Stephen F. Austin State University

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Monday the final passage of a bill that will include about $4 million to be allotted to the Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center System at SFA, according to a press release issued by her office.

The Columbia Center, established by Congress in 2005, is the national model for a growing network of regional centers and delivers the most up-to-date geospatial information and tools for regional support, according to The Columbia Center Web site.

The Fiscal Year 2009 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations bill — a broad spending package — will provide disaster assistance, full year defense, military construction and veteran's affairs, and homeland security funding, as well as continuing appropriations for various government agencies and priority programs through March of next year, the release said. The bill, which passed by a 78 to 12 vote, will now be sent to President George W. Bush to be signed into law.

"These funds will help support efforts at Stephen F. Austin State University to ensure that our first responders have the resources they need in any crisis," Hutchison said.

Besides SFA, other Columbia Centers are located at Texas Tech and the University of Texas at El Paso.

The funds will allow for system expansion of the Columbia Center at Lamar University in Beaumont, which will support the upper Texas coastal region, as well an fund the Columbia Center project as a whole, according to P.R. Blackwell, Columbia Center director.

Although the center at Lamar is functional, it does not have the infrastructure that the other centers have, because it is relatively new, Blackwell said.

"We're working with Lamar now," Blackwell said. "We've done some training down there."

Blackwell said the Columbia Center staff is "extremely happy" with the funding and Hutchison's support of the center.

"She's been a great supporter of our project, and we really appreciate that," he said.

The Columbia Center, which also provides GPS training to the Texas State Guard, was able to demonstrate the center's effectiveness with Hurricane Ike, Blackwell said. Locally, the center provided mapping support to the Emergency Operations Center as well as provided damage assessment.

A team was also sent to Galveston County to help during the search and rescue phase, he said.

"That's the sort of thing that (Hutchison) has seen fit to support," Blackwell said. "... we were able to demonstrate the effectiveness in a real-world emergency situation."