Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2085 by Whitmire (Relating to a grant program for crime victim notification systems.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined. The cost would be dependent on the number of grant applicants and appropriations by the legislature.
The bill would establish a grant program with the Office of the Governor, Criminal Justice Division (CJD), to provide financial assistance to law enforcement agencies seeking to purchase or develop a crime victim notification system.
The bill would require CJD to establish eligibility criteria, application procedures, evaluation criteria, guidelines, and monitoring procedures for the grant program.
The bill would require that as a condition of receiving a grant under this program, a law enforcement agency shall annually report to CJD the number and type of notifications sent using the crime victim notification system. This information would be consolidated into an annual written report to be submitted to the Legislature.
CJD administers a variety of different federal and state-funded law enforcement grant programs. According to CJD, each of these grant programs average between 100-150 grant recipients annually. Costs related to grant awards would be dependent on the number of grant applicants, as well as appropriations by the Legislature.
According to CJD, additional staffing would be needed to stablish and administer the grant program created by the bill.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
300 Trusteed Programs Within the Office of the Governor, 405 Department of Public Safety