AWC has significant concerns about an obstacle that may limit access to law enforcement grant money for dozens of cities.

As the state Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) prepares to administer the $100 million law enforcement grant program set up by HB 2015, AWC has alerted CJTC leadership that the grant application process creates unfair hardship for cities that contract public safety services with another jurisdiction.

Under newly published initial guidance on the CJTC website for the HB 2015 program, cities and towns that contract with an outside agency to provide law enforcement services can only apply for a share of the $100 million grants if the outside agency jointly applies.

In AWC’s view, this interpretation deprives contract cities of their authority to make independent public safety policy decisions. HB 2015 specifies that the grant funding can be used for a broad spectrum of public safety needs, which can include co-response, behavioral health, emergency management, and environmental hazard mitigations. Because many of these potential uses fall beyond the scope of contract cities’ law-enforcement services agreements, AWC believes that requiring cities to apply jointly with a contracted agency creates problems on multiple levels.

To highlight our concerns, AWC sent this letter on August 28 to CJTC and the offices of the Attorney General and Governor objecting to this requirement. CJTC has not yet published its full grant application process, and AWC is requesting a review and elimination of the joint-application requirement for contract cities before grant applications formally open.