I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1741 

To require the Attorney General to make competitive grants to eligible State, 

tribal, and local prosecutors to establish and maintain certain protection 

and witness assistance programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2009 

Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SESTAK, and Ms. BORDALLO) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Attorney General to make competitive grants 

to eligible State, tribal, and local prosecutors 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 pros5 ecutors 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, TRIBAL, AND LOCAL PROSECUTORS DE14 FINED.—For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘State, tribal, 

15 or local prosecutor’’ means any district attorney, county 

16 attorney, tribal attorney, or attorney general of a State 

17 or territory, or the United States attorney for the District 

18 of Columbia. 

19 SEC. 3. USE OF GRANTS. 

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

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

22 grant is made. 

23 SEC. 4. PRIORITY. 

24 In making grants under section 2, the Attorney Gen25 eral shall give priority to applications submitted under sec26 tion 5 involving programs in the District of Columbia or 


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1 in States with an average of not less than 100 murders 

2 per year during the most recent 5-year period, as cal3 culated using the latest available crime statistics from the 

4 Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

5 SEC. 5. APPLICATION. 

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

7 tribal, or local prosecutor shall submit to the Office of Jus8 tice Programs an application in such form and manner, 

9 at such time, and accompanied by such information as the 

10 Attorney General specifies. 

11 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 

13 carry out this Act, the United States Marshals Service 

14 shall, upon request of the Attorney General, provide tech15 nical assistance to an entity receiving a grant under this 

16 Act for a program to the extent such technical assistance 

17 is needed to carry out such program. 

18 (b) GRANTEE REQUESTS.—For purposes of sub19 section (a), the Attorney General shall submit to the 

20 United States Marshals Service a request for technical as21 sistance, with respect to an entity receiving a grant under 

22 this Act, if such entity submits to the Attorney General 

23 a request for such assistance. The Attorney General shall 

24 submit such request to the United States Marshals Serv25 ice, with respect to such entity, not later than 45 days 


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1 after the date on which the Attorney General receives a 

2 request from such entity for such technical assistance. 

3 SEC. 7. BEST PRACTICES. 

4 (a) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under sec5 tion 2 shall submit to the Attorney General a report, in 

6 such form and manner and containing such information 

7 as specified by the Attorney General, that evaluates each 

8 program established or maintained pursuant to such 

9 grant, including policies and procedures under the pro10 gram. 

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

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

13 General shall develop best practice models to assist States 

14 and other relevant entities in addressing— 

15 (1) witness safety; 

16 (2) short-term and permanent witness reloca17 tion; 

18 (3) financial and housing assistance; and 

19 (4) any other services related to witness protec20 tion or assistance that are determined by the Attor21 ney General to be necessary. 

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

23 year after the development of best practice models under 

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

25 States and other relevant entities such models. 


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1 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that States and other relevant entities should use 

3 the best practice models developed and disseminated in ac4 cordance with this Act to evaluate, improve, and develop 

5 witness protection or witness assistance as appropriate. 

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

7 the dissemination of any information deemed by the Attor8 ney General to be a security risk. 

9 SEC. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

10 Not later than December 31, 2014, the Attorney 

11 General shall submit a report to Congress on the programs 

12 funded by grants awarded under section 2, including on 

13 matters specified under section 7(b). 

14 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

16 this Act such sums as are necessary for each of the fiscal 

17 years 2009 through 2013. 

Æ 


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