Governor Wes Moore announced this week the Moore-Miller administration’s 2024 legislative session public safety agenda. The administration is offering bills that will reform the state’s victim compensation program, address recruitment and retention of police officers, and create a gun violence prevention and intervention office at the Maryland Department of Health.
The Moore-Miller Administration’s 2024 public safety legislative agenda includes three bills:
- The Victim’s Compensation Reform Act will modernize Maryland’s victims compensation reform program to make sure that victims of crime receive the support they need to recover. This proposal makes the process more efficient, removes unnecessary barriers to receiving compensation, and allows for rapid awards for immediate needs like funeral or emergency relocation expenses. Victim compensation is proven to both help families in their recovery from crimes and to prevent future crimes, and strong victim compensation systems can increase the likelihood that victims of crime will be willing to testify against perpetrators of crime.
- The Growing Apprenticeships in Public Safety (GAPS) Act is focused on making sure that Maryland is training and supporting highly-qualified law enforcement professionals to protect our communities. The bill proposes both short and long term actions to help address the hiring and retention challenges that law enforcement and public safety agencies face across the state. The bill leverages existing resources and models to expand the use of registered apprenticeship as a pathway to law enforcement jobs. It also requires the establishment of a model policy for law enforcement officer wellness programs to ensure that police officers receive the support they need in their often challenging work. The bill also establishes a commission to do a deep dive into policies that can help recruit, train, and retain the next generation of law enforcement officers.
- The Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention will be created within the Department of Health to consolidate and better coordinate the state’s public health approach to preventing gun violence. This new office will serve as a partner to local governments, advocates, and medical professionals engaged in the work of hospital- and community-based violence intervention programs. Maryland would become the first state to establish a state office of gun violence prevention, which was a key recommendation of the President Biden-Vice President Harris White House Safer States Agenda – which outlined actions states should take to reduce gun violence and save lives.
From the Governor’s press release,
“We’ve been clear since inauguration day that public safety is our administration’s top priority and today, we announced our aggressive approach to keep Marylanders safe. We will use every tool at our disposal including the budget, executive orders, partnerships and the legislative process through these bills that we will shape with the General Assembly,” said Gov. Moore. “We will not rest until we get this right. We will stop at nothing to ensure the safety of all Marylanders – and to people with guns who wish to do harm to our communities, we will stop at nothing to remove you from our neighborhoods.”
