Community Safety Budget FY24 Toolkit

This toolkit empowers community members to advocate for the Harris County FY24 Community Safety Budget, a common-sense proposal that is life-affirming, equitable, and people-centered. Sign up here to receive email updates with opportunities to testify at Commissioners Court.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FAQ

Where are we in the budget process?

What are we advocating for?

How can I give a public comment?

HOW ELSE CAN I TAKE ACTION?

Contact your commissioner directly

Post and tag on social media

Submit a written comment

Share this toolkit

TALKING POINTS

Personalizing your testimony

General talking points

Harris Health talking points

Pollution Control talking points

Supporting points

FAQ

Where are we in the budget process?

The Harris County proposed budget has been released. One 9/19/23, the five members of Harris County Commissioners’ Court are scheduled to vote on the County Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), which will run from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. There will be two other Commissioners Court meetings before then. The earlier in the process we speak, the greater the chance there is still time to make changes to the budget.

What are we advocating for?

In 2022, community groups formed the Community Safety Budget coalition, which collected community input on FY23 budget priorities and incorporated them into budget demands, focusing on freezing law enforcement funding, increasing social service funding, and making the budget process more accessible for all community members. This year, the coalition updated these demands, has been presenting them in meetings with members of Commissioners’ Court, and is again organizing community members to testify in favor of the Community Safety Budget at Commissioners’ Court.

How can I give a public comment?

Community Safety Budget members will be attending Commissioners’ Court meetings to give public comment at 10 a.m on the 9th floor of 1001 Preston Street (County Administration Building) on the following dates:

  • Tuesday 8/29 10 a.m. - discussion of potential amendments to proposed budget
  • Tuesday 9/12 10 a.m. - vote to propose tax rates, vote on most amendments
  • Tuesday 9/19 10 a.m. - vote to approve tax rates, opportunity for final amendments, budget vote

In order to speak at a meeting, you must register online here or in-person at least one hour before the meeting. Unfortunately, phone testimony will not be accepted this year; you must attend in person to speak. For the 8/29 meeting, you can enter “Item #25, page 4 - in support of Community Safety Budget” as the agenda item. See full agenda here.

For the 9/12 meeting, enter “Item #1, in support of the Community Safety Budget” as the agenda item.

You will need to take the elevator to the 9th floor, go through security, check-in with the person managing the list of speakers. Your name will be called when it is your turn to speak.

What time will I be done giving my comment?

Unfortunately, this is a little difficult to predict. In general, once public comment starts, people who sign up for a specific agenda item are called in the order they signed up, then people who signed up without a specific agenda item are called in the order they signed up. Agendas are posted here the Friday before the meeting, so that you can select an agenda item relevant to the budget and write that on your registration. On 8/8, Commissioners Court dealt with a series of resolutions first, so public comment didn’t start until 11:45 and ended at 12:45. On 8/22 however, public comment happened from approximately 10:15 to 10:30. The closer we get to the budget vote, the more people are likely to speak during public comment.

HOW ELSE CAN I TAKE ACTION? 

  1. Submit a written comment
  1. For any Commissioners Court meeting that you cannot attend, email a written comment to CommissionersCourt@hctx.net for it to be entered into the record.
  2. For the 9/12 meeting, include that you support “Item #1, in support of the Community Safety Budget.”

  1. Contact your commissioner directly

  1. Search your address to find which Commissioner represents you
  2. Call or email their office (you can leave a message if you call after their business hours). Contact info here.
  3. Tell them your name (full, or just your first name), that you are one of their constituents, and any other important information you feel comfortable sharing, such as your neighborhood, civic clubs you’re a member of, organizations you represent etc.
  4. Talking Points
  1. Include that you support the Community Safety Budget.
  2. Public safety means more than policing, surveillance, and jails
  3. Constables have  no used their power to bully and influence this process
  4. Our budget should invest in systems of care that prevent harm and keep us safe
  5. Harris County’s Budget should reflect the needs of the community and invest in programs that prevent harm rather than punishing or paying for it
  6. Community Safety means ______________ to me.
  1. Share why this is important to you (see below on personalizing your testimony)

  1. Post and tag on social media

  1. Suggested tweets (we highly recommend personalizing/slightly tweaking!)
  1. Public safety means more than just police and jails. Harris County should support investments in people, prevention and public health. Fund our county!
  1. Tag Commissioners on Twitter - Use the hashtags #HarrisCoBudget and #HouNews
  1. County Judge Lina Hidalgo: @HarrisCoJudge @LinaHidalgoTX
  2. Precinct 1 County Commissioner Rodney Ellis: @hcpct1 @RodneyEllis
  3. Precinct 2 County Commissioner Adrian Garcia: @HarrisCoPct2 @AdrianGarciaHTX
  4. Precinct 3 County Commissioner Tom S. Ramsey:
  5. Precinct 4 County Commissioner Lesley Briones:

  1. Share this toolkit!

TALKING POINTS

Personalizing your testimony

  • If you live in Harris County, identify which Precinct you live in and speak directly to your Commissioner
  • If you currently use, or have benefited, from a Harris County Program or Service, include an anecdote about what it meant to you and why that program is important to protect
  • E.g. my children attend Library reading events, or afterschool programming
  • E.g., I attended a networking event hosted by Economic Equity and Opportunity
  • E.g., I am a Veteran who has been helped by Veterans Services
  • E.g., I lived near a ____(chemical spill, explosion, emergency) and it’s critical that Pollution Control be fully funded to respond and assist neighborhoods like mine
  • E.g., my mom gets her breast cancer screenings via Harris Health

General talking points

  • Due to state law that does not allow decreases to law enforcement funding, hiring more officers is an irreversible decision with serious consequences
  • To keep residents safe, we need to put resources towards people rather than punishment.
  • Investments in public health and other county resources are desperately needed and long overdue.
  • We support all efforts to freeze law enforcement funding and increase social services.
  • It’s more important than ever that county leaders do everything in their power to communicate budget and revenue impacts to the public in a way that is digestible, accessible and multilingual.
  • Underfunding social services like Harris Health, Pollution Control, and Public Health put Harris County residents in danger.
  • No matter our backgrounds (race, ethnicity, income), all of us need safety AND care.
  • Health and safety are deeply connected.
  • When our needs are not met, it creates conditions making us vulnerable to police violence, criminalization and exploitation.
  • To use public resources efficiently, we need to tackle problems at their root.
  • Shoring up health and social services will do more for crime prevention and public safety than punishing the exploitation that results from failing to do so.

Harris Health talking points

  • Investments in Harris Health are desperately needed and long overdue.
  • Harris Health is a robust publicly funded system that serves our most vulnerable residents, including when each of us becomes vulnerable due to circumstances outside of our control (job loss, catastrophic illness). But Harris Health is chronically underfunded.
  • Health and safety are deeply connected
  • Underfunding Harris Health costs Harris County more in the long-run
  • Preventative care saves lives and money
  • Robust access to behavioral health services protects our community’s most vulnerable residents from the overreaching harm of policing and criminalization

Pollution Control talking points

  • Industrial pollution and environmental harm are rampant in Harris County, disproportionately hurting Black and Latine community members. Harris County Pollution Control is on the frontlines. Public safety means clean air too.
  • Pollution Control has been working with too little for too long.
  • Poor air quality in the Harris County area contributes to thousands of preventable deaths every year. According to the Environmental Defense Fund and Harvard University, one year of particulate matter pollution contributed to over 5,000 preventable deaths. Between 2016-2020, chronic respiratory disease was the 6th leading cause of death in Harris County.

Supporting points

Hiring more officers is an irreversible decision with serious consequences.

  • Under Texas law, an increase in the number of police officers can never be undone. Making huge, harmful, and completely un-evidenced investments into hiring more officers is not just a bad use of resources for this year, it will lock Harris County into this irresponsible choice for years to come.

  • More police leads to more arrests, harassment, and brutality. Research has found that increasing the size of the police force leads them to make more stops and arrests regardless of underlying conditions. Black and Latino youth are disproportionately subject to random stops, a practice which is proven to increase crime. And even DOJ’s own statistics show that police brutality increases with the size of the police force.

To keep residents safe, we need to put resources towards people rather than punishment.

 

  • People want the county to prevent violence and harm before it happens, not just respond after it does. Unlike investments into police, investing in accessibility, public health, education, jobs, and other proactive solutions will address the systemic issues that lead to residents feeling unsafe in the first place.  

  • Evidence shows that investing in people has a much better impact on safety than throwing money at police and prisons. The investments the community safety coalition is calling for like youth programming, neighborhood improvement projects, and income assistance are all proven to increase safety. Contrast this with Harris County’s pretrial detention system, which has specifically been shown to increase crime.

Investments in public health and other county resources are desperately needed and long overdue.

  • Harris Health is in dire need of additional funding. Harris Health facilities have sewage water and crumbling infrastructure. This service has provided critical care to residents across the county, despite never getting the funding it needs. From cancer screenings to mental health care, the services provided by Harris Health represent the bedrock of safety in our community. To deny them even basic funding, while continuing to throw more and more money at police and prisons is an affront to public safety.

 

  • County resources and supposedly democratic processes are highly inaccessible.  From budget documents being posted only in English, hearings being scheduled last minute and during work hours, and social service agencies having a shocking lack of translators, issues of inaccessibility are rampant in Harris County. For residents to access services, as well as weigh in on how best to keep them and their communities safe, this must be a priority of the court.

For additional ideas about specific investments to lift up, notes on the current budget proposal, and more narrative framing, see the Harris County Community Safety Budget FY24.