[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.