CJJ | FY 2009 Budget Alert
House and Senate Put Forth Recommended Funding Levels for FY 2009 Federal Juvenile Justice Programs
The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) recently marked up the CJS appropriations bills, which includes recommended funding levels for the core federal juvenile justice programs. Both the House and the Senate rejected the President’s proposal to zero-out these funding programs and replace them with one, large competitive program. A chart comparing the recommendations to current funding levels is pasted below.
In millions:
| FY02 | FY08 | House Proposal for FY09 |
Senate Proposal for FY09 |
CJJ REQUEST for FY09 |
|
| Title II State Formula Funds |
$88.8 | $74.3 | $75 | $75 | $96 |
| Title V Local Delinq. Prevention |
$94.3 | $61.1 $25 for EUDL $25 for GREAT $17.5 for Tribal Youth |
$40 $25 for TY $15 for gang prevention |
$80 | $95 |
| JABG | $249.5 | $51.7 | $55 | $80 | $250 |
| DPBG | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | $126.4 |
Both the House and the Senate are recommending that the Title II program basically be level-funded at $75 million (up $700,000 from FY 2008).
Both chambers are also recommending an increase in the JABG and mentoring programs: for JABG, the Senate is recommending $80 million and House $55 million vs. $51.7 million in FY 2008, and for mentoring the Senate is recommending $80 million and the House $100 million vs. $70 million in FY 2008.
Finally, while the Senate is recommending that the Title V program be increased to $65 million over $61.1 million in FY 2008, the House is recommending that the program be decreased by more than $20 million to only $40 million. In addition, the $40 million being recommended by the House is completely earmarked, with $25 million going towards the Tribal Youth Program and $15 million going towards gang prevention.
Each bill now moves on for full consideration by their respective chambers, and then on to consideration by the conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two bills. In addition, the House is proposing $75 million in “demonstration projects,” i.e., earmarked juvenile justice programming, while the Senate is proposing $65 million.
THE TIME IS NOW to urge congressional appropriators to restore specific funding for all critical juvenile justice and delinquency prevention funding streams that support the work of the JJDPA in the states: Title II State Formula Funds, Title V Local Delinquency Prevention Grants, Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG) and Delinquency Prevention Block Grants (DPBG). At this juncture, the entire House and Senate are in play.
Please use the CJJ Template Appropriations Support Letter below to communicate the importance of federal juvenile justice funding to your entire congressional delegation.
[1] CJJ Template Appropriations Support LetterFor more information, contact Tara Andrews, Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Programs, at [2] andrews@juvjustice.org.
[1]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_215.doc
[2]: mailto:andrews@juvjustice.org