1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to public safety; requiring the commissioner 
  1.3             of public safety to develop grant programs to fund law 
  1.4             enforcement and community crime prevention 
  1.5             initiatives; establishing the weed and seed 
  1.6             coordinating committee and grant program; directing 
  1.7             the attorney general to assist local law enforcement 
  1.8             officials in developing and implementing anticrime 
  1.9             strategies; authorizing appearance of the attorney 
  1.10            general in court in certain civil and criminal cases; 
  1.11            appropriating money; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.12            Minnesota Statutes, chapter 299A. 
  1.13  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.14     Section 1.  [299A.62] [LAW ENFORCEMENT AND COMMUNITY 
  1.15  GRANTS.] 
  1.16     Subdivision 1.  [GRANT PROGRAMS.] (a) The commissioner of 
  1.17  public safety may develop grant programs to fund community-based 
  1.18  programs that are designed to enhance the community's sense of 
  1.19  personal security and to assist the community in its crime 
  1.20  control efforts, including but not limited to programs that 
  1.21  assist: 
  1.22     (1) law enforcement agencies in purchasing equipment, 
  1.23  provide undercover buy money, and pay other nonpersonnel costs; 
  1.24     (2) community and neighborhood organizations in efforts to 
  1.25  prevent or reduce criminal activities in their areas, 
  1.26  particularly activities involving youth and the use and sale of 
  1.27  drugs; 
  1.28     (3) law enforcement agencies in efforts to target and 
  1.29  apprehend violent habitual criminals; 
  2.1      (4) in establishing neighborhood block clubs and innovative 
  2.2   community-based crime watch programs; 
  2.3      (5) in establishing community-based programs designed to 
  2.4   intervene with juvenile offenders who are identified as likely 
  2.5   to engage in repeated criminal activity in the future unless 
  2.6   intervention is undertaken; 
  2.7      (6) in establishing other community-based crime prevention 
  2.8   programs that are innovative and encourage substantial 
  2.9   involvement by members of the community served by the program; 
  2.10  and 
  2.11     (7) law enforcement agencies to assign overtime officers to 
  2.12  high crime areas for the purpose of vigorously enforcing curfew, 
  2.13  truancy, and traffic laws, initiating street contacts, checking 
  2.14  for outstanding warrants, generating intelligence information on 
  2.15  suspected drug dealers and gang members, and arresting criminal 
  2.16  law violators.  
  2.17     (b) The commissioner shall prescribe criteria for 
  2.18  eligibility and the award of grants and reporting requirements 
  2.19  for recipients. 
  2.20     Sec. 2.  [299A.63] [WEED AND SEED GRANT PROGRAM.] 
  2.21     Subdivision 1.  [ESTABLISHMENT.] A grant program is 
  2.22  established under the administration of the commissioner of 
  2.23  public safety to assist local communities in their efforts to 
  2.24  eradicate violent crime, illegal drug activity, and illegal gang 
  2.25  activity in targeted neighborhoods, and to revitalize these 
  2.26  targeted neighborhoods economically and socially. 
  2.27     Subd. 2.  [WEED AND SEED COORDINATING COMMITTEE.] The weed 
  2.28  and seed coordinating committee consists of the attorney 
  2.29  general, the United States attorney for the state of Minnesota, 
  2.30  and the commissioner of public safety.  The coordinating 
  2.31  committee is responsible for receiving applications for grants 
  2.32  and awarding grants under this section.  The commissioner of 
  2.33  public safety shall act as the fiscal agent for the grant 
  2.34  program. 
  2.35     Subd. 3.  [GRANT PROCESS.] A city may apply for a grant 
  2.36  under this section by submitting an application to the 
  3.1   coordinating committee on a form prescribed by the weed and seed 
  3.2   coordinating committee.  The application shall: 
  3.3      (1) identify the target neighborhood or neighborhoods 
  3.4   within the city that have been proposed by the city's mayor and 
  3.5   police chief as a weed and seed site; 
  3.6      (2) describe the problems to be corrected within the 
  3.7   targeted neighborhoods and the strengths that make the targeted 
  3.8   neighborhoods suitable candidates for weed and seed funding; and 
  3.9      (3) contain the city's plan for use of the grant funds.  
  3.10  This plan must be prepared in conjunction with members of the 
  3.11  targeted neighborhoods, must describe the specific law 
  3.12  enforcement, community policing, prevention, intervention, 
  3.13  treatment, and neighborhood revitalization activities that the 
  3.14  city intends to undertake, and must include a reporting and 
  3.15  evaluation component. 
  3.16     Subd. 4.  [ATTORNEY GENERAL DUTIES.] The attorney general 
  3.17  shall assist cities and local law enforcement officials in 
  3.18  developing and implementing anticrime and neighborhood 
  3.19  revitalization strategies and shall assist local prosecutors in 
  3.20  prosecuting crimes occurring in the targeted neighborhoods that 
  3.21  receive funding under this section.  Upon request of the local 
  3.22  prosecuting authority, the attorney general may appear in court 
  3.23  in those civil and criminal cases arising out of targeted 
  3.24  neighborhoods that the attorney general deems appropriate.  In 
  3.25  addition, for the purposes of this section, the attorney general 
  3.26  may appear in court in cases involving nuisances under Minnesota 
  3.27  Statutes, chapter 617, and misdemeanors under Minnesota 
  3.28  Statutes, chapter 609. 
  3.29     Subd. 5.  [UNITED STATES ATTORNEY DUTIES.] The attorney 
  3.30  general shall develop appropriate grant applications to the 
  3.31  United States Department of Justice for federal weed and seed 
  3.32  grants for use in conjunction with grants awarded under this 
  3.33  section.  
  3.34     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.35     $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  3.36  commissioner of public safety for the fiscal year ending June 
  4.1   30, 1997, to be used to award grants under this section and is 
  4.2   appropriated to the attorney general for providing assistance to 
  4.3   local prosecutors and communities and developing grant 
  4.4   applications as required in this section.  This sum is available 
  4.5   until expended.