Sponsors (11)
Introduced July 15, 2025 by Summer Lee · Last progress July 15, 2025
The bill directs substantial federal funding and administrative support to scale non‑police, community‑based safety, health, and housing programs—prioritizing communities harmed by the criminal legal system—while creating budgetary costs, administrative burdens, and risks that eligibility rules, data practices, or political resistance could limit reach or effectiveness.
People in communities with high criminal-justice contact (low-income and racial-ethnic-minority neighborhoods) receive federal grants for violence-interruption, crisis response, prevention, and expanded behavioral-health/harm-reduction services, increasing access to non-police safety and treatment options.
Survivors of mass incarceration, police violence, sexual assault, and detention/deportation (and organizations led by people harmed by the criminal legal system) gain expanded holistic services, prioritized funding, and support to rebuild stability and address trauma.
Workers and local health systems gain jobs and training as the bill funds hiring/training of community health workers and responders with wage floors (at least $17/hr), supporting workforce development and more stable employment in service roles.
Taxpayers fund $13.5 billion in grants (2026–2030), increasing federal spending and creating potential budgetary pressure or trade-offs with other priorities.
Local governments and community groups face increased administrative burden and compliance costs from participatory safety assessments, detailed reporting, data submission, and grant requirements, which could delay implementation.
Tight eligibility and 'demonstrated effectiveness' requirements may exclude newer, informal, or grassroots groups from funding, reducing access for community actors that lack prior evidence or formal nonprofit status.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates an HHS Division to fund, coordinate, research, and oversee community-led, noncarceral public safety programs and establishes rolling grant programs prioritized for communities harmed by criminal legal or immigration systems.
Creates a new Division on Community Safety inside the Department of Health and Human Services to design, coordinate, research, and fund noncarceral, community-led approaches to public safety. It defines key terms, sets standards for participatory safety planning, requires an advisory committee with people who have lived experience of the criminal legal system, and establishes rolling grant programs for community groups, local governments, states, and first responder hiring, with priority for communities disproportionately harmed by the criminal legal or immigration systems. Authorizes grant uses across crisis intervention, violence interruption, school prevention, victim and reentry services, housing security, and organization capacity-building; requires public reporting, data systems, and a complaint mechanism; and prioritizes culturally and linguistically appropriate services and leadership by people from affected communities. Funding levels are not specified in the text provided and would require appropriations to operate the new programs.