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**Who Is Enforcing Civil Rights inArkansas: Is There a Need for a State Civil Rights Agency?**

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**Chapter3**

**What  Are the Costs of Establishing a StateHuman Rights Agency?**

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As with any new idea, program, policy consideration, expansion of anexisting agency, or the establishment of a new agency, the question of cost iscrucial. The Arkansas Advisory Committee asked Claude Rogers, past president ofthe International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies and formerdirector of the St. Louis, Missouri, Civil Rights Enforcement Agency, to discussfunding considerations.

Mr. Rogers said that if the Arkansas Legislature is serious about havinga human rights agency, then state lawmakers should ensure that such an agency isfunded and staffed properly. Factors that should be considered are the amount offunding, the number of persons needed to staff a well-run agency, the agency�sjurisdictional authority, and the average number of discrimination complaintsexpected each year. If a local agency is established and covers a limited area,the start-up costs and operating budget costs will be less than a statewideagency.[1]For example, an enforcement agency in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, had anoperating budget of about $600,000, versus a statewide agency operating budgetthat ranged between $1 million and $1.5million.[2]Other factors to be considered are the number of area offices that will beneeded throughout the state and the number of people needed to staff each officeeffectively.[3]

Mr. Rogers suggested that agency resources be organized around the typesof complaints that will be investigated.[4]He recommended separate investigative units for employment and housing cases. Public accommodations complaints generally can be merged into the housingunit.[5]

Mr. Rogers stressed the importance of having state civilrights laws that are substantially equivalent to EEOC and HUD requirements sothat the state is eligible for federal funding.[6]Federal reimbursement is only possible if the state agency has been certified toreceive and investigate complaints.[7]According to human rights directors in Tennessee and Nebraska, start-up costsusually range between $300,000 and $500,000 depending on the size of the stateand how the agency is organized.[8]HUD reimburses state agencies $1,200 per complaint referral, and EEOC reimburses$550 per complaint.[9]For example, from 1996 to 1998, HUD received 188 complaints from Arkansas,averaging 73 complaints per year. Based on that average, the state agency couldhave received up to $87,600 per year from HUD.[10]EEOC received 4,220 complaints during that same period, averaging 1,406complaints per year. Based on this average, the state agency could havereceived up to $733,300 per year.[11]Mr. Rogers stressed that federal funds should not be the only funding source;other public and private funding sources should also be used to support theoperations of the agency.[12]

[1]    Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,    fact-finding meeting, Little Rock, AR, Sept. 23�24, 1998, transcript    (hereafter cited as *Transcript*). Claude Rogers, *Transcript*,    vol. 1, pp. 34�36.

[2]    Ibid., p. 34.

[3]    Ibid., pp. 34�35.

[4]    Ibid., p. 35.

[5]    Ibid.

[6]    Ibid., pp. 35�36.

[7]    Alabama Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, *From    the Dream of the Sixties to the Vision of the Nineties�The Case for An    Alabama Human Relations Commission*, December 1992, p. 11.

[8]    Ibid.

[9]    Ibid.; Claude Rogers, telephone interview, Nov. 5, 1999.

[10]    Jamie K. Jamison, director, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban    Development, Southwest Region, information submitted, Sept. 1, 1998.

[11]    Wanda Milton, supervisory investigator, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity    Commission, Little Rock Area Office, information submitted, July 23, 1998.

[12]    Claude Rogers, *Transcript*, vol. 1,    pp. 34�36.