I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 494 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2019 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability 

Block Grant program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tiffany Joslyn Juve5 nile Accountability Block Grant Program Reauthorization 

6 Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF JUVENILE ACCOUNTABILITY 

2 BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 Part R of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

4 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796ee et seq.) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in section 1801(b)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘grad8 uated sanctions’’ and inserting ‘‘graduated 

9 sanctions and incentives’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘hiring 

11 juvenile court judges, probation officers, and 

12 court-appointed defenders and special advo13 cates, and’’; 

14 (C) by striking paragraphs (4) and (7), 

15 and redesignating paragraphs (5) through (17) 

16 as paragraphs (4) through (15), respectively; 

17 and 

18 (D) in paragraph (11), as so redesignated, 

19 by striking ‘‘research-based bullying, cyberbully20 ing, and gang prevention programs’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘interventions such as researched-based 

22 anti-bullying, anti-cyberbullying, and gang pre23 vention programs, as well as mental health 

24 services and trauma-informed practices’’; 

25 (2) in section 1802— 


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1 (A) in subsection (d)(3), by inserting after 

2 ‘‘individualized sanctions’’ the following: ‘‘, in3 centives,’’; 

4 (B) in subsection (e)(1)(B), by striking 

5 ‘‘graduated sanctions’’ and inserting ‘‘grad6 uated sanctions and incentives’’; and 

7 (C) in subsection (f)— 

8 (i) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (I) by inserting after ‘‘A sanction 

10 may include’’ the following: ‘‘a range 

11 of court-approved interventions, such 

12 as’’; and 

13 (II) by inserting after ‘‘a fine,’’ 

14 the following: ‘‘a restorative justice 

15 program,’’; and 

16 (ii) by inserting after paragraph (2) 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(3) INCENTIVES.—The term ‘incentives’ 

19 means individualized, goal-oriented, and graduated 

20 responses to a juvenile offender’s compliance with 

21 court orders and case disposition terms designed to 

22 reinforce or modify the skills and behaviors of the 

23 juvenile offender. An incentive may include a certifi24 cate of achievement, a letter of recommendation, a 

25 family or program activity, a meeting or special outVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H494.IH H494

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1 ing with a community leader, a reduction in commu2 nity service hours, a reduced curfew or home restric3 tion, a decrease in required court appearances, or a 

4 decrease in the term of court-ordered supervision.’’; 

5 (3) in section 1810(a), by striking 

6 ‘‘$350,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 

7 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘$30,000,000 for each of fiscal 

8 years 2019 through 2023’’; and 

9 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 1811. GRANT ACCOUNTABILITY. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE COMMITTEES.—In 

12 this section, the term ‘applicable committees’ means— 

13 ‘‘(1) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

14 Senate; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

16 House of Representatives. 

17 ‘‘(b) ACCOUNTABILITY.—All grants awarded by the 

18 Attorney General under this part shall be subject to the 

19 following accountability provisions: 

20 ‘‘(1) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

22 term ‘unresolved audit finding’ means a finding 

23 in the final audit report of the Inspector Gen24 eral of the Department of Justice that the au25 dited grantee has utilized grant funds for an 


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1 unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallow2 able cost that is not closed or resolved within 

3 12 months after the date on which the final 

4 audit report is issued. 

5 ‘‘(B) AUDIT.—Beginning in the first fiscal 

6 year beginning after the date of enactment of 

7 this section, and in each fiscal year thereafter, 

8 the Inspector General of the Department of 

9 Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of 

10 grants awarded by the Attorney General under 

11 this part to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of 

12 funds by grantees. The Inspector General shall 

13 determine the appropriate number of grantees 

14 to be audited each year. 

15 ‘‘(C) MANDATORY EXCLUSION.—A recipi16 ent of grant funds under this part that is found 

17 to have an unresolved audit finding shall not be 

18 eligible to receive grant funds under this part 

19 during the first 2 fiscal years beginning after 

20 the end of the 12-month period described in 

21 subparagraph (A). 

22 ‘‘(D) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants 

23 under this part, the Attorney General shall give 

24 priority to eligible applicants that did not have 

25 an unresolved audit finding during the 3 fiscal 


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1 years before submitting an application for a 

2 grant under this part. 

3 ‘‘(E) REIMBURSEMENT.—If an entity is 

4 awarded grant funds under this part during the 

5 2-fiscal-year period during which the entity is 

6 barred from receiving grants under subpara7 graph (C), the Attorney General shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) deposit an amount equal to the 

9 amount of the grant funds that were im10 properly awarded to the grantee into the 

11 General Fund of the Treasury; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) seek to recoup the costs of the 

13 repayment to the fund from the grant re14 cipient that was erroneously awarded grant 

15 funds. 

16 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL CERTIFICATION.—Beginning in 

17 the first fiscal year beginning after the date of en18 actment of this section, the Attorney General shall 

19 submit to the applicable committees an annual cer20 tification— 

21 ‘‘(A) indicating whether— 

22 ‘‘(i) all audits issued by the Inspector 

23 General of the Department of Justice 

24 under paragraph (1) have been completed 


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1 and reviewed by the appropriate Assistant 

2 Attorney General or Director; 

3 ‘‘(ii) all mandatory exclusions required 

4 under paragraph (1)(C) have been issued; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(iii) all reimbursements required 

7 under paragraph (1)(E) have been made; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(B) that includes a list of any grant re10 cipients excluded under paragraph (1) from the 

11 previous year. 

12 ‘‘(c) PREVENTING DUPLICATIVE GRANTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before the Attorney Gen14 eral awards a grant to an applicant under this part, 

15 the Attorney General shall compare potential grant 

16 awards with other grants awarded under this part 

17 by the Attorney General to determine if duplicate 

18 grant awards are awarded for the same purpose. 

19 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—If the Attorney General awards 

20 duplicate grants under this part to the same appli21 cant for the same purpose, the Attorney General 

22 shall submit to the applicable committees a report 

23 that includes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a list of all duplicate grants awarded 

2 under this part, including the total dollar 

3 amount of any duplicate grants awarded; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the reason the Attorney General 

5 awarded the duplicate grants.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of the Congress that the use of best 

8 practices is encouraged for all activities for which grants 

9 under part R of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

10 Safe Streets Act of 1968 may be used. 

11 SEC. 4. USE OF AMOUNTS MADE AVAILABLE FOR DEPART12 MENT OF JUSTICE, GENERAL ADMINISTRA13 TION TO CARRY OUT JUVENILE ACCOUNT14 ABILITY BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM. 

15 In each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023, the Attor16 ney General shall use up to $30,000,000 of the amounts 

17 made available for Department of Justice, General Admin18 istration, to carry out part R of title I of the Omnibus 

19 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

20 3796ee et seq.). 

Æ 


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