Joint Budget Committee rejects state request to expand Safer Streets grants; approves staff recommendation

The Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday adopted staff’s recommendation and declined the Department of Public Safety’s request for a $4.4 million one-time increase from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund for the crime-prevention by environmental-design (Safer Streets) grant program.

The action followed a staff presentation highlighting national and local crime trends and program-level detail. Justin Brackie, Joint Budget Committee staff, told the committee preliminary department data showed a 26% reduction in overall offenses in 2024 when compared to 2022 and urged caution in attributing crime declines to any single grant program: “If you start from a very high level during COVID because crime spiked and then you measure your success based on when crime spiked during the pandemic, crime fell pretty much everywhere after the pandemic in a lot of the areas where crime increased.”

The request would have used marijuana tax cash fund dollars to continue and expand grants the committee originally funded with $10 million from the General Fund in 2022. Brackie said funded projects include lighting upgrades, trash collection, and other neighborhood improvements spread across municipalities and police departments. He recommended denial primarily to give the committee an alternative to the executive’s request and to flag the fund’s scarcity as revenues decline.

Committee members pressed staff and department staff on program details. Senator Kirkmeyer and others emphasized that many of the listed activities — street lighting and trash collection, for example — are commonly municipal responsibilities, and that the committee should consider whether marijuana-tax-derived dollars are the appropriate source. Senator Kirkmeyer said such local or development-driven fixes “are things that local governments should be doing themselves.”

Representative Sirota asked for confirmation of funding history; Brackie clarified the original awards were a $10 million General Fund appropriation that could be spent over multiple years. Brackie noted the grant awards list on the briefing shows nearly $9.88 million already awarded, leaving only a small unawarded remainder.

After discussion, Representative Sirota moved the staff recommendation. The motion carried with no objections.

Why it matters: The decision preserves limited marijuana-tax cash funds for other priorities and signals JBC interest in more targeted use or stronger evidence of program effectiveness before authorizing large expansions. The committee left open the option to evaluate individual grants already awarded and to revisit funding choices in future budget cycles.

Ending note: Committee minutes show the motion recorded as the staff recommendation passed without objection; the committee noted total remaining marijuana tax cash fund availability during the meeting.