 1st Street
Montrose, CO 81401
Explanation: This project would provide the police department and schools with technology to add security at schools when a physical police presence is absent. Technology equipment on a secured closed circuit will allow police to monitor incidents in high traffic areas, like classrooms, cafeterias, and common areas. The project will supplement efforts to enhance the safety of the school environments, in response to a knife assault in 2008.

Mountain Village Public Safety Communications System
$1,000,000
City of Mountain Village
455 Mountain Village Blvd, Suite A
Mountain Village, CO 81435
Explanation: The project will complete construction of a public safety communications network by installing additional repeater sites and redundant systems at critical sites. It will optimize the system to provide high performance with the existing coverage footprint, and improve the radio network with the installation of a microwave link to connect the Montrose County Dispatch Center with Mountain Village radio tower sites. To date the system has improved radio communication interoperability between police, fire, EMS and other first responders in the three county region. The project will improve system operations capabilities to the benefit public safety services for the regional population.

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