New effort uses ARPA money in areas with high number of gun crimes
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[November 02, 2021]
By Andrew Hensel
(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker
signed an executive order on Monday at Breakthrough Urban Ministries on
the west side of Chicago. Pritzker thanked lawmakers and city officials
for their work putting together the legislation.
The governor announced the start of the Office of Firearm Violence
Prevention and announced a $250 million plan to help slow gun violence
over the next three years using federal and state funds.
"Today with the help of the General Assembly I am announcing Illinois'
next step in the pursuit of violence protection," Pritzker said. "My
goal is to commit $250 million over the next 3 years to directly reduce
and interrupt violence in our neighborhoods."
The executive order will also support high-risk youth intervention
programs and trauma recovery services for minors and youth development
programs.
State Sen. Robert Peters, who sponsored the Reimagine Public Safety Act
said this order is in line with the government's No. 1 duty.
"Governments first duty is to center public safety by and for the
people," Roberts said on Monday. "We must abandon the status quo because
it continues to let us down and invest into our Illinois communities and
neighborhoods, this plan will do just that."
This order is similar to legislation recently passed through both the
House and Senate, but would use American Rescue Plan Funds to help
combat gun violence in some Illinois towns.
State Rep. Ann Williams filed House Bill 2791. It aims to help
communities with a high rate of gun violence by setting up gun
prevention programs.
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The measure would use funds from President Joe Biden's American Rescue
Act, to help communities enforce the ReImagine Public Safety Act. The
RPSA was designed to reform police training and recruiting practices as
well as reforms to FOID and bail.
State Senator Sue Rezin said she supported the legislation, but said
more attention needs to be paid in order to avoid the same fate as
similar legislation filed by Patricia Van Pelt in the past.
"We need to check in on how these bills are doing," Rezin said. "How
much money was spent, where was it spent? Did it truly do what it was
set out to do?"
State Sen. Dale Folwer said that with the high rate of crime throughout
the state of Illinois, legislation like House Bill 2791 is needed.
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"We need to take ahold of the state of Illinois," Fowler said. "We need
to stop this violence that seems to be exploding as we all know."
The bill would use ARPA money to help fund this legislation, but once
ARPA money runs out lawmakers could turn to taxpayers to continue
funding these programs.
State Sen. Dave Syverson raised questions about the funding during the
Senate debate.
"Where are the funds going to come from to continue this program next
year when we run out of ARPA dollars are gone?" Syverson asked.
If signed and approved by Governor Pritzker, the bill would go into
effect immediately and would only apply to towns with more than 35,000
residents. |