HB 18-1409 Summary

• Creates a five-year pilot Community Crime Victims Grant Program administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment beginning July 1, 2018, to provide community-based support services to crime victims and their immediate families with focus on reducing repeat victimization.

• Establishes a third-party grant administrator model to distribute funds to eligible nonprofit organizations, schools, tribal agencies, and regulated professionals, prioritizing services to underserved communities including people of color, young adults, and men.

• Third-party grant administrator must be a nonprofit with prior state or federal grant administration experience, capable of providing unified case management and data collection systems, and with demonstrated competency in serving underserved communities of color.

• Grantees cannot decline to serve victims based on whether they reported the crime to law enforcement, time elapsed since victimization, or victimization location, and must implement screening tools to verify victim status.

• Appropriates $880,570 to the program for fiscal year 2018-19 and establishes a sunset date of September 1, 2023, with a mandatory review by the Department of Regulatory Agencies before repeal.