A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville City Council will enter a week of committee meetings on Tuesday morning.
Below, some of the bills we are watching work through the process.
Ex-offender employment: The most compelling legislation starts cycling through the committees on Wednesday morning, beginning with Councilman Garrett Dennis’ bill strengthening requirements that companies doing business with the city of Jacksonville hire ex-offenders that have gone through rehabilitation programs funded and authorized by the city.
The city currently budgets a total of $570,000 a year for ex-offender skills training, via agencies like Operation New Hope, Prisoners of Christ, and the Clara White Mission, with more money coming through the sheriff’s office budget.
Dennis’ new bill would ensure that companies doing $200,000 or more of business with the city commit to hiring ex-offenders who graduated from the city’s third-party service provider re-entry programs.
Failure to do so could result in those companies not getting paid.
Dennis’ bill is the second ambitious piece of legislation he’s put up in recent weeks.
Last Tuesday night, the city council passed a bill to fund a currently unfunded position in the Equal Opportunity/Equal Access program, intended to ensure workforce diversity throughout city government.
Rape Test Kits and Body Cameras: Two safety issues are in line for meaningful appropriations if approved by the Public Health and Safety and Finance committees.
One bill (2017-51) would appropriate $883,519 from the budget of the State Attorney’s Office to test sexual assault kits.
A backlog in tests emerged during the administration of the previous state attorney.
Via a federal initiative, this money funds two cold case detectives, who will be devoted to this testing for three years.
Another bill (2017-56) would appropriate $2.7 million of general fund dollars to replace network equipment used by the sheriff’s office. This replacement will be necessary for the body camera program that the sheriff’s office looks to begin, in pilot form, later this year.
As the bill summary asserts, “JSO is operating with equipment with a 1999 expiration date; the majority of the remaining equipment expired between 2006 and 2012.”
System failure is a concern. JSO has pushed for updates of antiquated infrastructure; the body camera roll out provides a unique opportunity to make the case, given the storage needs created by these programs.
