FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
November 14, 2005
Contact:  Rachel Kleinman
(202) 225-3772
 

Arkansas Delegation Secures $4.69 Million For Technology, Law Enforcement Projects
 
(Washington, D.C.)  The Arkansas Congressional Delegation today announced that an annual spending bill containing $4,690,000 in law enforcement and science technology projects for Arkansas has been finalized by Congress.

The Fiscal Year 2006 Science, State, Justice, Commerce (SSJC) Appropriations Conference Report passed the House last week and is expected to pass the Senate early this week. Once the bill is passed by both the House and the Senate, it will await President Bush’s signature to become law, the six Arkansas lawmakers said. 

The six members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation who fought for the projects announced today are as follows: Senators Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D-1st), Vic Snyder (D-2nd), John Boozman (R-3rd), and Mike Ross (D-4th).

The annual SSJC spending bill is one of twelve appropriations bills that Congress will pass this year. It includes funding for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State. The following earmarks are included in the legislation: 

$500,000 for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Nanotechnology Economic Development Program. This program will be directly linked to UALR’s new nanotechnology laboratory, which will house both production and application research laboratories, as well as provide characterization of nanostructures for commercial use. Through this funding, Arkansas companies will have direct access to product development and research at a cost and convenience not before available to them. 
 

$1 million for Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. This funding will support the Center’s continuing research activities as they relate to planetary sample return technology and scientific investigation. This funding will also support faculty, students, and visiting researchers at the Center. In addition, the Center will purchase instrumentation for the first analytical laboratory, as well as establish a regional planetary imaging facility.


$1.1 million for the University of Arkansas, Arkansas Research & Technology Park (ARTP), Fayetteville. This funding will be used to promote the success of the ARTP as a driver for economic growth in the region. Specifically, these funds will be used to support the acquisition of additional land parcels of strategic importance to the project and to provide for preliminary engineering associated with project development and implementation of minor infrastructure enhancements such as sidewalks and entry features. The balance of funds to complete other infrastructure improvements will come from federal, municipal and project specific sources. The ARTP is located only five minutes from the University of Arkansas’ main campus and Fayetteville's Central Business District.

$750,000 to the Arkansas State Police to update the state’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

$255,000 to the Arkansas State Police, COPS Methamphetamine Drug Hot Spots Program. This funding will support law enforcement officials in the fight against the manufacturing, sale and use of methamphetamine.

$250,000 to the Criminal Justice Institute for methamphetamine education and training for law enforcement.

$350,000 to the Pulaski County Council for Children and Youth Services, Our Club Program. The Council works to decrease youth involvement in gangs, crime, violence, and substance abuse through prevention programs. The Our Club Program has four components, including a health component, a cultural enrichment component, a mentoring component and a ropes course. $250,000 of the funding will be used to expand services and reach more young people. $100,000 of the funding will be used by its Step One Alternative/Day School. The school assists those youth suspended or termed delinquent from their own schools and prepares them for their return. 

$150,000 to the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, for its Interoperable Communications Project. The City of Jonesboro will add a new radio site and high speed mobile data to its interoperable communications system, in order to best protect the area, which is a thoroughfare for hazardous materials via railroads and which houses several chemical stores and cotton gins. 

$150,000 for a radio system for Crittenden County.

$25,000 to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department to initiate a children's fingerprinting program.

$50,000 to the Garland County Sheriff’s Department to replace nine year-old duty-issued weapons.

$110,000 to the South Central Arkansas Drug Task Force to purchase equipment and tools to combat methamphetamine usage as well as provide man power to assist narcotics investigators. 


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