House GOP bill proposes clawing back $42 million in violence-prevention funding

Rep. Paul Novotny (R-Elk River) is not against funding community groups that work to prevent or reduce violence by intervening and de-escalating tense situations.

He just wants them to be more accountable for the state money they receive.

“We want responsible spending,” he said.

To that end, he sponsors HF2532, which would return $42 million now sitting in the community crime and violence prevention account back to the General Fund.

A 2023 law established that account in the special revenue fund and seeded it with $70 million from the General Fund.

Per statute, the money goes to the Department of Public Safety that then gives grants “to fund community-based programs that operate crime or violence prevention and intervention programs that provide direct services to community members.”

The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee took testimony on the bill Wednesday before laying it over for possible inclusion in a committee budget bill.

“We are scraping for every cent,” said Novotny, co-chair of the committee. He’s concerned about reports that some community groups are paying their executives triple-digit salaries.

He sponsors the bill as a kind of a “do over” by essentially taking the money back until it might be redistributed in the future, but with much more financial oversight. One option would be to run the grants through local law enforcement agencies instead of community groups.

Several Republicans echoed Novotny’s concerns, with Rep. Elliott Engen (R-White Bear Township) suggesting there is outright fraud happening.

The issue is highly partisan.

“There is no reason to defund violence prevention,” said Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview), who co-chairs the committee with Novotny.

It’s okay to be concerned about how violence-prevention money is spent, but also take a good look at all the good work these groups do. She said there is plenty of research showing they can be very effective.

That was also the focus of the half-dozen testifiers who spoke against the bill.

The work of these groups has been shown to be effective in reducing violence in the more than 40 states that have used them, said Leah Kondes, who leads the Minneapolis group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

When violence is avoided, there are fewer people encountering the police, she said, which heads off future costs associated with paying for a criminal justice system.

“This bill is penny wise and pound foolish,” she said.

Opposition also came in the form of 14 letters, including officials of several cities and counties – Brooklyn Park, Goodhue County, Cass County, Brown County – and social services organizations, such as Lutheran Social Service, RiseUp Partnership, and Community Justice Action Fund.