SENATE BILL NO. 501

September 10, 2019, Introduced by Senators BRINKS, WOJNO, HERTEL, MCCANN, GEISS, BULLOCK, ALEXANDER, CHANG, MOSS and HOLLIER and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

A bill to amend 1984 PA 431, entitled

"The management and budget act,"

(MCL 18.1101 to 18.1594) by adding section 496a.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 496a. (1) The department shall create a law enforcement awareness grant program to assist units of local government in the recruitment of members of qualified demographic groups as police recruits.

(2) Grants shall be made only if matched on a 1-to-1 basis with funds made available by the unit of local government. Grants to a single unit of local government shall not exceed $50,000.00 in a fiscal year.

(3) Grants under the law enforcement awareness grant program shall be used by units of local government to create awareness of a profession in law enforcement for members of qualified demographic groups.

(4) The department shall create an application process, selection criteria, and a grant dispersal process and post the application process, selection criteria, and grant dispersal process on the department's website.

(5) The law enforcement awareness grant program shall provide that the grant proceeds may be used for all of the following as determined by the department:

(a) Educational programs.

(b) Marketing events.

(c) Transportation to and from educational programs and marketing events.

(d) Food and child care for individuals who attend the educational programs or marketing events.

(e) Targeted advertising for the educational programs and marketing events.

(6) Each year, each unit of local government that receives a grant under this section shall report the following to the department:

(a) The number of educational programs or marketing events conducted by the unit of local government.

(b) The number of individuals who are members of a qualified demographic group that attended each educational program or marketing event.

(c) An accounting of all expenditures under the grant program.

(7) For the state fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, $500,000.00 from the general fund is appropriated to the department to be used to create and operate the law enforcement awareness grant program created in this section.

(8) Each year, the director shall submit a report to the governor and each house of the legislature and publish a copy of the report on its internet website. The report shall contain all of the following:

(a) The name of the unit of local government that received a grant under this act.

(b) The number of educational programs and marketing events held by each unit of local government that received a grant under this act.

(c) The number of individuals who are members of a qualified demographic group that attended an educational program or marketing event held under this act.

(9) As used in this section:

(a) "Qualified demographic group" means women, minorities, and historically underrepresented groups within or near the unit of local government as determined by the department.

(b) "Unit of local government" means a city, village, or township with a population of 80,000 or more.