HB5336 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 22545 KTG 31686 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB5336

Introduced 1/31/2022, by Rep. Kambium Buckner

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.970 new

Creates the Public Empowerment and Community Act and provides that the Act may be referred to as the PEACE Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to establish and administer the PEACE Grant Pilot Program, subject to appropriation. Requires the Department to award annual grants to eligible grantees to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement to lessen the reliance on law enforcement agencies as first responders to crisis situations unrelated to fire department or emergency medical service response. Provides that each grantee shall receive a minimum award of $250,000 per year and that the community-based alternatives may include, but are not limited to, mobile crisis response teams or community paramedicine programs. Requires the Department to prioritize grantees that propose interventions that serve historically marginalized populations and that serve communities with a demonstrated need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement. Contains provisions on grantee requirements and reports; a stakeholder workgroup; a public report by the Department; the Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund; and other matters. Provides that the Act is repealed on December 31, 2027. Amends the State Finance Act to include the Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund as a special fund. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Public Empowerment and Community Act and may be referred to as the PEACE Act.

Section 2. Findings. The General Assembly finds the following:

(1) The complexities of emergency issues surrounding crises in mental health, intimate partner violence, community violence, substance abuse, and natural disasters can, at times, be addressed more safely, with greater impact, and more cost effectively and efficiently by community-based organizations, which often have deeper knowledge and understanding of the issues, trusted relationships with the people and communities involved, and specific knowledge and relationships surrounding the emergency.

(2) Furthermore, young people of color, people with disabilities, people who are gender nonconforming, people who are formerly incarcerated, people who are unemployed, people with immigration status issues, and people who are unhoused or homeless, face significant barriers to engaging with law enforcement and other first responder personnel. Data demonstrates that these populations often do not reach out for needed help when dealing with crises in their communities because of their fear and challenges with engaging law enforcement, which puts lives and families at risk for continued harm and trauma. Community-based organizations that specialize in working with these populations understand those issues, and by maintaining deep relationships in their communities, have a more successful track record of engaging and supporting them.

(3) Elected officials and philanthropic and community-based organizations have recognized the need to create alternatives to law enforcement and expand innovative approaches to emergencies and have established programs to do so in school districts, cities, and counties throughout the State.

(4) These alternative approaches have strengthened the response to emergencies in places throughout the State by reducing harm, saving lives, deepening impact, preventing violence, de-escalating volatile situations, protecting property and the environment, reducing law enforcement use of force, and ensuring the health and safety of communities while, at the same time, saving money by decreasing calls for service and the sole reliance upon first responders for emergency situations.

(5) Despite the innovative approaches led by community-based organizations, the State does not have a policy, a set of protocols, or dedicated funding to support community-based organizations' involvement in addressing emergencies.

(6) This Act seeks to remedy those issues by articulating a policy framework to support innovative approaches to build capacity in, and to make grants for, community-based organizations to support emergency response.

(7) This Act also aims to inform, leverage, and align the PEACE Grant Pilot Program with other State investments for mobile crisis support, with the goal of continuing to support community involvement in emergency response.

Section 3. Purpose. The Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Act or the PEACE Act is hereby established for the purposes of creating, implementing, and evaluating the PEACE Grant Pilot Program in accordance with this Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Community-based organization" means a public or nonprofit organization, or an organization fiscally sponsored by a nonprofit, that can demonstrate its ability to effectively provide community-based alternatives to law enforcement, and has a demonstrated involvement with the identified communities to be served.

"Department" means the Department of Human Services.

"Fund" means the Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund.

"Grantee" means a municipality or county, or a department of a municipality or county, that receives a grant in accordance with this Act.

"Law enforcement agency" means any police department, sheriff's department, State's Attorney, county probation department, transit agency police department, school district police department, police department of any campus of the University of Illinois, a community college, or any other public college or university, the Illinois State Police, the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Corrections, and federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Law enforcement officer" means an officer, deputy, employee, or agent of a law enforcement agency.

"Program" means the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.

"Stakeholder workgroup" means a group of interested parties convened by the Department to make recommendations on the implementation of the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.

Section 10. PEACE Grant Pilot Program.

(a) Pilot Program.

(1) Subject to appropriation, the Department shall establish and administer the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.

(2)(A) The Department shall award grants to eligible grantees, as determined by the Department, based on grant eligibility criteria developed in partnership with the stakeholder workgroup.

(B) For purposes of this paragraph, an eligible grantee is a municipality or county, or a department of a municipality or county, including, but not limited to, departments of social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health. Law enforcement agencies and organizations are not eligible grantees.

(3) Each grantee shall receive a minimum award of $250,000 per year.

(4)(A) Funds awarded in accordance with this Act shall be utilized to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement to lessen the reliance on law enforcement agencies as first responders to crisis situations unrelated to a fire department or emergency medical service response.

(B) Community-based alternatives may include, but are not limited to, providing mobile crisis response teams or community paramedicine programs. Community-based alternatives shall not include law enforcement officers or agencies as first responders or co-responders.

(5) The Department shall prioritize grantees that propose interventions that serve historically marginalized populations and that serve communities with a demonstrated need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement, as evidenced by metrics, including a high record of police use of force, a high volume of civilian complaints, high rates of imprisonment, and racial profiling.

(b) Grantees.

(1) Grantees shall award 90% or more of the grant funds to one or more qualifying community-based organizations, to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement as described in paragraph (4) of subsection (a). No more than 10% of the grant funds shall be used to support program administration of the grantee.

(2) Grantees shall publicly solicit partnerships with community-based organizations. This public solicitation shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) Issuing a public notice and invitation to create a partnership to establish a program in accordance with this Act.

(B) Inviting letters of intent from community-based organizations.

(C) Convening public meetings to hear questions, concerns, and suggestions from the community that would inform the development of the program.

(3) Grantees shall prioritize the awarding of program funds to qualified community-based organizations that demonstrate the capacity to lead the proposed program and demonstrate experience providing community-based alternatives to law enforcement or civilian crisis response in the communities listed in paragraph (5) of subsection (a). This includes, but is not limited to, the ability to do any of the following:

(A) Respond to emergency calls.

(B) Provide treatment, screening, and assessment.

(C) Provide stabilization and de-escalation services.

(D) Coordinate with health, social services, and other support services, as needed.

(E) Maintain relationships with relevant community partners, including a range of community organizers, and medical, behavioral health, and crisis providers.

(4) A grantee and the community-based organization that receives funds may collaborate on program planning and implementation of community-based alternatives to law enforcement, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

(A) Local stakeholder engagement.

(B) Mechanisms for response requests.

(C) Crisis response activities.

(D) Crisis response follow up, including coordination with local services and supports, tracking service delivery data, and submitting grant reports.

(c) Grantee reports. A grantee shall report at least annually to the Department on the use of program funding, which shall include data reporting on clients served and program outcomes, as determined by the Department in consultation with stakeholder workgroup.

(d) Stakeholder workgroup.

(1) The Department shall convene a stakeholder workgroup to make recommendations to the Department regarding implementation of the program. The Department shall convene regular meetings with the stakeholder workgroup in which the workgroup shall do all of the following:

(A) Provide input regarding criteria for qualified grantees.

(B) Provide best practices and program recommendations.

(C) Provide consultation on implementation and priorities for technical assistance.

(D) Identify barriers to implementation and suggest solutions to address those barriers.

(E) Recommend anonymous data to be collected.

(F) Collaboratively review data and program outcomes.

(G) Advise on the design of the evaluation.

(2)(A) The members of the stakeholder workgroup shall include, but not be limited to, a minimum of one of each of the following individuals:

(i) Emergency medical system practitioners with experience providing community-based, trauma-informed, culturally competent care, de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction support.

(ii) Public health or behavioral health practitioners with specific experience in community health and an understanding of health care, mental health services, trauma-informed, culturally competent care, de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction support.

(iii) Members of the public, who have survived an emergency or crisis, and have used community-based services in response to the emergency or crisis.

(iv) Survivors of police brutality.

(v) Surviving family members of someone who has been subject to use of force resulting in death or serious bodily injury by a law enforcement officer.

(B) The stakeholder workgroup shall not include current or former law enforcement officers or immediate family members of law enforcement officers.

(e) The Department shall issue a public report, to be posted on its website 6 months following the end of the program, on the programmatic and fiscal savings associated with the program, key conclusions, populations served and the benefits conferred or realized, using quantitative and qualitative data, and resulting policy recommendations to provide guidance to the General Assembly and the Governor in fully implementing and scaling a permanent program.

Section 15. Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund.

(a) The Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. The Fund shall consist of any moneys appropriated to the Department for the purposes of this Act. Subject to appropriation, moneys in the Fund shall be used for carrying out the purposes of this Act and for no other purpose. All interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall be deposited into the Fund.

(b) The Department may enter into agreements with one or more entities to facilitate implementation of the program, which may not exceed 5% of funds appropriated for purposes of this Act, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

(1) Convening and facilitating the stakeholder workgroup.

(2) Providing technical assistance to grantees and community-based organizations receiving funding in accordance with this Act.

(3) Evaluating program data and information and preparing the public report described in subsection (e) of Section 10.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the Department may not expend more than 5% of funds appropriated for purposes of this Act on its administrative costs.

(d) The Department shall award all grants under this Act on or before January 1, 2023.

Section 20. Implementation.

(a) This Act shall be implemented only if appropriate funding is made available to the Department.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, funding awarded in accordance with this Act shall be exempt from the Illinois Procurement Code in accordance with Section 1-10 of that Code.

(c) The Department shall be immune from any liability resulting from the activities of a grantee or community-based organization under the program.

Section 25. Repealer. This Act is repealed on December 31, 2027.

Section 30. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.970 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.970 new)

Sec. 5.970. The Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.