Report Title:

Weed and Seed; Temporary Interdepartmental Council

Description:

Establishes a temporary interdepartmental council for the purpose of managing and implementing Weed and Seed programs. Attaches the council to the lieutenant governor's office for administrative purposes. Appropriates $       to the lieutenant governor for Weed and Seed programs and for grant writing services. (SD2)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

361

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

S.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO THE WEED AND SEED PROGRAM.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Act 282, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, appropriated funds to expand the weed and seed strategy to qualifying communities in the State. The weed and seed program is a United States Department of Justice initiative that is administered locally by the United States Attorney's Office. Initiated in 1992, the strategy currently includes more than 249 sites in 226 cities across the country.

Weed and seed is a collaborative strategy among law enforcement (federal, state and city) agencies, social service agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations and residents to reclaim, restore, and rebuild communities. The four key elements to the weed and seed program are (1) law enforcement; (2) community policing; (3) prevention, intervention, and treatment programs; and (4) neighborhood restoration.

Weed and seed works with local law enforcement to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in targeted neighborhoods by "weeding" out the criminal element in the community. Community policing involves having police officers work closely with community residents to develop solutions to violent and drug related crimes. The next step is to "seed" the community with human services that include prevention, intervention treatment, and neighborhood revitalization.

The legislature finds the federal government will fund up to three sites per county. In Hawaii, the three sites approved for federal weed and seed designation are Kalihi-Palama/Chinatown, 1998; Waipahu, 2000; and Ewa/Ewa Beach, 2002. The federally funded Weed and Seed program has been successful since its inception in the Kalihi-Palama/Chinatown area of downtown Honolulu. The site experienced a seventy per cent reduction in crime. The legislature finds that the program's success warrants expansion into other high crime areas such as but not limited to east Honolulu, west Honolulu, Waianae, Palolo, and Ewa Beach. State funds are needed to enable the program to expand to these and other high crime areas. Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for the expansion of weed and seed programs, and to establish a temporary interdepartmental council to manage and implement new weed and seed programs.

SECTION 2. There shall be a temporary interdepartmental council convened by the governor for the special purpose of contracting with nonprofit corporations, coordinating policy, disbursing public funds, and implementing community plans related to implementing new weed and seed programs in interested communities. The governor shall appoint:

(1) The attorney general;

(2) The director of public safety;

(3) The director of human services;

(4) The director of health;

(5) The superintendent of education;

(6) The director of labor and industrial relations; and

(7) The administrative director of the courts

or their representatives to serve as members of the interdepartmental council. The interdepartmental council shall be attached to the lieutenant governor's office for administrative purposes. The lieutenant governor shall serve as the presiding chairperson.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $       , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2003-2004, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, to fund weed and seed programs, and to fund grant writing services within the lieutenant governor's office to pursue federal grants and other funding sources for, among other things, substance abuse treatment services, homeless housing construction, employment and rehabilitative services, and neighborhood restoration.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the lieutenant governor for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.