2021 Assembly BILL 702

November 12, 2021 - Introduced by Representatives Stubbs, Cabrera, Hesselbein, Bowen, Hebl, Neubauer, Snodgrass, Subeck, Emerson, Shankland, Conley and Sinicki, cosponsored by Senators L. Taylor, Larson and Agard. Referred to Committee on Health.

AB702,1,4 An Act to amend 15.01 (6) and 15.02 (3) (c) 1.; and to create 15.194 (2) and 250.25 of the statutes; relating to: community violence intervention and creation of the Office of Violence Prevention in the Department of Health Services.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill creates the Office of Violence Prevention in the Department of Health Services, establishes certain duties with respect to the office, and directs the office to award grants for community violence intervention. The bill provides that the office shall coordinate and expand violence prevention activities, and work to reduce the incidences of interpersonal violence and reduce death by homicide. To achieve this goal, the bill requires the office to accomplish all of the following:

1. Establish a violence prevention focus within DHS and any division of government that receives funding from DHS.

2. Develop collaborative relationships with other state agencies that are interested or active in the reduction of interpersonal violence.

3. Integrate violence prevention education into existing and planned state funded substance use and abuse prevention programs.

4. Support the development and implementation of comprehensive community-based violence prevention initiatives within cities and towns across the state.

5. Develop sources of funding beyond state revenues to maintain the office and expand its activities.

6. Create a directory of existing violence prevention services and activities in each county.

7. Develop and recommend additional wrap around and support services that include both interpersonal violence and suicide prevention programs and are funded by local governing bodies.

8. Support local organizations that provide violence prevention services in seeking out and applying for grant funding in support of their initiatives.

9. With the support of DHS, develop and implement a public health strategy.

Additionally, this bill directs the office to establish and implement a program to award grants to support effective violence reduction initiatives in communities that are disproportionately affected by violence. Grants are to be awarded competitively to counties and cities that are disproportionately impacted by violence, and to community-based organizations that serve the residents of those counties or cities. Where appropriate, the bill allows two or more counties and cities to submit joint applications to provide more comprehensive solutions. Grantees are required to submit to the office at regular intervals reports that describe the grantee's progress in achieving the grant objectives.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB702,1 Section 1. 15.01 (6) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB702,3,2 15.01 (6) “Division," “bureau," “section," and “unit" means the subunits of a department or an independent agency, whether specifically created by law or created by the head of the department or the independent agency for the more economic and efficient administration and operation of the programs assigned to the department or independent agency. The office of credit unions in the department of financial institutions, the office of the inspector general in the department of children and families, the office of the inspector general in the department of health services, the office of violence prevention in the department of health services, and the office of children's mental health in the department of health services have the meaning of “division" under this subsection. The office of the long-term care ombudsman under the board on aging and long-term care and the office of educational accountability in the department of public instruction have the meaning of “bureau" under this subsection.

AB702,2 Section 2. 15.02 (3) (c) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

AB702,3,12 15.02 (3) (c) 1. The principal subunit of the department is the “division". Each division shall be headed by an “administrator". The office of credit unions in the department of financial institutions, the office of violence prevention in the department of health services, and the office of children's mental health in the department of health services have the meaning of “division" and the director of credit unions in the department of financial institutions, the director of the office of violence prevention in the department of health services, and the director of the office of children's mental health in the department of health services have the meaning of “administrator" under this subdivision.

AB702,3 Section 3. 15.194 (2) of the statutes is created to read:

AB702,3,16 15.194 (2) Office of violence prevention. There is created an office of violence prevention in the department of health services. The director of the office shall be appointed by the governor to serve at the pleasure of the governor.

AB702,4 Section 4. 250.25 of the statutes is created to read:

AB702,3,20 250.25 Office of violence prevention. (1) Purpose. The office of violence prevention shall coordinate and expand violence prevention activities and work to reduce the incidences of interpersonal violence and death by homicide.

AB702,3,21 (2) Duties. The office of violence prevention shall do all of the following: