103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB1382

 

Introduced 1/31/2023, by Rep. Kam Buckner

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.990 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 Provides that the Act is repealed on December 31, 2028. Amends the State Finance Act to include the Public Empowerment and Community Engagement Program Fund as a special fund. Effective immediately.


LRB103 05809 KTG 50829 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB1382LRB103 05809 KTG 50829 b

1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title; references to Act.
5    (a) Short title. This Act may be cited as the Public
6Empowerment and Community Act.
7    (b) References to Act. This Act may be referred to as the
8PEACE Act.
 
9    Section 2. Findings. The General Assembly finds the
10following:
11        (1) The complexities of emergency issues surrounding
12    crises in mental health, intimate partner violence,
13    community violence, substance abuse, and natural disasters
14    can, at times, be addressed more safely, with greater
15    impact, and more cost effectively and efficiently by
16    community-based organizations, which often have deeper
17    knowledge and understanding of the issues, trusted
18    relationships with the people and communities involved,
19    and specific knowledge and relationships surrounding the
20    emergency.
21        (2) Furthermore, young people of color, people with
22    disabilities, people who are gender nonconforming, people
23    who are formerly incarcerated, people who are unemployed,

 

 

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1    people with immigration status issues, and people who are
2    unhoused or homeless, face significant barriers to
3    engaging with law enforcement and other first responder
4    personnel. Data demonstrates that these populations often
5    do not reach out for needed help when dealing with crises
6    in their communities because of their fear and challenges
7    with engaging law enforcement, which puts lives and
8    families at risk for continued harm and trauma.
9    Community-based organizations that specialize in working
10    with these populations understand those issues, and by
11    maintaining deep relationships in their communities, have
12    a more successful track record of engaging and supporting
13    them.
14        (3) Elected officials and philanthropic and
15    community-based organizations have recognized the need to
16    create alternatives to law enforcement and expand
17    innovative approaches to emergencies and have established
18    programs to do so in school districts, cities, and
19    counties throughout the State.
20        (4) These alternative approaches have strengthened the
21    response to emergencies in places throughout the State by
22    reducing harm, saving lives, deepening impact, preventing
23    violence, de-escalating volatile situations, protecting
24    property and the environment, reducing law enforcement use
25    of force, and ensuring the health and safety of
26    communities while, at the same time, saving money by

 

 

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1    decreasing calls for service and the sole reliance upon
2    first responders for emergency situations.
3        (5) Despite the innovative approaches led by
4    community-based organizations, the State does not have a
5    policy, a set of protocols, or dedicated funding to
6    support community-based organizations' involvement in
7    addressing emergencies.
8        (6) This Act seeks to remedy those issues by
9    articulating a policy framework to support innovative
10    approaches to build capacity in, and to make grants for,
11    community-based organizations to support emergency
12    response.
13        (7) This Act also aims to inform, leverage, and align
14    the PEACE Grant Pilot Program with other State investments
15    for mobile crisis support, with the goal of continuing to
16    support community involvement in emergency response.
 
17    Section 3. Purpose. The Public Empowerment and Community
18Engagement Act or the PEACE Act is hereby established for the
19purposes of creating, implementing, and evaluating the PEACE
20Grant Pilot Program in accordance with this Act.
 
21    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
22    "Community-based organization" means a public or nonprofit
23organization, or an organization fiscally sponsored by a
24nonprofit, that can demonstrate its ability to effectively

 

 

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1provide community-based alternatives to law enforcement, and
2has a demonstrated involvement with the identified communities
3to be served.
4    "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
5    "Fund" means the Public Empowerment and Community
6Engagement Program Fund.
7    "Grantee" means a municipality or county, or a department
8of a municipality or county, that receives a grant in
9accordance with this Act.
10    "Law enforcement agency" means any police department,
11sheriff's department, State's Attorney, county probation
12department, transit agency police department, school district
13police department, police department of any campus of the
14University of Illinois, a community college, or any other
15public college or university, the Illinois State Police, the
16Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Corrections,
17and federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Department
18of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
19Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the
20Drug Enforcement Administration.
21    "Law enforcement officer" means an officer, deputy,
22employee, or agent of a law enforcement agency.
23    "Program" means the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.
24    "Stakeholder workgroup" means a group of interested
25parties convened by the Department to make recommendations on
26the implementation of the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.
 

 

 

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1    Section 10. PEACE Grant Pilot Program.
2    (a) Pilot Program.
3        (1) Subject to appropriation, the Department shall
4    establish and administer the PEACE Grant Pilot Program.
5        (2)(A) The Department shall award grants to eligible
6    grantees, as determined by the Department, based on grant
7    eligibility criteria developed in partnership with the
8    stakeholder workgroup.
9        (B) For purposes of this paragraph, an eligible
10    grantee is a municipality or county, or a department of a
11    municipality or county, including, but not limited to,
12    departments of social services, disability services,
13    health services, public health, or behavioral health. Law
14    enforcement agencies and organizations are not eligible
15    grantees.
16        (3) Each grantee shall receive a minimum award of
17    $250,000 per year.
18        (4)(A) Funds awarded in accordance with this Act shall
19    be utilized to create and strengthen community-based
20    alternatives to law enforcement to lessen the reliance on
21    law enforcement agencies as first responders to crisis
22    situations unrelated to a fire department or emergency
23    medical service response.
24        (B) Community-based alternatives may include, but are
25    not limited to, providing mobile crisis response teams or

 

 

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1    community paramedicine programs. Community-based
2    alternatives shall not include law enforcement officers or
3    agencies as first responders or co-responders.
4        (5) The Department shall prioritize grantees that
5    propose interventions that serve historically marginalized
6    populations and that serve communities with a demonstrated
7    need for community-based alternatives to law enforcement,
8    as evidenced by metrics, including a high record of police
9    use of force, a high volume of civilian complaints, high
10    rates of imprisonment, and racial profiling.
11    (b) Grantees.
12        (1) Grantees shall award 90% or more of the grant
13    funds to one or more qualifying community-based
14    organizations, to create and strengthen community-based
15    alternatives to law enforcement as described in paragraph
16    (4) of subsection (a). No more than 10% of the grant funds
17    shall be used to support program administration of the
18    grantee.
19        (2) Grantees shall publicly solicit partnerships with
20    community-based organizations. This public solicitation
21    shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
22    following:
23            (A) Issuing a public notice and invitation to
24        create a partnership to establish a program in
25        accordance with this Act.
26            (B) Inviting letters of intent from

 

 

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1        community-based organizations.
2            (C) Convening public meetings to hear questions,
3        concerns, and suggestions from the community that
4        would inform the development of the program.
5        (3) Grantees shall prioritize the awarding of program
6    funds to qualified community-based organizations that
7    demonstrate the capacity to lead the proposed program and
8    demonstrate experience providing community-based
9    alternatives to law enforcement or civilian crisis
10    response in the communities listed in paragraph (5) of
11    subsection (a). This includes, but is not limited to, the
12    ability to do any of the following:
13            (A) Respond to emergency calls.
14            (B) Provide treatment, screening, and assessment.
15            (C) Provide stabilization and de-escalation
16        services.
17            (D) Coordinate with health, social services, and
18        other support services, as needed.
19            (E) Maintain relationships with relevant community
20        partners, including a range of community organizers,
21        and medical, behavioral health, and crisis providers.
22        (4) A grantee and the community-based organization
23    that receives funds may collaborate on program planning
24    and implementation of community-based alternatives to law
25    enforcement, including, but not limited to, any of the
26    following:

 

 

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1            (A) Local stakeholder engagement.
2            (B) Mechanisms for response requests.
3            (C) Crisis response activities.
4            (D) Crisis response follow up, including
5        coordination with local services and supports,
6        tracking service delivery data, and submitting grant
7        reports.
8    (c) Grantee reports. A grantee shall report at least
9annually to the Department on the use of program funding,
10which shall include data reporting on clients served and
11program outcomes, as determined by the Department in
12consultation with stakeholder workgroup.
13    (d) Stakeholder workgroup.
14        (1) The Department shall convene a stakeholder
15    workgroup to make recommendations to the Department
16    regarding implementation of the program. The Department
17    shall convene regular meetings with the stakeholder
18    workgroup in which the workgroup shall do all of the
19    following:
20            (A) Provide input regarding criteria for qualified
21        grantees.
22            (B) Provide best practices and program
23        recommendations.
24            (C) Provide consultation on implementation and
25        priorities for technical assistance.
26            (D) Identify barriers to implementation and

 

 

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1        suggest solutions to address those barriers.
2            (E) Recommend anonymous data to be collected.
3            (F) Collaboratively review data and program
4        outcomes.
5            (G) Advise on the design of the evaluation.
6        (2)(A) The members of the stakeholder workgroup shall
7    include, but not be limited to, a minimum of one of each of
8    the following individuals:
9            (i) Emergency medical system practitioners with
10        experience providing community-based,
11        trauma-informed, culturally competent care,
12        de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction support.
13            (ii) Public health or behavioral health
14        practitioners with specific experience in community
15        health and an understanding of health care, mental
16        health services, trauma-informed, culturally competent
17        care, de-escalation strategies, and harm reduction
18        support.
19            (iii) Members of the public, who have survived an
20        emergency or crisis, and have used community-based
21        services in response to the emergency or crisis.
22            (iv) Survivors of police brutality.
23            (v) Surviving family members of someone who has
24        been subject to use of force resulting in death or
25        serious bodily injury by a law enforcement officer.
26        (B) The stakeholder workgroup shall not include

 

 

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1    current or former law enforcement officers or immediate
2    family members of law enforcement officers.
3    (e) The Department shall issue a public report, to be
4posted on its website 6 months following the end of the
5program, on the programmatic and fiscal savings associated
6with the program, key conclusions, populations served and the
7benefits conferred or realized, using quantitative and
8qualitative data, and resulting policy recommendations to
9provide guidance to the General Assembly and the Governor in
10fully implementing and scaling a permanent program.
 
11    Section 15. Public Empowerment and Community Engagement
12Program Fund.
13    (a) The Public Empowerment and Community Engagement
14Program Fund is created as a special fund in the State
15treasury. The Fund shall consist of any moneys appropriated to
16the Department for the purposes of this Act. Subject to
17appropriation, moneys in the Fund shall be used for carrying
18out the purposes of this Act and for no other purpose. All
19interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall be deposited into
20the Fund.
21    (b) The Department may enter into agreements with one or
22more entities to facilitate implementation of the program,
23which may not exceed 5% of funds appropriated for purposes of
24this Act, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
25        (1) Convening and facilitating the stakeholder

 

 

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1    workgroup.
2        (2) Providing technical assistance to grantees and
3    community-based organizations receiving funding in
4    accordance with this Act.
5        (3) Evaluating program data and information and
6    preparing the public report described in subsection (e) of
7    Section 10.
8    (c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the Department may not
9expend more than 5% of funds appropriated for purposes of this
10Act on its administrative costs.
11    (d) The Department shall award all grants under this Act
12on or before January 1, 2024.
 
13    Section 20. Implementation.
14    (a) This Act shall be implemented only if appropriate
15funding is made available to the Department.
16    (b) Notwithstanding any other law, funding awarded in
17accordance with this Act shall be exempt from the Illinois
18Procurement Code in accordance with Section 1-10 of that Code.
19    (c) The Department shall be immune from any liability
20resulting from the activities of a grantee or community-based
21organization under the program.
 
22    Section 25. Repealer. This Act is repealed on December 31,
232028.
 

 

 

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1    Section 30. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
2Section 5.990 as follows:
 
3    (30 ILCS 105/5.990 new)
4    Sec. 5.990. The Public Empowerment and Community
5Engagement Program Fund. Fund.
 
6    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
7becoming law.