IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1741 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 10, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To require the Attorney General to make competitive grants 

to eligible State, tribal, and local governments to establish and maintain certain protection and witness assistance programs. 

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

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Witness Security and 

3 Protection Grant Program Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WITNESS PROTECTION GRANT 

5 PROGRAM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall make 

7 competitive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local gov8 ernments to establish or maintain programs that provide 

9 protection or assistance to witnesses in court proceedings 

10 involving homicide, or involving a serious violent felony or 

11 serious drug offense as defined in section 3559(c)(2) of 

12 title 18, United States Code. The Attorney General shall 

13 ensure that, to the extent reasonable and practical, such 

14 grants are made to achieve an equitable geographical dis15 tribution of such programs throughout the United States. 

16 (b) STATE DEFINED.—For purposes of this Act, the 

17 term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the United States, the 

18 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

19 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Com20 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

21 SEC. 3. USE OF GRANTS. 

22 A grant made under section 2 may be used only to 

23 pay all or part of the cost of the program for which such 

24 grant is made. 

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1 SEC. 4. PRIORITY. 

2 In making grants under section 2, the Attorney Gen3 eral shall give priority to applications submitted under sec4 tion 5 involving programs in States with an average of 

5 not less than 100 murders per year during the most recent 

6 5-year period, as calculated using the latest available 

7 crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

8 SEC. 5. APPLICATION. 

9 To be eligible for a grant under section 2, a State, 

10 tribal, or local government shall submit to the Office of 

11 Justice Programs an application in such form and man12 ner, at such time, and accompanied by such information 

13 as the Attorney General specifies. 

14 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

15 From amounts made available to carry out this Act, 

16 the Attorney General, upon request of a recipient of a 

17 grant under section 2, shall provide technical assistance 

18 to such recipient to the extent the Attorney General deter19 mines such technical assistance is needed to establish or 

20 maintain a program described in such section. 

21 SEC. 7. BEST PRACTICES. 

22 (a) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under sec23 tion 2 shall submit to the Attorney General a report, in 

24 such form and manner and containing such information 

25 as specified by the Attorney General, that evaluates each 

26 program established or maintained pursuant to such 

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1 grant, including policies and procedures under the pro2 gram. 

3 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES.—Based on 

4 the reports submitted under subsection (a), the Attorney 

5 General shall develop best practice models to assist States 

6 and other relevant entities in addressing— 

7 (1) witness safety; 

8 (2) short-term and permanent witness reloca9 tion; 

10 (3) financial and housing assistance; and 

11 (4) any other services related to witness protec12 tion or assistance that are determined by the Attor13 ney General to be necessary. 

14 (c) DISSEMINATION TO STATES.—Not later than 1 

15 year after the development of best practice models under 

16 subsection (b), the Attorney General shall disseminate to 

17 States and other relevant entities such models. 

18 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con19 gress that States and other relevant entities should use 

20 the best practice models developed and disseminated in ac21 cordance with this Act to evaluate, improve, and develop 

22 witness protection or witness assistance as appropriate. 

23 (e) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this Act requires 

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1 sitive and should only be disclosed within the law enforce2 ment community or that such information poses a threat 

3 to national security. 

4 SEC. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

5 Not later than December 31, 2015, the Attorney 

6 General shall submit a report to Congress on the programs 

7 funded by grants awarded under section 2, including on 

8 matters specified under section 7(b). 

9 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

11 this Act $30,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 

12 through 2014. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 9, 2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 

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