SECONDARY ROAD PATROL MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT H.B. 5569:
SUMMARY OF BILL
REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
House Bill 5569 (as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Representative Tommy Brann
House Committee: Government Operations
Senate Committee: Appropriations
CONTENT
The bill would amend Chapter 14 (Of county officers.) of the Revised Statutes of 1846 to allow a county to have a level of secondary road patrol service and expenditure that is below what the county was providing or spending immediately before October 1, 1978, provided that level is not below what it was providing or spending immediately before October 1, 2021. This would change the existing maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement to receive grant funding from the Secondary Road Patrol Program.
The bill would amend current law and provide that an agreement between a county and the Office of Highway Safety Planning would be void if the county reduced its expenditures or level of road patrol below what the county was spending or providing immediately before October 1, 1978, or immediately before October 1, 2021, whichever year the expenditures or level of road patrol was less. As is currently the case, the above provision would not apply if the county had to reduce general services because of economic conditions and was not doing so merely to reduce law enforcement services.
Public Act (PA) 416 of 1978 allows the Legislature to declare that counties applying for Secondary Road Patrol Grant funds for sheriff's patrols do not have to meet statutory law enforcement MOE requirements in order to receive funding, due to cuts in general services related to economic conditions, and that cities and villages do not have to meet MOE requirements to be eligible for road patrol services by county sheriff's departments under the same circumstances. The bill would negate the need for an annual legislative waiver to do so.
The bill also would strike references to the Office of Criminal Justice. The Office was created under PA 541 of 1978, which became ineffective on March 30, 1987.
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no overall impact on State expenditures but would allow certain counties that are not able to meet the MOE standard for normal receipt of Secondary Road Patrol Grant funds for fiscal year (FY) 2021-22 to receive them. Otherwise, those funds, distributed on a percentage basis to eligible counties (garnered from a $10 surcharge on moving violations) would be redistributed to counties that meet the MOE standard. The projected actual revenue for distribution of funding for FY 2021-22 is $9.8 million, not including work project funds.
Date Completed: 6-9-22 Fiscal Analyst: Bruce Baker
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.