WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (both D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), today announced the inclusion of $9,969,000 in direct federal funding for community-led projects throughout Maryland within key Senate Committee legislation. These projects, funded at the Senators’ request, are within the Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee’s proposed funding legislation for fiscal year 2024. The projects seek to address a wide array of issues including gun violence, public safety, climate change, and supporting Maryland universities’ innovative research. This subcommittee legislation was released as part of the annual Congressional Appropriations process and passed on a bipartisan basis by the full Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday. The bill will proceed to consideration before the full Senate – funding is not finalized until the Appropriations bills are passed by the full Senate, reconciled with the House of Representatives, and signed by the President.

“Congress has an obligation to pass appropriations bills in a timely manner to avoid unnecessary and destructive continuing resolutions or government shutdowns,” said Senator Cardin. “With this bill, we allocate significant resources to improve public safety for all Marylanders, including tackling both the symptoms and underlying causes of gun violence that plague so many of our communities. We make substantial investments to combat climate change, better understand our planet, and support the tremendous research occurring in Maryland at our top-tier scientific facilities, including our colleges and universities. We promote American leadership in manufacturing and science by providing funds to implement the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, and give NIST the resources it needs to continue its cutting-edge research into cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and so much more. These are smart investments for Maryland and the nation.”

“In Congress, one of my top priorities is securing federal investments to support our communities. And these funds will help advance promising initiatives to tackle pressing challenges our state faces – including improving public safety, addressing the causes and consequences of gun violence, and confronting climate change. These projects can make a real impact, and that’s why I’m determined to keep working to get these investments over the finish line,” said Senator Van Hollen.

These projects were included in the Senate Appropriations CJS FY2024 funding legislation. Additional projects will be announced as the Subcommittees continue to release their respective bills.

Project Name: Anacostia River Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration & Monitoring Project

Applicant: Anacostia Watershed Society

Project Location: Prince George’s County

Amount Requested: $225,000

Description: Funds will be used to expand Anacostia River restoration activities to improve water quality including repopulating native mussels, planting aquatic vegetation, restoring vernal pools and wetlands, and the removal of non-native plants, and monitoring these activities to develop best practices.

Project Name: Baltimore City School-Based Violence Prevention

Applicant: Baltimore City

Project Location: Baltimore City

Amount Requested: $738,000

Description: Funds will implement the Supporting Our Students Program to teach middle and high school students non-violent coping and conflict resolution skills, provide coaching, mentoring and counseling, and link students and their families to supports and resources to reduce juvenile crime and violence.

Project Name: Baltimore City State’s Attorney Office Modernization and Cyber Security Enhancements

Applicant: Baltimore City State’s Attorney

Project Location: Baltimore City

Amount Requested: $775,000

Description: Funds will allow the office to work more closely with the community to address violent crime by modernizing technology, protecting against cyberattacks, training agency prosecutors and staff, supporting victim services, and enhancing diversion programs to prevent recidivism.

Project Name: Building Capacity for Sea Level Rise Adaptation on the Eastern Shore

Applicant: Town of Oxford

Project Location: Talbot County

Amount Requested: $1,060,000

Description: Funds will be used to research and evaluate shoreline restoration and coastal flood protection methods with the goal of implementing and disseminating best practices in Oxford and neighboring communities that are at high risk from sea level rise, erosion, and subsidence.

Project Name: Cecil County Co-Responder Mobile Crisis Team Pilot Project

Applicant: The Affiliated Sante Group

Project Location: Cecil County

Amount Requested: $499,000

Description: Funds will support a new Co-Responder Mobile Crisis Team, pairing a trained law enforcement officer with a behavioral health clinician to respond to individuals in crisis. The team will be dispatched from 911 calls or when individuals in crisis are encountered during routine patrols.

Project Name: Data-Driven After Shooting Protocol Expansion Project

Applicant: Roca Baltimore, LLC

Project Location: Baltimore City

Amount Requested: $1,455,000

Description: Funds will be used to build on Roca’s violence reduction pilot and Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs to work with 150-200 non-fatal shooting victims and their families each year to address trauma, manage conflict, and change behavior to break the cycle of violence in the community.

Project Name: Gun Violence Reduction Research Initiative

Applicant: University of Maryland

Project Location: Prince George’s County

Amount Requested: $726,000

Description: Funds will support research into gun violence intervention programs to determine and disseminate effective approaches. The Research Initiative will also study safety technology to prevent accidental gun deaths.

Project Name: Montgomery County Police Department Crisis Co-Response Teams

Applicant: Montgomery County

Project Location: Montgomery County

Amount Requested: $700,000

Description: Funds will support Crisis Intervention Teams, specialized units of law enforcement officers and mental health professionals trained to respond to individuals experiencing mental health crises. Teams provide immediate support to individuals in crisis and to help prevent tragic outcomes.

Project Name: Reentry Services in Anne Arundel County

Applicant: Anne Arundel County

Project Location: Anne Arundel County

Amount Requested: $450,000

Description: Funds will support comprehensive re-entry coordination and post-release case management services for individuals released from the Ordnance Road Detention Facility as part of the County’s strategy to help returning citizens find stable employment to reduce re-arrests and recidivism.

Project Name: Statewide Youth Conflict Coaching

Applicant: Conflict Resolution Center of Baltimore County

Project Location: Baltimore County

Amount Requested: $291,000

Description: Funds will be used to pilot Youth Conflict Coaching in the high schools of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, and St. Mary’s counties, providing one-on-one counseling and helping resolve conflicts before they escalate to prevent school violence.

Project Name: UMBC Quantum Science Institute

Applicant: University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Project Location: Baltimore County

Amount Requested: $1,500,000

Description: Quantum technologies are a growing part of fields ranging from information security to medical advancements. Funds will support the creation of a new Quantum Science Institute to combine teaching and training with scientific advances to help educate the next generation of quantum-ready students.

Project Name: University of Maryland Capital Region Health Violence Intervention Program

Applicant: University of Maryland Capital Region Health

Project Location: Prince George’s County

Amount Requested: $275,000

Description: Funds will be used to expand the Violence Intervention Program, which engages with patients aged 15-35 who were injured through violence to address medical and social needs and break the cycle of violence. With these funds, the program will be able operate on evenings and weekends.

Project Name: University of Maryland Medical Center R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center Penetrating Injury Recovery Project

Applicant: University of Maryland Medical Center R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center

Project Location: Baltimore City

Amount Requested: $1,275,000

Description: Funds will be used to develop and implement a comprehensive recovery program for patients who are victims of violent crime that includes post-injury care and mental health services, along with case management to support patients and stop the cycle of violence.

Additional priorities secured by the Senators in the FY24 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies funding bill include:

Public Safety Agency Investments

• $37.96 billion for the Department of Justice (DOJ), including funding for U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Marshalls, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives who help jurisdictions in Maryland arrest and prosecute violent crime and combat gun and drug trafficking.
• $21.84 million for the FBI’s National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. The NBFAC is a unique laboratory that has played a critical role in protecting the United States against biological agents since 9/11.
• $2.2 billion for state and local law enforcement assistance, including $226 million for State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office grant programs related to police-community relations; and $415 million for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention.
• $732 million, the highest funding level ever, for the Office of Violence Against Women and $1.2 billion to assist victims of crime.
• $550 million for Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement, which funds the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces program, an important tool for addressing violent crime in Baltimore.
• Language from Senator Van Hollen’s Fresh Start Act, which urges DOJ to ensure that grants made under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) can be available for states that allow for criminal record expungement or sealing.
• Language preventing the Justice Department from interfering with states, like Maryland, that have passed medical marijuana legalization laws.
• Report language encouraging DOJ to develop innovative approaches to reduce the incidence of reinjury and reincarceration caused by intentional violent trauma, including through partnerships with hospital-based violence prevention programs.
• Report language directing DOJ to enforce constitutional policing statutes.

Chesapeake Bay/Water Resources Programs

• $1.75 million for the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration, which is critical to the economic and environmental survival of the Chesapeake Bay and is a high priority for the State of Maryland, The Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Chesapeake Bay Program.  
• Additional programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

• $500,000 for Sea Turtle Stranding Response and Rehabilitation, which will provide grants to institutions like the National Aquarium for its sea turtle rescue efforts.
• $59 million for Marine Habitat Conservation and Restoration.  
• Approximately $6.5 million for the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office. 
• $19 million for the National Marine Fisheries Service Aquaculture Program and $14 million for the Sea Grant Aquaculture Research Program, both of which support coastal resilience and the health of commercial fisheries. 
• $8.7 million for NOAA Regional Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant programs, which award educational grants related to Chesapeake Bay restoration. 
• Report language encouraging NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to conduct Menhaden abundance research to monitor the population of this crucial forage fish in the Chesapeake Bay waters.
• Report language directing the National Marine Fisheries Service to assess the potential benefits of supporting deployment of Automatic Identification System transponders on fishing vessels less than 65 feet in length to reduce vessel strikes and deter IUU fishing.

Science Agencies

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):

1. Support for missions at the Maryland-based Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt), the Applied Physics Laboratory (Laurel), and the Space Telescope Science Institute (Baltimore):

1. $91.4 million for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission, which monitors global ocean ecology
2. $227 million for the OSAM-1 robotic satellite maintenance mission
3. $98.3 million for the Hubble Space Telescope
4. $187 million for James Webb Space Telescope
5. $407 million for the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope
6. $15 million for the 21st Century Launch Complex, which provides infrastructure support to NASA-owned launch facilities like Wallops Flight Facility.
7. $805 million for Heliophysics
8. $327.7 million for the Dragonfly robotic mission to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), based in Gaithersburg, Md.:

• $1.448 billion for the agency overall
• $1.201 billion for Scientific and Technical Research and Services, which includes funding for research and development in areas critical for global competition such as quantum information science and artificial intelligence
• $175 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and $37 million for Manufacturing USA

• Support for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) with operations based in Suitland, Greenbelt, and College Park including $71.3 million for the National Centers for Environmental Information based in Silver Spring; $351 million for Environmental Satellite Observing Systems; and $219 million for Space Weather Next that primarily operates out of NASA Goddard.

• National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • $9.5 billion for the agency overall
  • Language encouraging NSF to collaborate with the National Academy of Sciences to initiate work on the emerging key technology areas study of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is based on Senator Van Hollen’s National SEAL Act.

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