Sponsors (2)
The bill aims to preserve policing continuity and federal consistency by penalizing jurisdictions that 'defund' police and reallocating their federal development funds to non-defunding communities, but it does so by restricting local budget autonomy and risking loss of critical community development and social-service funding for labeled jurisdictions, shifting fiscal and administrative burdens onto local governments and vulnerable residents.
Residents in urbanized areas retain continuity of local policing because jurisdictions face consequences for abolishing or deeply cutting police, reducing sudden gaps in public safety services.
State and local governments get clearer rules about which jurisdictions are considered to have 'defunded' police, improving legal certainty about when penalties or funding consequences apply.
Localities that do not 'defund' police can receive reallocated CDBG and EDA funds returned by disqualified jurisdictions, preserving community development and economic development dollars for eligible communities.
Localities labeled as 'defunding' risk losing CDBG/EDA and other federal community and economic development grants, which will reduce funding for housing, infrastructure, job training, and economic projects in those areas.
Low-income residents and vulnerable populations in disqualified jurisdictions may face cuts or delays to social services and projects (housing rehab, public works, job training) funded by CDBG/EDA, worsening needs for the people these programs target.
The law constrains local elected officials' ability to reallocate public-safety budgets toward alternative services (mental health, violence prevention, social programs) by attaching federal penalties to budget cuts labeled 'defunding', reducing local control over spending priorities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Makes states and urban localities that abolish or substantially cut police budgets (absent a prior-year revenue decline) ineligible for certain federal public-works and CDBG grants and requires return/reallocation of funds.
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Brian K. Fitzpatrick · Last progress May 15, 2025
Makes states and urban localities that abolish police departments or make large, unexplained cuts to police budgets ineligible for certain federal grants and requires them to return funds received while so designated. It defines narrow tests for what counts as a “defunding State” or “defunding locality,” excludes rural police departments, and requires returned grant money to be reallocated to eligible non-defunding jurisdictions.