Witnesses and analysts urge restoring victim-service funding as GOCAP budget advances
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Summary
DLS told the Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee that the governor's crime-prevention office’s FY27 allowance is roughly $347.7 million, while advocates and providers urged restoring roughly $1 million for domestic-violence and sexual-assault crisis services and flagged testing backlogs for sexual-assault kits.
Madeline Miller, the Department of Legislative Services analyst, told the Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee that the governor’s office of crime prevention and policy (GOCAP) would have a fiscal 2027 allowance of about $347.7 million but that the agency’s true spending power is lower after accounting for special‑fund double‑counting. Miller said grant programs dominate the agency’s work and flagged several recommended deletions to the allowance because of the state’s fiscal condition, including $2.5 million proposed for a group violence reduction strategy and a $47.1 million enhancement to the state aid for police (SAP) program.
The review drew immediate public testimony from victim-service providers and statewide coalitions who said cuts would hurt already strained front-line programs. “Now is not the time to cut state funding,” said Laurie Ruth, public policy director for the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, who urged the committee to restore a $1,000,000 legislative allocation for comprehensive domestic-violence providers. Ruth noted programs answered more than 41,000 hotline calls in 2024 and provided over 100,000 shelter nights that year.
Advocates also raised concerns about sexual‑assault evidence‑kit processing. “There continue to be delays in sexual‑assault evidence kit testing,” Laura Jessick of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault told the committee, citing a backlog at the state crime lab and limits on advocates’ access to the statewide kit‑tracking system that make it difficult to determine testing status and notify survivors. Jessick said federal and state initiatives have increased kit‑entry requirements and that more resources and improved tracking are needed to meet deadlines.
GOCAP Executive Director Dorothy Lenegg thanked DLS for its analysis and described efforts to improve grant administration and NOFA timing. Lenegg said the office is “committed to awarding these funds fairly, equitably, and in accordance with the governor’s public safety priorities,” and noted steps taken to reduce late awards: the percentage of awards issued before the grant start date rose from roughly 15% to nearly 50% in recent years as staff moved NOFA release dates earlier.
Several local providers described how the proposed reductions would affect services on the ground. Stephanie Powers of the CARE Healing Center described crisis response and long‑term counseling for survivor families, and Amanda Rodriguez of Turnaround Inc. said her organization answered more than 10,000 helpline calls and provided shelter and advocacy to nearly 2,000 survivors last year. Charles Ferro of the Maryland Children’s Alliance requested boosting child‑advocacy center funding from the proposed $300,000 to $1,000,000 to get closer to peer states’ per‑child investments.
The committee heard DLS recommendations to seek additional outcome measures for public safety reporting and to require agency comment and reports on implementation details. Committee members asked GOCAP to follow up on specific questions about staffing, discontinued performance measures, and how enhancement funds under SAP are spent at the local level. The hearing closed with the committee promising follow‑ups on legislative language and program details.
The committee did not adopt any vote or formal action in the hearing record; the discussion concluded with requests for additional information and written responses from GOCAP staff.
