Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Law Enforcement Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ways and Means earmarks funding for law enforcement, contraband interdiction and school resource officers
Summary
The criminal‑justice subcommittee reported investments aimed at salaries, interdiction of contraband (including cellphones in prisons), school resource officers and prosecutorial capacity; funding was also allocated to help the state meet federal disaster match opportunities for natural‑resource recovery.
Representative Black, speaking for the criminal‑justice subcommittee, said the panel prioritized continued salary increases and step raises to retain law‑enforcement personnel and to address highway patrol recruiting and retention challenges.
The subcommittee also cited funding to address contraband and illicit phone use inside correctional facilities, including interdiction programs that previously used drones to stop cell‑phone deliveries. Representative Black said the state added money after a successful interdiction effort and expects to expand those efforts.
The panel added resources for prosecution coordination and indigent defense to reduce case backlogs, and increased support for Internet Crimes Against Children investigations, which the speaker said have risen by roughly 40–43 percent in caseload. Representative Black also cited $13,000,000 in state funds to draw down an additional roughly $40,000,000 in federal disaster assistance for Department of Natural Resources recovery after hurricanes, and a $25,000,000 appropriation to repair Lake Paul Wallace in Marlboro County.
Why it matters: committee members framed the investments as responses to workforce shortages, rising investigative caseloads and recent storm damage to environmental infrastructure. The representative emphasized the need to preserve prosecutorial capacity while funding police and correctional operations.
No formal votes were recorded during the subcommittee presentations; the remarks were delivered as part of the committee’s budget overview ahead of formal appropriation votes.
