IB 

Union Calendar No. 70 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1741 

[Report No. 111–138] 

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 

JUNE 8, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. CONYERS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, 

Mr. FATTAH, Mr. COHEN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. PIERLUISI, and Mr. POE

of Texas 

JUNE 8, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

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

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 26, 2009] 

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. 


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•HR 1741 RH

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WITNESS PROTECTION GRANT 

7 PROGRAM. 

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

9 competitive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local govern10 ments to establish or maintain programs that provide pro11 tection or assistance to witnesses in court proceedings in12 volving homicide, or involving a serious violent felony or 

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

14 18, United States Code. The Attorney General shall ensure 

15 that, to the extent reasonable and practical, such grants are 

16 made to achieve an equitable geographical distribution of 

17 such programs throughout the United States. 

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

19 term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the United States, the Dis20 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

21 Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Common22 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 


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1 SEC. 3. USE OF GRANTS. 

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

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

4 grant is made. 

5 SEC. 4. PRIORITY. 

6 In making grants under section 2, the Attorney Gen7 eral shall give priority to applications submitted under sec8 tion 5 involving programs in States with an average of not 

9 less than 100 murders per year during the most recent 5- 

10 year period, as calculated using the latest available crime 

11 statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

12 SEC. 5. APPLICATION. 

13 To be eligible for a grant under section 2, a State, trib14 al, or local government shall submit to the Office of Justice 

15 Programs an application in such form and manner, at such 

16 time, and accompanied by such information as the Attorney 

17 General specifies. 

18 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

19 From amounts made available to carry out this Act, 

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

21 under section 2, shall provide technical assistance to such 

22 recipient to the extent the Attorney General determines such 

23 technical assistance is needed to establish or maintain a 

24 program described in such section. 


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1 SEC. 7. BEST PRACTICES. 

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

3 2 shall submit to the Attorney General a report, in such 

4 form and manner and containing such information as spec5 ified by the Attorney General, that evaluates each program 

6 established or maintained pursuant to such grant, includ7 ing policies and procedures under the program. 

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

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

10 General shall develop best practice models to assist States 

11 and other relevant entities in addressing— 

12 (1) witness safety; 

13 (2) short-term and permanent witness relocation; 

14 (3) financial and housing assistance; and 

15 (4) any other services related to witness protec16 tion or assistance that are determined by the Attorney 

17 General to be necessary. 

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

19 year after the development of best practice models under 

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

21 States and other relevant entities such models. 

22 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

23 that States and other relevant entities should use the best 

24 practice models developed and disseminated in accordance 

25 with this Act to evaluate, improve, and develop witness pro26 tection or witness assistance as appropriate. 


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1 (e) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this Act requires the 

2 dissemination of any information if the Attorney General 

3 determines such information is law enforcement sensitive 

4 and should only be disclosed within the law enforcement 

5 community or that such information poses a threat to na6 tional security. 

7 SEC. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

8 Not later than December 31, 2015, the Attorney Gen9 eral shall submit a report to Congress on the programs 

10 funded by grants awarded under section 2, including on 

11 matters specified under section 7(b). 

12 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

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

15 through 2014. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill 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.’’. 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 70 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1741 

[Report No. 111–138] 

A BILL 

To require the Attorney General to make competiprotection and witness assistance programs. prosecutors to establish and maintain certain tive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local 

JUNE 8, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:20 Jun 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1741.RH H1741

pwalker on PROD1PC71 with BILLS