OFFICIALS SECURE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR LOCAL PROJECTS; PUBLIC SAFETY, EDUCATION TO BENEFIT.

Byline: David Greenberg Staff Writer

With the recently signed federal budget, Ventura County's two congressmen secured $3 million for a list of local public safety, educational and environmental projects.

Reps. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, and Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, brought home funds for projects to address what have been ongoing issues within their districts.

``From enhancing law enforcement to protecting our environment, these projects touch just about every person in Ventura County,'' Gallegly said. ``I will continue to work hard to fund critical projects that add to the health and safety of our citizens.''

Among the local projects funded, Gallegly secured $1 million for improvements to the Ventura County's integrated justice system, a computerized program allowing law enforcement agencies to share and retrieve data more efficiently using programs linked together.

He also secured passage of legislation that makes the Hueneme School District eligible for federal funds to help offset the costs of educating children whose parents are stationed at the local Navy bases.

Gallegly aide Tom Pfeifer explained that the school district does not receive state funding for those students through the state property tax system, and could benefit from federal support.

``Military bases do not pay property taxes, yet the schools take in these children,'' said Pfeifer.

For the 24th District, Sherman brought back $2 million for the purchase and preservation of land in the Santa Monica Mountains recreational area, which oversees mountains and beaches visited by 33 million people a year.

``The Santa Monica Mountains are a jewel for Southern California,'' said Sherman, now in his second term in the district which includes Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Newbury Park and Westlake Village. ``It is the most widely visited unit of the National Park system in the nation. As we approach the end of the millennium, we need to make sure we're preserving our precious open space.''

The two also secured millions more in state and national projects from the last five of 13 appropriations bills signed by President Clinton Nov. 29.

Gallegly, a seven-term congressman whose 23rd Congressional District includes most of Ventura County, also secured funding for programs related to criminal illegal immigrants, an issue he has worked on in recent years.

Those include:

$585 million for the Gallegly-supported State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, to help absorb the cost of incarcerating illegal criminal immigrants in local jails statewide.

$5 million to expand a nationwide program allowing Immigration and Naturalization Service agents to identify illegal criminal immigrants in local jails across the nation.

The congressman authored the latter program, commonly referred to as the ``Gallegly bill,'' which was implemented first in Ventura County and the city of Anaheim.

Pfeifer said that during the first two years of operation, 60 percent of the inmates screened were found to be criminal immigrants.

``When they are arrested, (INS) puts an immigration hold on them so they can not just be released back into society,'' he said. ``It's a very successful program.''