Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Law Enforcement Retention Grant topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee debates $3.5 million ‘Back the Blue’ grant bill; no final vote, change to funding source proposed
Summary
Representative Vedder told the Appropriations — Education and Environment Division that House Bill 1193 would provide a one-time $3.5 million grant to cities and counties to support hiring and retention of peace officers.
Representative Vedder told the Appropriations — Education and Environment Division that House Bill 1193 (referred to in the hearing as 11 93) would provide a one-time $3.5 million grant to cities and counties, continuing a prior session’s Back the Blue program.
“...this is basically the same thing. Other than they added a little bit of language to ensure that, they would be using it only for retention and for hiring,” Vedder said, describing the bill as “a 3,500,000 grant to the cities and counties.” He added that approximately $750,000 of the dollars would be designated for smaller counties.
Committee members questioned the bill’s scope and whether state employees such as the highway patrol should be included. Senator Meyer asked whether state employees receive regular raises and whether the patrol or university police could be added; Vedder and other members debated the retention-versus-appreciation intent.
Vedder said his original policy proposal had linked the benefit to retention (officers at the same agency for four years) and that the current draft had been shortened to mirror the program passed in an earlier session. He told the committee he had prepared officer counts and could provide details by email if the committee wanted to consider amendments to change distribution or eligibility.
Committee leadership said they would not act on the bill at that meeting but proposed one change on the record: switching the funding source listed on page one, line eight, from the General Fund to the Strategic Investment Fund because the appropriation is one-time funding. The committee indicated it would consider the bill again during the next sitting and that Representative Vedder should submit any amendment language by the stated timeline.
No formal committee vote on passage or amendment of HB1193 was recorded in the transcript. Committee members noted they planned to take the bill up again at a later time and to receive supplemental materials from the sponsor.
