Florida Senate - 2022 SB 1188
By Senator Bracy
11-00826B-22 20221188__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to community violence intervention and
3 prevention; amending s. 20.19, F.S.; establishing the
4 Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant
5 Program within the Department of Children and
6 Families; providing for the awarding of grants,
7 subject to legislative appropriation; specifying
8 requirements for grant awards; authorizing applicants
9 to file independently or jointly; specifying
10 application requirements; requiring the department to
11 prioritize certain applicants; prohibiting the
12 department from requiring grant recipients to
13 participate in certain activities as a condition of
14 the grant; requiring that funds awarded be
15 commensurate with the scope of the applicant’s
16 proposal and demonstrated need; requiring grants to be
17 awarded for a specified duration, subject to
18 availability; requiring grant recipients to submit
19 specified reports to the department at specified
20 times; requiring that grants be used for the
21 applicant’s specified purposes; prohibiting grant
22 funds from reverting to the general budget of
23 specified entities; authorizing the department to use
24 up to a specified percentage of the appropriated funds
25 for implementing and administering the grant program;
26 requiring specified evaluations be publicly available;
27 requiring the department to hold an annual public
28 hearing for specified purposes; requiring the
29 department to annually submit a report to the Governor
30 and Legislature by a specified date; authorizing the
31 department to adopt rules; providing an effective
32 date.
33
34 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
35
36 Section 1. Subsection (7) is added to section 20.19,
37 Florida Statutes, to read:
38 20.19 Department of Children and Families.—There is created
39 a Department of Children and Families.
40 (7) COMMUNITY VIOLENCE INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION GRANT
41 PROGRAM.—
42 (a) There is established within the department the
43 Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program.
44 (b) Subject to the appropriation of funds by the
45 Legislature, the department may award grants on a competitive
46 basis to nonprofit organizations and community-based
47 partnerships that serve communities disproportionately impacted
48 by violence to support, expand, and replicate effective violence
49 reduction programs. The grants must be used to:
50 1. Implement, expand, or enhance coordination between
51 evidence-informed violence reduction programs, including, but
52 not limited to, hospital-based violence intervention, street
53 outreach, and group violence intervention strategies, that have
54 demonstrated effectiveness in reducing homicides and group
55 violence without contributing to mass incarceration;
56 2. Support the development and delivery of intervention
57 based strategies by entities that provide targeted services to
58 individuals at risk of being victimized by or engaging in
59 violence to interrupt cycles of violence, reinjury, and
60 retaliation; and
61 3. Support programs that seek to reduce violence among
62 individuals identified, based on the best available medical and
63 public health research, as having the highest risk of
64 perpetrating or being victimized by violence in the near future.
65 (c) Applicants may apply either independently or jointly.
66 (d) An applicant for a grant must submit a proposal, in a
67 form prescribed by the department, which must include, but need
68 not be limited to, all of the following:
69 1. A statement describing how the applicant proposes to use
70 the grant to implement an evidence-informed violence reduction
71 program in accordance with this section.
72 2. A statement describing how the applicant proposes to use
73 the grant to enhance coordination of existing violence
74 prevention and intervention programs and minimize duplication of
75 services.
76 3. Evidence indicating that the proposed violence reduction
77 program would likely reduce homicides, group violence, and other
78 interpersonal violence.
79 4. Clearly defined and measurable objectives for the
80 violence reduction program.
81 (e)1. In awarding grants, the department shall prioritize
82 applicants operating in areas disproportionately affected by
83 violence and whose proposals demonstrate the greatest likelihood
84 of reducing homicides, group violence, and other interpersonal
85 violence without contributing to mass incarceration. The
86 department may not require grant recipients to participate in
87 the policing, enforcement, or prosecution of any crime as a
88 condition of receiving the grant.
89 2. The amount of funds awarded to an applicant must be
90 commensurate with the scope of the applicant’s proposal and the
91 applicant’s demonstrated need for additional resources to reduce
92 homicides, group violence, and other interpersonal violence in
93 the community served by the applicant.
94 3. Subject to availability of funds, a grant must be
95 awarded for a duration of at least 3 years.
96 4. Each grant recipient shall report to the department, in
97 a form and at intervals prescribed by the department, the
98 recipient’s progress toward achieving the grant objectives.
99 (f) Grants must be used only for the purposes specified in
100 the grant application. Grant funds may not revert to the general
101 budget of a law enforcement agency, municipality, or other
102 public entity participating in a community-based partnership.
103 (g) The department may use up to 8 percent of the funds
104 appropriated or made available, or such percentage as may be
105 authorized under program guidelines for funding made available
106 to the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant
107 Program through federal funding sources, for the costs of
108 technical assistance and for the costs of implementing and
109 administering the program, including, but not limited to,
110 employment of dedicated grant management and programmatic
111 personnel, and for annual program evaluation and analysis of the
112 effectiveness of violence reduction initiatives. These
113 evaluations must be made available to the public.
114 (h) The department shall annually hold at least one public
115 hearing. The public hearing must provide a forum to receive
116 information on how the public funds are spent, testimony from
117 grant award recipients on the effectiveness of their programs
118 and best practices, and input from the public on whether the
119 grant-funded programs are accomplishing their respective
120 missions. Public input must be used to assess and revise grant
121 making metrics and processes for issuing grants.
122 (i) On or before January 1 of each year, beginning in 2023,
123 the department shall prepare and transmit to the Governor, the
124 President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
125 Representatives a report of the activities of the department for
126 the preceding fiscal year. The department shall also make the
127 report publicly available. The report must include a listing of
128 the grants awarded by the department, descriptions of the
129 programs and their impact on the communities served through the
130 grants, and such other information as the department deems
131 appropriate.
132 (j) The department may adopt rules to implement this
133 subsection.
134 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.