I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2340

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to provide for more

expeditious evictions from public housing, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 14, 1995

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

Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to provide

for more expeditious evictions from public housing, and

for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Public Housing Safety

5 Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF EVICTIONS FROM GRIEVANCE PRO7 CEDURE.

8 Section 6(k) of the United States Housing Act of

9 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(k)) is amended by striking the
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1 first sentence of the matter following paragraph (6) and

2 inserting the following:

3 ‘‘A public housing agency shall exclude from its procedure

4 any grievance concerning an eviction or termination of

5 tenancy in any jurisdiction that requires that, prior to

6 eviction, a tenant be given a hearing in court which the

7 Secretary determines provides the basic elements of due

8 process. The Secretary shall establish such basic elements

9 of due process by rule under section 553 of title 5, United

10 States Code.’’.

11 SEC. 3. GROUNDS FOR EVICTION.

12 Section 6(l)(5) of the United States Housing Act of

13 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)(5)) is amended—

14 (1) by striking ‘‘criminal’’ the first place it ap15 pears; and

16 (2) by striking ‘‘on or near such premises’’.

17 SEC. 4. REQUIRED EVICTIONS FOR CRIMINAL CONVIC18 TIONS.

19 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 6(n) of the United

20 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(n)) is

21 amended—

22 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(n)’’; and

23 (2) by adding at the end the following new

24 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(2) Each public housing agency administering a

2 public housing project shall terminate the tenancy of, and

3 evict, any tenant of the project who, at any time during

4 the tenant’s tenancy in the project that is after the date

5 of the enactment of the Public Housing Safety Act of

6 1995, is convicted of a felony. This paragraph may not

7 be construed to require a public housing agency to evict

8 any other persons who occupy the same dwelling unit as

9 the person required to be evicted.’’.

10 (b) LEASE PROVISIONS.—Section 6(l) of the United

11 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)) is

12 amended—

13 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

14 end;

15 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at

16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’;

17 (3) by adding at the end the following new

18 paragraph:

19 ‘‘(7) require the public housing agency to termi20 nate the tenancy of, and evict, any tenant convicted

21 of a felony as provided in subsection (n)(2).’’.
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1 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS FOR SCREENING AND

2 EVICTION.

3 Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937

4 (42 U.S.C. 1437d) is amended by adding at the end the

5 following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(q) AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS.—

7 ‘‘(1) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Notwith8 standing any other provision of law, except as pro9 vided in paragraph (2), the National Crime Informa10 tion Center, a police department, and any other law

11 enforcement agency shall, upon request, provide in12 formation to public housing agencies regarding the

13 criminal conviction records of adult applicants for,

14 or residents of, public housing for purposes of appli15 cant screening, lease enforcement, and eviction.

16 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—No law enforcement agency

17 described in paragraph (1) shall provide information

18 under this paragraph relating to any criminal con19 viction if the date of such conviction occurred 5 or

20 more years prior to the date on which the request

21 for the information is made.

22 ‘‘(3) OPPORTUNITY TO DISPUTE.—Before an

23 adverse action is taken on the basis of a criminal

24 record, the public housing agency shall provide the

25 resident or applicant with a copy of the criminal
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1 record and an opportunity to dispute the accuracy

2 and relevance of the record.

3 ‘‘(4) FEE.—A public housing agency may be

4 charged a reasonable fee for information provided

5 under paragraph (1).

6 ‘‘(5) RECORDS MANAGEMENT.—Each public

7 housing agency shall establish and implement a sys8 tem of records management that ensures that any

9 criminal record received by the public housing agen10 cy is—

11 ‘‘(A) maintained confidentially;

12 ‘‘(B) not misused or improperly dissemi13 nated; and

14 ‘‘(C) destroyed, once the purpose for which

15 the record was requested has been accom16 plished.

17 ‘‘(6) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub18 section, the term ‘adult’ means a person who is 18

19 years of age or older, or who has been convicted of

20 a crime as an adult under any Federal or State

21 law.’’.

22 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

23 The amendments made by this Act shall apply not24 withstanding any consent judgment entered before the

25 date of the enactment of this Act relating to actions and
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1 procedures subject to the provisions of law amended by

2 this Act.

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