I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4398 

To provide grants to States in order to prevent racial profiling. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2012 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To provide grants to States in order to prevent racial 

profiling. 

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 ‘‘Racial Profiling Pre5 vention Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROHIBIT RACIAL PROFILING. 

7 (a) GRANTS.—Subject to the requirements of this 

8 section, the Secretary shall make grants to a State that— 

9 (1)(A) has enacted and is enforcing a law that 

10 prohibits the use of racial profiling in the enforceVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:49 Apr 20, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4398.IH H4398

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1 ment of State laws regulating the use of Federal-aid 

2 highways; and 

3 (B) is maintaining and allows public inspection 

4 of statistical information for each motor vehicle stop 

5 made by a law enforcement officer on a Federal-aid 

6 highway in the State regarding the race and eth7 nicity of the driver and any passengers; or 

8 (2) provides assurances satisfactory to the Sec9 retary that the State is undertaking activities to 

10 comply with the requirements of paragraph (1). 

11 (b) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A grant received by a 

12 State under subsection (a) shall be used by the State— 

13 (1) in the case of a State eligible under sub14 section (a)(1), for costs of— 

15 (A) collecting and maintaining of data on 

16 traffic stops; 

17 (B) evaluating the results of the data; and 

18 (C) developing and implementing programs 

19 to reduce the occurrence of racial profiling, in20 cluding programs to train law enforcement offi21 cers; and 

22 (2) in the case of a State eligible under sub23 section (a)(2), for costs of— 

24 (A) activities to comply with the require25 ments of subsection (a)(1); and 


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1 (B) any eligible activity under paragraph 

2 (1). 

3 (c) RACIAL PROFILING.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—To meet the requirement of 

5 subsection (a)(1), a State law shall prohibit, in the 

6 enforcement of State laws regulating the use of Fed7 eral-aid highways, a State or local law enforcement 

8 officer from using the race or ethnicity of the driver 

9 or passengers to any degree in making routine or 

10 spontaneous law enforcement decisions, such as ordi11 nary traffic stops on Federal-aid highways. 

12 (2) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this subsection 

13 shall alter the manner in which a State or local law 

14 enforcement officer considers race or ethnicity when15 ever there is trustworthy information, relevant to the 

16 locality or time frame, that links persons of a par17 ticular race or ethnicity to an identified criminal in18 cident, scheme, or organization. 

19 (d) LIMITATIONS.— 

20 (1) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The total 

21 amount of grants made to a State under this section 

22 in a fiscal year may not exceed 5 percent of the 

23 amount made available to carry out this section in 

24 the fiscal year. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—A State may not receive a 

2 grant under subsection (a)(2) in more than 2 fiscal 

3 years. 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

6 appropriated from the Highway Trust Fund (other 

7 than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out this 

8 section $7,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 

9 through 2017. 

10 (2) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—Funds authorized 

11 by this subsection shall be available for obligation in 

12 the same manner as if the funds were apportioned 

13 under chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, ex14 cept the Federal share of the cost of activities car15 ried out using such funds shall be 80 percent, and 

16 such funds shall remain available until expended and 

17 shall not be transferable. 

Æ 


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