On Feb. 15, President Bush signed into law H.J. Res. 20, a joint resolution that will fund all federal programs through the remainder of FY 2007.

Prior to H.J. Res. 20 being signed, the programs under these bills were being funded by a continuing resolution (CR) that Congress passed in December 2006, which extended funding for these programs at FY 2006 levels until February 15. Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations were not covered under the CR and are not covered under the joint resolution, as Congress passed the FY 2007 spending bills for these programs shortly before adjourning to campaign for the November 2006 elections.

The remaining nine measures include the Transportation-Treasury-Housing and Urban Development, Science-State-Justice-Commerce, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Agriculture, Energy and Water; Interior-EPA, Military Quality of Life, Legislative Branch and Foreign Operations bills.

The House and Senate agreed to use the FY 2006 conference agreement levels as the baseline for funding federal programs in the remaining nine FY 2007 bills in the joint resolution. Several programs utilized by California local governments did receive increases, however, including:

• Local Law Enforcement: $520 million for Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Formula Grants, an increase of $109 million; $542 million for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), an increase of $70 million
• Housing and Urban Development: $15.9 billion for the Section 8 Tenant-Based program, an increase of $502 million; $5.9 billion for the Section 8 Project-Based program, an increase of $939 million
• Water Infrastructure Grants: $1 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, an increase of $197 million
• Transportation: Funding for the Federal-Aid Highway program ($39 billion) and federal transit programs ($8.97 billion) are fully funded at the guaranteed amounts established in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)

The full text of H.J. Res. 20 can be accessed at www.cacities.org/federalresources.