$119 MILLION BOOSTS CALIFORNIA'S SECURITY.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

More than $119 million in federal money was allocated Wednesday to California to reimburse state and local government agencies for some of the $750 million they spent tightening homeland security, officials said.

The state will use about 20 percent of the money, then disburse the balance to cities and counties that apply for grants.

``It's impossible to determine how much the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County will get,'' said Byron Tucker, a spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis. ``Counties and cities have to submit to a needs assessment.''

Los Angeles officials estimate they have spent more than $100 million since Sept. 11, 2001, to increase security at critical sites and events, like Los Angeles International Airport and the Academy Awards.

``When the governor reviews requests, we hope he takes into account that Los Angeles has a port, an airport and other critical infrastructure we're working to protect,'' said Julie Wong, a spokeswoman for Mayor James Hahn.

County officials said they had not yet calculated their expenses.

California already had received $45 million from the federal government to pay for homeland security. Los Angeles received $12.5 million under a program for large urban areas.

It remained unclear Wednesday whether local governments would be able to use the money to pay for overtime and staffing, a major cost when the national security threat level was raised during the Iraq War.