Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38, Chapter 6; Title 39 and Title 40.

This bill creates the Tennessee violence intervention program within the department of finance and administration's office of criminal justice programs. The stated purpose of the program is to invest in effective, evidence-based violence reduction initiatives focused on the highest-risk individuals in communities disproportionately impacted by community violence. This bill requires the director of the office of criminal justice programs to establish, advertise, and administer grants through the Tennessee violence intervention program and, to the extent possible, hold public forums to gather community input regarding the programs. The office will award grants from the Tennessee violence intervention program on a competitive basis to municipalities, not-for-profit health agencies, law enforcement agencies, and nonprofit organizations that serve communities with disproportionately high rates and numbers of homicides and other incidents of violent crime, as determined by the office. The grants must be used to: (1) Implement, expand, or enhance the coordination between evidence-based violence reduction initiatives, such as hospital-based violence intervention programs, street outreach programs, and focused deterrence strategies, that have demonstrated effectiveness at reducing rates of homicides and other incidents of violent crime via the provision of targeted services to victims affected by crime or violence; (2) Support the development and delivery of intervention-based strategies by entities that provide targeted services to individuals who are victims affected by crime or violence and are at risk of being victimized by or engaging in violence, in order to interrupt cycles of violence, reinjury, and retaliation; (3) Support initiatives that primarily target a reduction of violence among individuals who are victims affected by crime or violence and have been identified as having the highest risk of perpetrating or being victimized again by violence in the near future; and (4) Ensure that a sufficient portion of the available grant funding is provided to support programs directed at providing public awareness, outreach, assistance, or intervention services to victims of violent crime offered at community locations, such as not-for-profit hospitals, where individuals may be encountered in the immediate aftermath of a violent incident. This bill requires the office to award grants in accordance with the following priority: (1) A not-for-profit hospital or a not-for-profit entity operating within, on behalf of, or in partnership with a hospital that operates or is applying to operate a hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program that provides services in a municipality that has a disproportionately high rate of violent crime or homicide; or (2) Applicants operating in areas disproportionately affected by violent crime, and whose proposals demonstrate the greatest likelihood of reducing, through targeted services, the rate and number of homicides and other incidents of violent crime in the community served by the applicant without contributing to mass incarceration. The amount of funds awarded to an applicant will not be limited to a specific amount and must be commensurate with levels of violent crime in the community served by the applicant, the scope of the applicant's proposal, and the applicant's demonstrated need for additional resources to effectively reduce the rate and numbers of homicides and other incidents of violent crime in the community served by the applicant. A grantee may use the grant awarded to supplement, but not replace, funding that would otherwise be made available to address group and community violence in the grantee's community. This bill sets out in detail the requirements for applying for a grant and the process for awarding grants. This bill authorizes the office to use up to 8 percent of the funds appropriated or made available, or such percentage as may be authorized under program guidelines for funding made available to the Tennessee violence intervention program through federal funding sources, for technical assistance and for the costs of implementing and administering the program, including employment of dedicated grants management and program personnel and annual program evaluation and analysis of the effectiveness of violence reduction initiatives. The office must make these evaluations available to the public. This bill requires the office to report on the activities of the program annually to the governor, the chief clerks of the senate and house of representatives, and the legislative librarian. This bill sets out in detail the required contents of the report. This bill authorizes the office to seek money from the federal government and other sources, including private foundations, to fund the initiative created by this bill. Available federal funding may, to the extent permitted by federal law, be used to award grants for initiatives authorized under this bill and to promote the purposes of the Tennessee violence intervention program, which funding will be in addition to any other funds appropriated, contributed, awarded, or otherwise provided for these purposes.