Davis Presses Ridge for Funding to Defray Anti-Terrorism Costs

Gov. Gray Davis insisted Thursday that the cost of preventing terrorism in California is eating into funds needed to combat crime and lobbied the U.S. secretary of homeland security for an infusion of federal dollars.

Davis told security chief Tom Ridge, who was visiting Los Angeles, that the federal government should be paying for local preparedness efforts, particularly overtime expenses for law enforcement workers. Federal funds already allocated for the state can’t be used to pay overtime, the governor said.

Increased security at California’s airports, power generating stations, suspension bridges, the Super Bowl and other potential targets has cost $750 million since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, Davis said. Because those expenses are consuming general funds, the state attorney general, for example, has cut back on nighttime raids of suspected methamphetamine labs in California’s Central Valley, Davis said.

“Law enforcement is carrying water on both shoulders protecting us from crime and terrorism,” Davis said.

In a speech to hundreds of police and fire officials, Ridge did not address Davis’ plea for overtime pay, but listed federal homeland security appropriations that would benefit local communities. The president, he said, had signed a $2.2-billion appropriations bill that would reimburse states nationwide for security expenses. The federal government also has appropriated $45 million for local emergency agencies in California and earmarked $12.5 million specifically for Los Angeles.

Ridge began a two-day swing through California on Thursday. After driving up from the U.S.-Mexico border, past the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Los Angeles International Airport and other potential terrorist targets, Ridge said he appreciated the governor’s position.

“California is a microcosm of what America looks like, and we have an enormously complex challenge ahead of us,” Ridge said.

One for the federal government, he said, is making sure money gets into the right hands. “The more resources we provide, the more important it is that we make sure the money is spent to fight terrorism.”