    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [September 13, 1994]
    [Pages 1542-1543]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1542]]

    Memorandum on the Ounce of Prevention Council
    September 13, 1994

    Memorandum for the Vice President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the
    Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of
    Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human
    Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary
    of Education, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the
    Director of National Drug Control Policy, the Assistant to the President
    for Domestic Policy

    Subject: The Ounce of Prevention Council

        The Federal Government must administer its programs and deliver
    services to the American people in the most efficient, effective, and
    economical ways possible. To that end, this Administration is committed
    to streamlining, coordinating, and integrating the related
    responsibilities, programs, and functions of our various executive
    branch departments and agencies and to designing solutions to
    traditionally local problems in a manner that provides greater
    flexibility to those who implement these solutions--our State and local
    governments.
        It gives me great pleasure to sign into law today the Violent Crime
    Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (``Act''), which attacks this
    country's crime and violence problems through a comprehensive,
    responsible, and bottom-up approach. This Act establishes, among other
    things, new programs designed to address some of the root causes of
    criminal and violent behavior. All of these prevention programs are
    being fully funded through the reduction of the Federal bureaucracy--
    which was accomplished under the Vice President's National Performance
    Review. (Specifically, these reductions were effectuated by Executive
    Order No. 12839 of February 10, 1993, my memorandum of September 11,
    1993, and the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act, approved March 30,
    1994, which together directed executive branch departments and agencies
    to reduce the Federal workforce by 272,900 positions.)
        The Act also empowers States and localities by providing these
    governmental entities with maximum flexibility in administering the
    Act's prevention programs. But, unlike similar programs established in
    the past and in the true meaning of ``reinventing government,'' this law
    sets strict guidelines that ensure that these programs are administered
    in a manner that is consistent with the Act and fulfills the goals of
    the programs. Finally, the Act creates the Ounce of Prevention Council
    (the ``Prevention Council'' or ``Council'') to, among other things,
    oversee and coordinate the various crime prevention programs governed by
    the Act.
        In order to continue our efforts to streamline, coordinate, and
    integrate the work and activities of the Federal Government, I hereby
    order the following:
        (i) The Vice President, who leads the National Performance Review
    and chairs the President's Community Enterprise Board (the ``Board'');
    the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, who is responsible
    for overseeing the implementation of the Crime Bill; and the Director of
    the Office of Management and Budget shall be members of the Prevention
    Council;
        (ii) The Vice President shall serve as the Chair of the Council and
    shall appoint a staff to support the work of the Council, and the
    Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall serve as the
    Council's Vice Chair;
        (iii) The Vice President, to the extent appropriate and permitted by
    law, shall coordinate and integrate the work of the Prevention Council
    with the work of the President's Community Enterprise Board, which is
    responsible for coordinating across agencies various Federal programs
    available to distressed communities;
        (iv) The Prevention Council shall report to the Board on its
    activities, which shall include assisting communities in developing
    bottom-up crime prevention strategies that are sufficiently tailored and
    flexible to meet the security needs of the communities and evaluating
    the effectiveness of the programs governed by the Act;
        (v) To the extent permitted by law, Prevention Council members shall
    cooperate with the Vice President in coordinating all of the
    Administration's crime prevention programs and in integrating the work
    of the Council and the Board; and
        (vi) Each executive branch department and agency represented on the
    Council shall dedicate the personnel and administrative support

    [[Page 1543]]

    necessary for the Council to fulfill its missions and responsibilities.
        With this structure, I am confident that we will be able to provide
    communities in distress with a single Federal forum dedicated to helping
    them address their economic and security needs.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    Note: H.R. 3355, approved September 13, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
    322.