An Arkansas legislative panel on Tuesday advanced the state Department of Public Safety's request for $500,000 in state restricted reserve funds for the department to support physical security enhancement and other measures to assist "nonprofit ideology-based/spiritual/religious entities" in preventing and responding to terrorist threats and other extremist attacks.
The department will call the grant program the Right to Worship Safely Grant Program.
The Legislative Council's Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee recommended the Legislative Council approve the department's request. The council is slated to meet Friday.
State Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, asked Tuesday about what the department would use for parameters for the size of grants distributed through the program and who would decide what groups would receive grants.
In response, state Department of Public Safety Secretary Mike Hagar said "right now there have been no parameters set.
"Because this is new, we truly don't know what to expect," he said. "This is kind of new to all of us. We already have started receiving correspondence on people's intent to apply, or institutions' intent to apply, but we have not seen anything in the form of a formal request yet.
"And truthfully, we don't know if we are going to receive five or 500 [applications] and we don't know if it is going to ask for $500 or $500,000, " Hagar said. "So the committee is just going to look at it, once all the applications are received, and ... go through and try to just to make the determination to where we can help the most people possible with the amount of money that we have based on the need they present in their application."
Hagar said the committee will be comprised of eight members.
Last month, state Department of Public Safety Chief Fiscal Officer Karen Perry told lawmakers that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders "promised to aid the Jewish community during the recent rise of antisemitic rhetoric crime, and this will allow funds for [the Public Safety Department] to provide grant funding to support security enhancements for nonprofit organizations."
Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning said last week that "No person or community should ever be violently targeted for their faith.
"There was no avenue to provide aid for those at high risk for a terrorist attack, therefore the Governor and her staff worked with Arkansas State Police and the legislature to address that," she said. "State Police will assess these applications and verify there is a legitimate risk to a faith community before any money is allocated."
The Right to Worship Safely Grant Program is modeled after the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, according to Cindy Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Public Safety Department.
On Nov. 17, the Legislative Council authorized co-chairs Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, and Rice to approve the department's request for the one-time funding upon "receipt of grant of written guidelines for distribution of the grant program to include more specific definitions regarding what constitutes being under threat and what expenditures will be allowed to be covered by the grant funds, and parameters regarding amounts for individual grant awards."
Rice and Wardlaw said last week the grant program will begin accepting applications Jan. 1, so there wasn't an urgent need for the duo to sign off on the department's request for the funding last week, and they forwarded the request back to the Legislative Council Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee.
The department's initial request for $500,000 in state-restricted reserve funds stalled in the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee on Nov. 14 after lawmakers asked for more details about the grant program.
As part of the grant program, eligible ideology-based/spiritual/religious institutions and organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (or exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such code) must develop a formal investment justification that addresses each initiative proposed for funding to support physical security enhancements and other security activities for the prevention, protection against, preparedness for, and response to terrorist threats or other extremist activities, the Public Safety Department's Research and Planning Division said in a document.
These investment justifications must demonstrate how the proposed projects address high-risk terrorist threats and/or extremist attacks, the Public Safety Department's Research and Planning Division said.
The grant program's allowable costs include facility hardening activities such as planning and exercise-related costs, contracted security personnel, and security-related training courses and programs limited to the protection of critical infrastructure key resources, according to the grant application.
Funding also can be used for the acquisition and installation of security equipment on real property -- including buildings and surrounding property -- owned or leased by the nonprofit ideology-based/spiritual/religious institution/organization, specifically in prevention of and/or in protection against the risk of terrorist or other extremist attack, the grant application states.
According to the grant application, the approved equipment list includes:
— Security/police presence/contract security personnel;
— Security cameras/video cameras/lighting/motion sensors;
— Perimeter protection in the form of a gate or fence;
— Access control to buildings;
— Trip wire alarms;
— Vehicle barriers.