LRB-2420/1
JPC:amn
2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE
November 12, 2021 - Introduced by Representatives Stubbs, Cabrera, Hesselbein,
Bowen, Hebl, Neubauer, Snodgrass, Subeck, Emerson, Shankland, Conley
and Sinicki, cosponsored by Senators L. Taylor, Larson and Agard. Referred
to Committee on Health.
AB702,1,4 1An Act to amend 15.01 (6) and 15.02 (3) (c) 1.; and to create 15.194 (2) and
2250.25 of the statutes; relating to: community violence intervention and
3creation of the Office of Violence Prevention in the Department of Health
4Services.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill creates the Office of Violence Prevention in the Department of Health
Services, establishes certain duties with respect to the office, and directs the office
to award grants for community violence intervention. The bill provides that the office
shall coordinate and expand violence prevention activities, and work to reduce the
incidences of interpersonal violence and reduce death by homicide. To achieve this
goal, the bill requires the office to accomplish all of the following:
1. Establish a violence prevention focus within DHS and any division of
government that receives funding from DHS.
2. Develop collaborative relationships with other state agencies that are
interested or active in the reduction of interpersonal violence.
3. Integrate violence prevention education into existing and planned state
funded substance use and abuse prevention programs.
4. Support the development and implementation of comprehensive
community-based violence prevention initiatives within cities and towns across the
state.
5. Develop sources of funding beyond state revenues to maintain the office and
expand its activities.

6. Create a directory of existing violence prevention services and activities in
each county.
7. Develop and recommend additional wrap around and support services that
include both interpersonal violence and suicide prevention programs and are funded
by local governing bodies.
8. Support local organizations that provide violence prevention services in
seeking out and applying for grant funding in support of their initiatives.
9. With the support of DHS, develop and implement a public health strategy.
Additionally, this bill directs the office to establish and implement a program
to award grants to support effective violence reduction initiatives in communities
that are disproportionately affected by violence. Grants are to be awarded
competitively to counties and cities that are disproportionately impacted by violence,
and to community-based organizations that serve the residents of those counties or
cities. Where appropriate, the bill allows two or more counties and cities to submit
joint applications to provide more comprehensive solutions. Grantees are required
to submit to the office at regular intervals reports that describe the grantee's
progress in achieving the grant objectives.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB702,1 1Section 1. 15.01 (6) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB702,3,22 15.01 (6) “Division," “bureau," “section," and “unit" means the subunits of a
3department or an independent agency, whether specifically created by law or created
4by the head of the department or the independent agency for the more economic and
5efficient administration and operation of the programs assigned to the department
6or independent agency. The office of credit unions in the department of financial
7institutions, the office of the inspector general in the department of children and
8families, the office of the inspector general in the department of health services, the
9office of violence prevention in the department of health services,
and the office of
10children's mental health in the department of health services have the meaning of
11“division" under this subsection. The office of the long-term care ombudsman under
12the board on aging and long-term care and the office of educational accountability

1in the department of public instruction have the meaning of “bureau" under this
2subsection.
AB702,2 3Section 2. 15.02 (3) (c) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB702,3,124 15.02 (3) (c) 1. The principal subunit of the department is the “division". Each
5division shall be headed by an “administrator". The office of credit unions in the
6department of financial institutions, the office of violence prevention in the
7department of health services,
and the office of children's mental health in the
8department of health services have the meaning of “division" and the director of
9credit unions in the department of financial institutions, the director of the office of
10violence prevention in the department of health services,
and the director of the office
11of children's mental health in the department of health services have the meaning
12of “administrator" under this subdivision.
AB702,3 13Section 3. 15.194 (2) of the statutes is created to read:
AB702,3,1614 15.194 (2) Office of violence prevention. There is created an office of violence
15prevention in the department of health services. The director of the office shall be
16appointed by the governor to serve at the pleasure of the governor.
AB702,4 17Section 4. 250.25 of the statutes is created to read:
AB702,3,20 18250.25 Office of violence prevention. (1) Purpose. The office of violence
19prevention shall coordinate and expand violence prevention activities and work to
20reduce the incidences of interpersonal violence and death by homicide.
AB702,3,21 21(2) Duties. The office of violence prevention shall do all of the following:
AB702,3,2322 (a) Establish a violence prevention focus within the department and any local
23unit of government that receives funding from the department.
AB702,4,324 (b) Develop collaborative relationships with other state agencies that are
25interested or active in the reduction of interpersonal violence, including child abuse,

1elder abuse, violence involving youth, domestic violence, gun violence, intimate
2partner violence, sexual assault, and violence against persons based on perceived or
3actual sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
AB702,4,54 (c) Integrate violence prevention education into existing and planned state
5funded substance use and abuse prevention programs.
AB702,4,116 (d) Support the development and implementation of comprehensive
7community-based violence prevention initiatives within cities and towns across the
8state, including child abuse, elder abuse, violence against youth, domestic violence,
9gun violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and violence against persons
10based on perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender
11expression.
AB702,4,1312 (e) Develop sources of funding beyond state revenues to maintain the office and
13expand its activities.
AB702,4,1514 (f) Create a directory of existing violence prevention services and activities in
15each county.
AB702,4,1816 (g) Develop and recommend additional wrap around and support services that
17include both interpersonal violence and suicide prevention programs and are funded
18by local governing bodies.
AB702,4,2219 (h) Support local organizations that provide violence prevention services in
20seeking out and applying for grant funding in support of their initiatives and provide
21technical assistance and support to the organizations to maximize the organizations'
22likelihood of success with their applications.
AB702,4,2523 (i) With the support of the division of the department responsible for public
24health, develop and implement a public health strategy that provides for all of the
25following:
AB702,5,2
11. The use of culturally competent and community-wide risk-assessment
2tools.
AB702,5,33 2. The identification of heavy utilizers of public services.
AB702,5,44 3. The provision of cognitive and family-based therapy.
AB702,5,55 4. The coordination of available services to combat the spread of violence.
AB702,5,76 5. Technical assistance from culturally-competent organizations or
7individuals.
AB702,5,108 (j) Conduct a statewide public health campaign concerning the impact of
9violence, strategies for violence cessation, and the use of alternative dispute
10resolution techniques.
AB702,5,15 11(3) Grants. (a) The office of violence prevention shall develop and implement
12a program to award grants to support effective violence reduction initiatives in
13communities that are disproportionately affected by violence, including gun
14violence, group violence, suicides, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and
15gender-based violence.
AB702,5,2316 (b) The grants shall be used to support, expand, and replicate evidence-based
17violence reduction initiatives, including hospital-based violence intervention
18programs, evidence-based street outreach programs, and focused deterrence
19strategies, that seek to interrupt the cycles of violence, victimization, and retaliation
20in order to reduce the incidence of firearm violence. These initiatives must be
21primarily focused on providing violence intervention services and support to the
22small segment of the population that is identified as having the highest risk of
23perpetrating or being victimized by firearm violence.
AB702,6,324 (c) Grants shall be awarded on a competitive basis to counties and cities that
25are disproportionately impacted by violence, and to community-based organizations

1that serve the residents of those counties or cities. Where appropriate, 2 or more
2counties and cities may submit joint applications to provide more comprehensive
3solutions.
AB702,6,54 (d) An applicant for a grant shall submit to the office on a form provided by the
5office a proposal that includes all of the following:
AB702,6,96 1. A problem statement describing the issue or concern followed by a list of
7goals, objectives, and activities that describe how the applicant proposes to use the
8grant to implement an evidence-based violence reduction initiative in accordance
9with this subsection.
AB702,6,1210 2. A statement describing how the applicant proposes to use the grant to
11enhance the local coordination of existing violence prevention and intervention
12programs and minimize duplication of services.
AB702,6,1513 (e) In awarding grants under this subsection, the office shall give preference
14to applicants whose grant proposals demonstrate to the greatest extent all of the
15following:
AB702,6,1716 1. A substantial likelihood of reducing violence in the applicant's community
17without contributing to mass incarceration.
AB702,6,2018 2. Partnership with one or more entities, including community-based
19organizations and public agencies, provided that at least one applicant is a
20community-based organization.
AB702,6,2121 3. Leadership reflective of the demographics of the population being served.
AB702,6,2322 4. Experience working with formerly incarcerated or otherwise
23justice-involved individuals.
AB702,6,2524 5. Experience working with persons who are currently or formerly involved
25with interpersonal violence.
AB702,7,3
1(f) Each county or city that receives a grant under this subsection shall
2distribute not less than one-half of the grant funds awarded to one or more of any
3of the following entities:
AB702,7,44 1. Community-based organizations.
AB702,7,55 2. Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
AB702,7,76 3. Public agencies or departments that are primarily dedicated to community
7safety or gun violence prevention.
AB702,7,128 (g) The office shall form a grant selection advisory committee that shall include,
9without limitation, persons who have been impacted by violence, formerly
10incarcerated persons, and persons with direct experience in implementing
11evidence-based violence reduction initiatives, including initiatives that incorporate
12public health, community-based, or ecological systems approaches.
AB702,7,1513 (h) A grantee under this subsection shall report to the office, on a form provided
14by the office and in intervals prescribed by the office, the grantee's progress in
15achieving the stated grant objectives.
AB702,7,1816 (i) The office may contract with an entity that has expertise in evaluating
17community-based grant-funded programs to evaluate a grant proposal's
18effectiveness, provided that all of the following are satisfied:
AB702,7,2019 1. The entity uses both qualitative and quantitative methods in evaluating the
20grant proposal.
AB702,7,2221 2. To the extent practicable, the entity uses participatory action research
22methods or other research methods that incorporate subject engagement.
AB702,5 23Section 5. Effective date.
AB702,8,2
1(1) This act takes effect on the first day of the 2nd month beginning after
2publication.
AB702,8,33 (End)
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