An Act amending the act of November 22, 1978 (P.L.1166, No.274), referred to as the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Law, providing for Public Safety Resident Communications Pilot Prog . . .ram.
Summary
HB627 establishes the Public Safety Resident Communications Pilot Program within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The program would allow the commission, to the extent funding is available, to award grants to law enforcement agencies for the purchase and implementation of community engagement software. The stated purpose is to improve communication with victims of crime and concerned citizens through customizable and automated public safety messaging.
The bill defines the software as a digital tool or platform that supplements existing public safety notification systems, such as computer-aided dispatch and victims’ notification systems, rather than duplicating them. It also requires the software to support law enforcement notification duties under the Crime Victims Act and to include a survey function for gathering feedback to improve services, track initiatives, and identify issues. The measure further directs that grant funds supplement, not replace, existing funding, that awards be geographically dispersed, and that the commission include performance metrics to measure program progress. It also makes records created or obtained through the program confidential and exempt from the Right-to-Know Law, and limits use of the software to internal law enforcement purposes related to community safety, policing review, and timely updates on key personnel and case status.
Impact
HB627 would amend the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Law by adding a new grant program for law enforcement agencies and by creating new confidentiality protections for records associated with the program. It would affect district attorney offices and local public safety agencies with general police powers by giving them a new funding mechanism for communications technology, while also imposing conditions on how the software may be used and how grant money may be spent. The bill would not mandate a statewide system, but instead create a pilot-style grant program administered by the commission, with implementation dependent on available funding.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad support in the House and initial committee stages, with unanimous or near-unanimous votes in committee and strong floor passage. The final House vote was 197-6, indicating overall favorable sentiment toward improving public safety communications and victim notification capabilities. The later Senate Law & Justice committee vote also reported the bill as committed, suggesting continued interest in advancing the measure.
Contention
The main points of contention are likely the confidentiality provisions and the scope of law enforcement use of the software, since the bill exempts program records from the Right-to-Know Law and restricts the software to internal agency use. There may also be concern about whether the program duplicates existing notification systems, whether it creates ongoing costs despite the supplement-not-supplant language, and how geographically dispersed grant awards will be in practice. The few House floor nays suggest some limited opposition, but the available record does not identify specific arguments or sponsors of that opposition.
In Nonnarcotic Medication Assisted Substance Abuse Treatment Grant Pilot Program, further providing for definitions, repealing provisions relating to establishment of pilot program, providing for establishment and further providing for county participation requirements, for use of grant funding, for powers and duties of department, for report to General Assembly and for construction; imposing duties on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency; and making an editorial change.
In Nonnarcotic Medication Assisted Substance Abuse Treatment Grant Pilot Program, further providing for definitions, repealing provisions relating to establishment of pilot program, providing for establishment and further providing for county participation requirements, for use of grant funding, for powers and duties of department, for report to General Assembly and for construction; imposing duties on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency; and making an editorial change.