Establishment of community safety grant for local governments

(a) Grant program established The Secretary shall award grants, on a rolling basis, to units of local government to assess safety needs, conduct research on, fund programming on, and otherwise support the development of qualified approaches to community safety. (b) Application A unit of local government seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including an assurance that the unit of local government shall develop, and submit to the Secretary, during the grant period, a safety needs assessment to guide local investments in qualified approaches to community safety. (c) Priority In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to a unit of local government that— (1) has taken steps toward, or is submitting proposals within the application for such a grant for purposes of— (A) increasing human liberty, including through measures that reduce incarceration, pretrial detention, arrests, criminal supervision, immigration detention, and other forms of criminal justice involvement; (B) ending the criminalization of poverty, mental illness, homelessness, substance use, and related issues by addressing root causes of those issues rather than imposing criminal punishment and other punitive responses; or (C) ending racial, economic, gender, and other disparities in criminal punishment, and discipline in schools; (2) has a high rate of poverty, as well as disproportionately high shares of residents who have been impacted by violence and the criminal legal system (as determined by the Secretary and compared to the surrounding region); or (3) has prepared and developed the application submitted under this section in consultation with the community the unit of local government serves, especially individuals in such community who have been harmed by the criminal legal system. (d) Use of funds A unit of local government receiving funds under this section shall use such grant funds to carry out the following: (1) Establish or designate a community-led entity that— (A) employs qualified approaches to community safety; and (B) can coordinate and make investments in community safety, including by using participatory budgeting or other community-led processes. (2) Develop a safety needs assessment and create an action plan targeted to address such safety needs. (3) Invest in programs, interventions, or policy initiatives that have a demonstrable connection to improving community safety, including programs interventions, or policy initiatives that are designed to address needs related to economic stability, survivor safety, physical and behavioral health, environmental safety, housing stability, and educational equity and opportunity such as those listed in section 201(d). (4) Train and hire community health workers, including individuals who are trained in first response and violence prevention, who can help to address such identified safety needs. (5) Administer programming, including via grants to community-based organizations and the direct deployment of community health workers, to implement the action plan. (e) Additional use of funds The Secretary may authorize additional uses of funds that— (1) have a demonstrable connection to improving community safety through the use of qualified approaches to community safety; and (2) support the objectives of the Division on Community Safety. (f) Grant amounts In determining the amount of a grant awarded to a unit of local government under this section, the Secretary shall base such determination on— (1) the number of people who live in the jurisdiction of the local government; (2) the depth of need demonstrated, including attention to activities planned, the socioeconomic characteristics of the community and residents within that jurisdiction, and current patterns of spending in systems of incarceration; and (3) such other factors as the Secretary determines are relevant. (g) Additional grants The Secretary may authorize additional funds under this section to units of local government that previously received funds under this section if the Secretary determines the previously received funds were successfully deployed and additional funding would assist in expanding qualified approaches to community safety and ensuring a sustainable, coordinated approach in the jurisdiction of the local government. (h) Limitations (1) Funds made available under this section may be used only to carry out programs, services, or activities that use qualified approaches to community safety. (2) Not less than 30 percent of the total amount made available for grants under this section shall be awarded to units of local government with less than 50 percent of their total land area jurisdiction classified as urban by the Census Bureau. (3) Each unit of local government receiving a grant under this section shall certify to the Secretary that any individual hired using funds received through such grant will be paid a wage, which shall be at least the highest of the following: (A) $17 an hour. (B) The minimum wage under the applicable State or local minimum wage law. (C) The prevailing rates of pay for individuals employed in similar occupations by the same employer. (D) The Federal minimum wage in effect under section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)). (i) Reporting Beginning not later than 6 months after the date on which a local government receives a grant under this section, and biannually thereafter, the unit of local government shall prepare and submit to the Secretary, and make publicly available, a report containing information about— (1) how the grant funds were used; (2) the number of people who were cited, arrested, or jailed by any State or local law enforcement officers in the previous year in the jurisdiction of the local government, as compared to the number cited, arrest, or jailed during the term of the grant; (3) the reasons for such citing, arresting, or detained or imprisoned; (4) demographic data of individuals cited, arrested, or jailed or referred by local law enforcement officers, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, gender, and disability status; and (5) the percentage of grant funds that ultimately benefited community-based organizations. (j) Evaluation (1) In general The Division on Community Safety shall review and evaluate information provided in the reports submitted by units of local government receiving funds under this section, and other information available to the Division, including by conducting data matching and other forms of data analysis, and submit such analyses to the Secretary. (2) Incorporation of analyses The Secretary shall incorporate analyses provided by the Division on Community Safety into decision-making regarding awarding additional grants under this section. (k) Supplement, not supplant An unit of local government receiving a grant under this section may use Federal funds received through the grant only to supplement the funds that would, without such Federal funds, be made available from State and local sources, and not to supplant such funds. (l) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to implement this section $3,500,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.