Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget includes a $3 million increase for the Department of Justice over the next two years, but the governor rejected requests to boost funding for drug treatment courts and the investigation of police-involved deaths.
The request for more than $600,000 for drug treatment courts was earmarked for five new positions to help counties run and evaluate programs that have saved the state money by keeping drug offenders out of jail and prison. Attorney General Brad Schimel said he’s already begun lobbying legislative leaders to reinstate those funds.
“I believe in the work that they do and we’ve got to make sure that we can have these in every community in the state,” Schimel said. “Because right now every community in the state needs the resources a drug treatment court can provide.”
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It’s not clear whether Schimel will also fight to keep the $700,000 the governor trimmed from the DOJ’s request for five new staff positions to carry out required independent investigations of police-involved shootings.
Schimel’s predecessor, J.B. Van Hollen, opposed the new law that mandates those probes.
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