Homeland Security asks lawmakers for ongoing website funding, disaster relief authority and staffing

During a hearing of the Appropriations - Government Operations Division, Homeland Security Division officials outlined five priority budget requests intended to sustain emergency operations and increase statewide mitigation capacity.

Darren Hanson, Homeland Security Division director at the Department of Emergency Services, told the committee the top requests include ongoing funding for the ND response website, an ongoing $2 million authority from the disaster relief fund, two full-time watch-center positions, federal authority to accept a pending FEMA STORM Act award and federal authority to spend excess grant funds on disaster response equipment.

The ND response website request is roughly $87,000 in general funds and would transfer operations that NDIT previously covered to the Department of Emergency Services. Hanson said the site hosts continuity-of-operations and recovery information and must be “very robust” to handle simultaneous…