| Summary |
Joint Budget Committee. At the November 2024 statewide
election, voters approved proposition 130, which requires the state to
provide $350 million in additional funding to local law enforcement
agencies to improve recruitment, training, and retention of local law
enforcement officers and to provide a $1 million death benefit to the
family of a first responder who is killed in the line of duty. The bill
modifies and implements proposition 130.
The bill creates the peace officer training and support fund (fund).
The bill establishes a formula by which the department of public safety
(department) disburses $350 million in additional funding to local law
enforcement agencies from the fund for permissible purposes. Permissible
purposes include the recruitment of peace officers, the hiring of additional
peace officers to address specific geographic areas or specific types of
criminal activity, the initial and continuing education and training for
peace officers, and the compensation of peace officers. No later than
January 15, 2026, the department is required to adopt policies and
procedures to assist in the determination whether the expenditure of
money received from the fund is for a permissible purpose.
Beginning July 1, 2026, the formula requires the department to
disburse an amount to each law enforcement agency equal to the total of
$15,000 and an amount multiplied by the number of P.O.S.T-certified
officers, noncertified deputy sheriffs, and detention officers budgeted by
a local government for the law enforcement agency. Law enforcement
agencies and local governments may not use these funds to supplant or
supplement other spending. Local governments must include evidence of
compliance with the supplanting and supplementing requirement in their
annual audit and provide a copy of this audit to the department. The
department must review an audit provided by a local government for
compliance with the requirements of the bill.
The bill also establishes funding for the fund. First, the bill directs
the state treasurer to transfer $15 million from the general fund to the
fund on July 1, 2026. Second, the bill directs the state treasurer to issue
a warrant from the general fund of $500 million to the public employees'
retirement association (PERA) on July 1, 2025. Beginning July 1, 2027,
until the state treasurer has transferred a total of $350 million from the
general fund to the fund:
•
The amount of each annual direct distribution made by the
state to PERA is reduced by the amount of PERA's
earnings from the $500 million, up to a maximum of $35
million; and
•
The state treasurer annually transfers an amount equal to
the amount of PERA's earnings from the $500 million, up
to a maximum of $35 million, from the general fund to the
fund.
However, beginning July 1, 2027, and each July 1 thereafter until the state
treasurer has transferred a total of $350 million from the general fund to
the fund, the state treasurer is required to transfer at least $15 million
from the general fund to the fund regardless of the amount of PERA's
earnings from the $500 million.
The bill clarifies that the $500 million in the warrant that the state
treasurer transfers to PERA is included in the general fund reserve.
Accordingly, the bill prohibits a future general assembly from lowering
the general fund reserve to an amount less than $1 billion. If the general
assembly does so reduce the reserve, the general assembly shall also make
corresponding reductions to the direct distributions made by the state to
PERA. The bill also requires the governor to adjust general fund
expenditures so that they do not result in the general fund reserve being
reduced to an amount less than $1 billion.
The bill establishes a process by which the department distributes
a $1 million death benefit to the family of a first responder who dies on
or after November 5, 2024, as either the direct and proximate result of a
personal injury sustained while performing official duties as a first
responder or because of an occupational disease arising out of and in the
course of the first responder's employment or service as a first responder.
These payments are paid out of the death benefit fund, which is created
in the bill. The bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $5 million from
the general fund to the death benefit fund on both July 1, 2026, and July
1, 2027, and to make annual transfers from the general fund thereafter as
necessary to ensure that the fund maintains a balance of $10 million. The
bill also requires a survivor of an eligible first responder to deduct an
amount equal to these payments from their federal taxable income for the
purpose of determining their state income tax liability unless the survivor
qualifies for a corresponding federal income tax deduction.
The bill also requires the department to provide technical
assistance to law enforcement agencies and local governments in
complying with the requirements of the bill and allows the executive
director of the department to adopt rules as necessary to implement the
bill.
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