II 

Calendar No. 329 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D 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 

MARCH 22 (legislative day, MARCH 19), 2010 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Protection Grant Program Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WITNESS PROTECTION GRANT 

2 PROGRAM. 

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

4 competitive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local gov5 ernments to establish or maintain programs that provide 

6 protection or assistance to witnesses in court proceedings 

7 involving homicide, or involving a serious violent felony or 

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

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

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

11 grants are made to achieve an equitable geographical dis12 tribution of such programs throughout the United States. 

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

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

15 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

16 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Com17 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

18 SEC. 3. USE OF GRANTS. 

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

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

21 grant is made. 

22 SEC. 4. PRIORITY. 

23 In making grants under section 2, the Attorney Gen24 eral shall give priority to applications submitted under sec25 tion 5 involving programs in States with an average of 

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


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1 5-year period, as calculated using the latest available 

2 crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

3 SEC. 5. APPLICATION. 

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

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

6 Justice Programs an application in such form and man7 ner, at such time, and accompanied by such information 

8 as the Attorney General specifies. 

9 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

10 From amounts made available to carry out this Act, 

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

12 grant under section 2, shall provide technical assistance 

13 to such recipient to the extent the Attorney General deter14 mines such technical assistance is needed to establish or 

15 maintain a program described in such section. 

16 SEC. 7. BEST PRACTICES. 

17 (a) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under sec18 tion 2 shall submit to the Attorney General a report, in 

19 such form and manner and containing such information 

20 as specified by the Attorney General, that evaluates each 

21 program established or maintained pursuant to such 

22 grant, including policies and procedures under the pro23 gram. 

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

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


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1 General shall develop best practice models to assist States 

2 and other relevant entities in addressing— 

3 (1) witness safety; 

4 (2) short-term and permanent witness reloca5 tion; 

6 (3) financial and housing assistance; and 

7 (4) any other services related to witness protec8 tion or assistance that are determined by the Attor9 ney General to be necessary. 

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

11 year after the development of best practice models under 

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

13 States and other relevant entities such models. 

14 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that States and other relevant entities should use 

16 the best practice models developed and disseminated in ac17 cordance with this Act to evaluate, improve, and develop 

18 witness protection or witness assistance as appropriate. 

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

20 the dissemination of any information if the Attorney Gen21 eral determines such information is law enforcement sen22 sitive and should only be disclosed within the law enforce23 ment community or that such information poses a threat 

24 to national security. 


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1 SEC. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 Not later than December 31, 2015, the Attorney 

3 General shall submit a report to Congress on the programs 

4 funded by grants awarded under section 2, including on 

5 matters specified under section 7(b). 

6 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

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

9 through 2014. 

10 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

12 Protection Grant Program Act of 2010’’. 

13 SEC. 2. WITNESS PROTECTION GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 Subtitle Q of title III of the Violent Crime Control and 

15 Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42. U.S.C. 13861 et seq.) 

16 is amended by inserting after section 31702 the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 31702A. WITNESS PROTECTION GRANTS. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Under paragraph (5) of section 

19 31702, the Attorney General shall make competitive grants 

20 to eligible State, tribal, and local governments to establish 

21 or maintain programs that provide protection or assistance 

22 to witnesses in— 

23 ‘‘(1) court proceedings involving homicide, or in24 volving a serious violent felony or serious drug offense 

25 as defined in section 3559(c)(2) of title 18, United 

26 States Code; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) court proceedings involving gangs or orga2 nized crime. 

3 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA.—In determining whether need has 

4 been demonstrated under this section, the Attorney General 

5 shall evaluate applicants based upon— 

6 ‘‘(1) lack of infrastructure to support a witness 

7 assistance program; 

8 ‘‘(2) level of witness intimidation; 

9 ‘‘(3) level of cases not prosecuted due to witness 

10 intimidation; 

11 ‘‘(4) level of homicides; 

12 ‘‘(5) level of serious violent felonies or serious 

13 drug offenses, as defined in section 3559 (c)(2) of title 

14 18, United States Code; 

15 ‘‘(6) level of organized crime; and 

16 ‘‘(7) other appropriate criteria as determined by 

17 the Attorney General. 

18 ‘‘(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—From amounts made 

19 available to carry out paragraph (5) of section 31702, the 

20 Attorney General, upon request of a recipient of a grant 

21 under this section, shall direct the appropriate offices with22 in the Department of Justice to provide technical assistance 

23 to such recipient to the extent the Attorney General deter24 mines such technical assistance is needed to establish or 

25 maintain a program described in such section. 


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1 ‘‘(d) BEST PRACTICES.— 

2 ‘‘(1) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under 

3 this section shall submit to the Attorney General a re4 port, in such form and manner and containing such 

5 information as specified by the Attorney General, that 

6 evaluates each program established or maintained 

7 pursuant to such grant, including policies and proce8 dures under the program. 

9 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES.— 

10 Based on the reports submitted under paragraph (1), 

11 the Attorney General shall develop best practice mod12 els to assist States and other relevant entities in ad13 dressing— 

14 ‘‘(A) witness safety; 

15 ‘‘(B) short-term and permanent witness re16 location; 

17 ‘‘(C) financial and housing assistance; and 

18 ‘‘(D) any other services related to witness 

19 protection or assistance that are determined by 

20 the Attorney General to be necessary. 

21 ‘‘(3) DISSEMINATION TO STATES.—Not later 

22 than 1 year after the development of best practice 

23 models under paragraph (2), the Attorney General 

24 shall disseminate to States and other relevant entities 

25 such models. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

2 Congress that States and other relevant entities 

3 should use the best practice models developed and dis4 seminated in accordance with this section to evaluate, 

5 improve, and develop witness protection or witness 

6 assistance as appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(5) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this section 

8 requires the dissemination of any information if the 

9 Attorney General determines such information is law 

10 enforcement sensitive and should only be disclosed 

11 within the law enforcement community or that such 

12 information poses a threat to national security. 

13 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the cost 

15 a project carried out using a grant made under this 

16 section shall not be more than 75 percent. 

17 ‘‘(2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara19 graph (B), the non-Federal share for a project 

20 carried out using a grant made under this sec21 tion may be made in the form of in-kind con22 tributions that are directly related to the purpose 

23 for which the grant was made. 

24 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE.—Not more 

25 than 50 percent of the non-Federal share for a 


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1 project carried out using a grant made under 

2 this section may be in the form of in-kind con3 tributions. 

4 ‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Federal adminis5 trative costs in administering the programs funded by this 

6 section shall not exceed 5 percent of funds appropriated per 

7 fiscal year. 

8 ‘‘(g) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Attorney Gen9 eral shall ensure that, to the extent reasonable and prac10 tical, grants authorized by this section are made to achieve 

11 an equitable geographical distribution of such programs 

12 throughout the United States and that due consideration 

13 be given to applicants of rural and urban communities. 

14 ‘‘(h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Attorney General 

15 shall submit a report to Congress— 

16 ‘‘(1) not later than December 31, 2012, on the 

17 implementation of this section and any information 

18 on programs funded by grants made pursuant to this 

19 section; and 

20 ‘‘(2) not later than December 31, 2015, on the 

21 programs funded by grants awarded under this sec22 tion, including on matters specified under subsection 

23 (d)(2).’’. 


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Calendar No. 329 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1741 

AN ACT 

To require the Attorney General to make competitection and witness assistance programs. ernments to establish and maintain certain pro- tive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local govMARCH 22 (legislative day, MARCH 19), 2010 

Reported with an amendment 


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