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Committee advances bill to shift local DWI grant administration to state agency
Summary
A House committee voted to give Senate Bill 199 a "do pass" recommendation. The bill would allow the Department of Finance and Administration to reallocate and provide technical assistance and grant administration for the local DWI grant program, a fund currently supported by a share of liquor excise tax revenues distributed to counties.
A House Health and Human Services Committee voted to give Senate Bill 199 a do-pass recommendation after hearing testimony that the measure would move some administrative authority and grant support for the state’s local DWI program from counties to the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA).
The bill, presented by a senator on the floor, would formalize DFA’s ability to reallocate certain liquor excise tax revenues to provide technical assistance and centralized grant administration, rather than placing administration burdens on county governments. Committee testimony said the goal is to reduce DWI, alcohol abuse and alcohol-related domestic violence through prevention and treatment programs funded from existing tax revenues.
Senate testimony described the program’s current structure: the DWI program is funded from a share of liquor excise tax revenues (testimony said 45%), with funds distributed to all 33 counties. The program funds quarterly county distributions, reimbursable competitive grants, and reimbursable detoxification grants. The senator told the committee that reallocating some administration to DFA would let the state provide direct technical assistance, oversight and evaluation while county-level grants continued.
Cecilia Mavor Matis, identified in testimony as the local government division director at DFA, told the committee that changing how the fund is named or administered would be handled administratively within DFA’s financial control processes and controller’s office, and that a separate bill increasing overall DWI funding would be complementary to this bill.
Representative Brown, identified as the House sponsor present during testimony, said the bill would reduce county administrative burden and permit sharing of best practices statewide even if local grant amounts change slightly.
A member moved that the committee give the bill a do-pass recommendation; a second was recorded and no opposition was voiced. The committee granted a do-pass recommendation on Senate Bill 199.
The measure will move to the next committee or chamber as a do-pass recommendation; no fiscal or implementation timeline was provided in the hearing record.
