House bill would let federal security grants pay for nonprofits' own guards and the staff who apply for them
Reps. Joe Neguse and Don Bacon introduced the Safe Spaces for All Act on July 27 and announced it on Sept. 17. It would add onsite security staff, off-duty police officers and application costs to what the Nonprofit Security Grant Program may pay for. It is still in committee.
Washington. A bill in the House of Representatives would let nonprofits spend Nonprofit Security Grant Program money on security guards of their own, on off-duty police officers and on staff who apply for the grants. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, introduced the Safe Spaces for All Act, H.R. 9966, on July 27, with Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, as its only cosponsor. The two announced it on Sept. 17.
It was referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees, and on July 28 to a Homeland Security subcommittee. The Library of Congress record of the bill shows no action since.
Mr. Neguse represents Boulder County, where an attack in June 2025 on a weekly walk calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza killed an 82-year-old woman and injured more than a dozen people.
What the grants pay for now
The program, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the states, makes grants to 501(c)(3) organizations at risk of terrorist attacks or other threats, for target hardening and other security enhancements. The law already lists facility security personnel costs among its uses, along with equipment, security training and up to 5 percent of a grant for its administration.
FEMA's notice for this year's grants allows contracted security personnel, and a nonprofit may spend its whole award on them. It rules out the hiring of public safety personnel, except off-duty law enforcement officers serving as contract security, and the cost of developing the investment justification, the form in which each applicant describes the project it wants funded. Under current law, Mr. Neguse's office said, the money cannot pay permanent salaried security staff or the staff who prepare applications.
This year FEMA offered $300 million, half for nonprofits in designated high-risk urban areas and half for those elsewhere, with up to $200,000 per site. It announced the awards on Sept. 28.
What the bill would change
The bill would add the hiring of onsite security personnel to the personnel costs the law allows, and make the hiring of off-duty police officers a use of its own. It would extend the 5 percent allowance for administering a grant to applying for one, and add a further use, hiring personnel to apply for program funding, also capped at 5 percent of the grant.
Mr. Neguse's office said the change would also help organizations in rural and remote communities, where it can be hard to find enough qualified private security vendors. JEWISHcolorado, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federations of North America support the bill.
“Walk into most American synagogues today, and the first person you meet isn't a rabbi, it's a security guard.”
About this story
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