AAC
down, Arkansas leaders have reacted swiftly and unequivocal- ly. U.S. Sen. John Boozman from Arkansas’ Tird Congressio- nal District in Northwest Arkansas authored a bipartisan letter to Attorney General Sessions asking him to lift the hold on the Fiscal Year 2017 funding for states that are in compliance with the DOJ’s new regulations, including the over $2 mil- lion in funding for which Arkansas is eligible. Te letter states, “[t]he Department’s decision to withhold all FY17 Byrne JAG awards has left out states short of the resources they need to be a partner with the federal government on shared law enforce- ment responsibilities,” and adds, “[w]ith increased efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, Byrne JAG funding for local law enforcement is more important than ever.” An April 17 press release from Sen. Boozman’s office references a recent meeting in Washington where Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane said Arkansas drug task forces’ ability to carry out their duties had been compromised by the withholding, noting that the money would inevitably be gone this spring. Absent new funding, the task forces would effectively be put out of business. In response, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced on March 7 that he would be releasing $600,000 in Rainy Day funds to Arkansas drug task forces, which the Joint Budget Committee of the General Assembly approved. Gov. Hutchinson called this one-time funding “a needed lifeline to law enforcement
LEGAL CORNER
until the federal funding issues can be fixed.” At a sit-down meeting with the press on April 16, the Governor reiterated the importance of releasing those funds to keep the task forces in operation. When asked if any other Rainy Day funds would be released, the Governor replied that he remained hopeful that the DOJ would do the right thing and release Fiscal Year 2017 funding to the jurisdictions in compliance with current DOJ regulations, including Arkansas, but that if no action was taken, Arkansas would have to come up with some money to keep the task forces afloat. To date, the DOJ has not released any other funding. Te Seventh Circuit’s three-judge panel issued a ruling in Chicago v. Sessions on April 19 unanimously upholding the lower court’s partial injunction against the DOJ’s efforts to require cooperation with ICE officials as a condition to re- ceiving Byrne JAG funding. However, one judge did issue a dissenting-in-part opinion on the lower court’s nationwide injunction against the federal government, as opposed to pro- tecting only Chicago. Similar injunctive rulings have been is- sued in Philadelphia, San Fransisco, and Los Angeles. At the time of this article, it was not clear if the DOJ would continue to withhold funds and appeal the Chicago lawsuit further, re- lease the 2017 Byrne JAG funds in whole or in part, or take some other action.
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2018
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