Amendment #372 to H3400

Shannon Grant

[Sponsors] Representatives Canessa of New Bedford, Henriquez of Boston, Aguiar of Fall River, Markey of Dartmouth, O’Connell of Taunton, Canavan of Brockton, Brady of Brockton, Kaufman of Lexington, Ehrlich of Marblehead, Fox of Boston, DiNatale of Fitchburg, Cabral of New Bedford, Chan of Quincy, Torrisi of North Andover, Schmid of Westport, Holmes of Boston, Forry of Boston, Provost of Somerville, Walsh of Boston, Sciortino of Medford, Sanchez of Boston, Ayers of Quincy, Creedon of Brockton, Sullivan of Fall River, Hecht of Watertown, Kane of Holyoke, Malia of Boston, O'Day of West Bolyston, Honan of Boston, Collins of Boston, Toomey of Cambridge, Murphy of Lowell, Donato of Medford, Swan of Springfield, Golden of Lowell, Puppolo of Springfield, and Koczera of New Bedford move to amend the bill in section 2, by inserting after line item 8100-0101:

“8100-0111For a grant program known as the Senator Charles E. Shannon, Jr. Community Safety Initiative, to be administered by the executive office of public safety and security, to support regional, multidisciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated programs for prevention and intervention, coordinated law enforcement, including regional gang task forces and regional crime mapping strategies, focused prosecutions and reintegration strategies for ex-convicts; provided, that the secretary of public safety and security shall distribute grant funds through a competitive grant program that gives preference to applications that: (a) demonstrate high levels of youth violence, gang problems and substance abuse in a region; (b) demonstrate a commitment to regional, multi jurisdictional strategies to deal with such community safety issues, including written commitments for municipalities, law enforcement agencies, community-based organizations and government agencies to work together; (c) clearly outline a comprehensive plan for municipalities to work with law enforcement, community-based organizations and government agencies to address gang activity; (d) make a written commitment to match grant funds with a 25 per cent match provided by either municipal or private contributions; and (e) identify a local governmental unit to serve as fiscal agent; provided further, that clusters of municipalities, in partnership with nonprofit organizations and other agencies, including district attorney’s offices, may apply for such funds; provided further, that such funds shall be considered one-time and grants awarded to public agencies and shall not annualize into fiscal year 2013 or subsequent years; provided further, that administrative costs for successful grant applications shall not exceed 3 per cent of the value of the grant; provided further, that no grants shall be awarded to the department of state police; provided further, that no grant funds shall be expended on food or beverages; provided further, that the executive office of public safety and security shall publish guidelines and an application for the competitive portion of the grant program not later than August 15, 2011; provided further, that awards shall be made to applicants not later than October 15, 2011; and provided further, that the executive office of public safety and security may expend not more than $100,000 of the sum appropriated in this item for its costs in administering the program”................. $5,000,000