HB4387 would establish within the Department of Health and Human Services a Division on Community Safety tasked with advancing qualified, nonpunitive approaches to reduce criminal legal contact and expand opportunities for communities disproportionately harmed by the system. It creates Title II grant programs to fund community-led organizations, local governments, and states, plus First Responder Hiring Grants, and it establishes a National Advisory Committee and an Interagency Task Force to guide priorities, evaluation, and coordination.
The act emphasizes equity, participatory budgeting, and data-driven decision-making, with multi-year funding through 2030 and explicit reporting and wage requirements for grant recipients.
At a Glance
What It Does
Establishes a Division on Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services led by an Assistant Secretary, and creates four grant programs to fund community-led initiatives, local governments, states, and first responders.
Who It Affects
Nationwide network of community-based organizations, state and local governments, rural and urban jurisdictions, and frontline workers including community health workers and first responders.
Why It Matters
Shifts federal investment from punitive enforcement toward nonpunitive, evidence-informed safety strategies, emphasizing equity and local empowerment, with centralized coordination to improve outcomes.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill creates a new Division on Community Safety inside the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee research, coordination, and funding for qualified approaches to community safety. It also sets up governance structures, including the National Advisory Committee and an Interagency Task Force, to ensure diverse perspectives and cross-agency alignment.
The Division coordinates grant programs designed to empower communities—especially those most affected by the criminal legal system—to design and implement safety strategies that do not rely on traditional policing and incarceration.
Key definitions set out who qualifies as community-based organizations, community health workers, and community land trusts, as well as what constitutes a qualified approach to community safety, which centers on alternatives to law enforcement and criminal courts. The bill authorizes four major grant streams under Title II: a Community Safety Grant for Community-Led Organizations, a Local Governments Grant, a States Grant, and First Responder Hiring Grants.
Each program has allocation rules, reporting obligations, and protections to ensure funds are used for outcomes tied to safety, health, housing, and economic stability.Funded activities include crisis intervention with unarmed responders, violence prevention programs, improvements to the built environment, public health initiatives, housing and reentry supports, and capacity-building for advocates and community organizations. Notably, there are wage requirements for grant recipients, rural set-asides, data reporting with privacy protections, and an emphasis on participatory budgeting and community engagement.
The bill also requires ongoing evaluation and periodic reporting to Congress to inform future investments.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill creates a Division on Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services, led by an Assistant Secretary.
Four Title II grant programs are authorized: Community-Led Organizations, Local Governments, States, and First Responder Hiring Grants, totaling $13.5B for 2026–2030.
A National Advisory Committee and an Interagency Task Force are established to guide priorities, funding, and cross-agency coordination.
Grant funds must supplement, not supplant, existing local and state funding, include wage floor requirements, and require annual reporting with demographic disaggregation.
Not less than 30% of funds must go to rural areas; grants fund a broad set of safety interventions, from crisis response to housing and health services.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Division on Community Safety established
This section creates the Division on Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services and designates an Assistant Secretary to lead it. The Division’s core duties include coordinating grant programs under Title II, funding and disseminating research on qualified approaches to community safety, and providing technical assistance to State and local governments. The Division also oversees the creation and operation of the National Advisory Committee and the Interagency Task Force, and it maintains a complaint system to address fund-related concerns.
National Advisory Committee
The Division shall establish a National Advisory Committee to advise on priorities, funding, and evaluation of research and technical assistance. Members shall include individuals with direct experience in the criminal legal system and advocates for equity across racial, ethnic, gender, disability, and Indigenous communities. The Committee recommends annual priorities and funding, and reviews whether grant activities reflect needs of disproportionately impacted groups, providing annual recommendations to the Administrator.
Interagency Task Force
An interagency task force, chaired by the Division, coordinates efforts across multiple federal agencies (e.g., Justice, HUD, Education, Labor, EPA). Its duties include auditing funds and programs that support law enforcement and carceral approaches, auditing federal initiatives that fund qualified community safety approaches, and helping streamline grant processes to reach small, grassroots organizations. It reports findings to Congress after completing audits.
Community Safety Grant for Community-Led Organizations
This program funds community-based organizations designing or supporting qualified approaches to community safety. Priority goes to groups serving communities disproportionately affected by immigration or criminal legal system involvement and led by individuals with lived experience. Funds may be used for crisis intervention, violence prevention, environmental improvements, health services, and capacity-building, with reporting requirements detailing fund use and program reach.
Community Safety Grant for Local Governments
Grants to units of local government to assess safety needs, fund programming, and develop action plans. A wage floor applies to hires funded by these grants, and at least 30% of funds must go to rural areas. Recipients must prepare regular public reports on fund use and on enforcement activity, with data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, gender, and disability status.
Community Safety Grant for States
States may receive grants to oversee statewide implementation of qualified approaches. States must establish a state-level division or office to oversee activities and provide matching funds to support ongoing programs. The program emphasizes equity, with priority given to states that demonstrate reductions in incarceration and disparities, and includes reporting and evaluation comparable to other Title II grants.
First Responder Hiring Grants
This section funds grants to expand the workforce of first responders and support agencies implementing trauma-informed and crisis-intervention approaches. Funds may cover recruitment, training, equipment, overtime, and school-based partnerships. A wage floor applies to employees paid with these funds, and programs must support collaboration with community-based organizations and local governments.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Community-based organizations led by marginalized groups that directly implement safety programs and receive subgrants to scale interventions.
- State and local governments empowered to test and fund community safety innovations.
- Rural communities—through a guaranteed minimum share of funding and tailored safety needs assessments.
- Survivors of police violence, mass incarceration, sexual violence, and immigration detention who benefit from trauma-informed supports and access to services.
- Frontline workers and community health workers who gain funding, training, and expanded roles in safety programs.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal and state governments bear periodic administrative costs to run the Division, audits, and reporting networks.
- Local governments and community-based organizations must meet wage floors and reporting obligations, increasing compliance costs.
- Grant recipients may face ongoing reporting and performance requirements that require data collection and privacy protections.
- Data matching and cross-agency coordination demand investment in information systems and privacy safeguards.
- Implementing participatory budgeting and equity-focused programs may require upfront capacity-building investments.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is balancing expansive federal investment and centralized oversight with local autonomy and rapid experimentation. Federal funding aims to diffuse proven, community-led strategies across diverse jurisdictions, but rigid reporting, governance, and wage requirements may hinder nimble, locally tailored solutions.
The bill front-loads a substantial shift in how safety is pursued, moving toward nonpunitive, community-led approaches and away from punitive enforcement. This creates large-scale funding and coordination needs across federal agencies, and it places new compliance and reporting burdens on recipients.
Privacy, data governance, and the risk of mission drift are central tensions, particularly with data collection that disaggregates demographics and tracks enforcement outcomes. The requirement that funds supplement rather than supplant existing funding could slow local buy-in where budgets are already stretched, and the emphasis on rural allocation may challenge jurisdictions with uneven geographies but high need.
Overall, success hinges on durable interagency collaboration, credible evaluation, and clear, consistently applied definitions of what constitutes a “qualified approach to community safety.”
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