From Deseret News archives:
Security causes concern on Hill
Representative points to dearth in guidelines
"Ninety-five percent of the questions on the survey I didn't have any idea how to answer, or where to go to get answers," Ure said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill meeting of the Legislature's administrative rules committee, of which he is a co-chairman.
Then when he went looking in state statute and administrative rule for homeland security information, Ure found he came up with more questions than answers.
"I knew there were rules concerning emergency management, but not homeland security, and to the best of staff's knowledge, there are no rules for homeland security," he said, directing his comments in part to staff from emergency management and the Department of Public Safety. "I don't want to this to be a turf battle between the Legislature, the division and the executive branch . . . but we ought to have some kind of idea with how the Legislature intertwines with homeland security. There are some things we need to know as legislators and we need to be able to have conversation back and forth."
"In my opinion it would be very cumbersome," said Wyss, adding that he could see a need for some legislative guidelines.
Wyss explained that currently, DES has entered into interlocal agreements with the various law enforcement, public health, utilities and other agencies that are part of the network of first responders. Those agencies make grant requests to DES, which then awards the funds. Under federal law, the state keeps 20 percent of federal grant funds, which is then divided among state-level agencies.
Ure also expressed concern that federally mandated homeland security initiatives might leave the state faced with big budget problems when federal grant monies dry up, as they often do.
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