I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 847 

To provide funding to State and local law enforcement agencies to combat 

auto theft and stolen automobile trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2023 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. BACON, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. 

KIM of New Jersey, and Mr. TRONE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide funding to State and local law enforcement agencies to combat auto theft and stolen automobile trafficking, 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 ‘‘Auto Theft Prevention 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTO THEFT PREVENTION GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

9 Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.IH H847

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1 partment of Justice shall establish an auto theft preven2 tion grant program (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Pro3 gram’’) to provide funding to State law enforcement agen4 cies and local law enforcement agencies to combat auto 

5 theft and stolen vehicle trafficking. 

6 (b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The Director shall make 

7 grants under the Program to the Attorney General of each 

8 State, with the amount awarded proportional to the overall 

9 level of auto thefts within each State in the year prior 

10 to the date of the disbursement of the grant. 

11 (c) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.— 

12 (1) LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.— 

13 The Attorney General of a State shall make at least 

14 50 percent of a grant awarded under the Program 

15 available as competitive subgrants to local law en16 forcement agencies to combat auto theft, with the 

17 amount awarded determined by prioritizing localities 

18 with a higher overall level of auto thefts in the year 

19 prior to the date of the disbursement of the grant. 

20 (2) STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.— 

21 The Attorney General of a State shall make at least 

22 25 percent of a grant awarded under the Program 

23 available to State law enforcement agencies to com24 bat auto theft. 


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1 (3) OTHER AMOUNTS.—The Attorney General 

2 of a State shall make any proportion of the grant 

3 awarded under the Program not allocated under 

4 paragraph (1) or (2) available as competitive sub5 grants to local law enforcement agencies or to State 

6 law enforcement agencies. Any subgrant made under 

7 this paragraph to a local law enforcement agency 

8 shall follow the prioritization under paragraph (1). 

9 (d) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts from a grant 

10 awarded under the Program may only be used for the pur11 pose of combating auto theft and combating stolen auto12 mobile trafficking, including— 

13 (1) purchasing equipment used to combat auto 

14 theft, such as law enforcement vehicles and license 

15 plate readers, and funding costs associated with that 

16 equipment, such as subscription fees and data stor17 age fees for license plate readers; 

18 (2) hiring additional law enforcement officers 

19 and support staff to combat auto theft; 

20 (3) funding overtime costs and additional com21 pensation for law enforcement officers and support 

22 staff involved in combating auto theft; 

23 (4) providing training for law enforcement offi24 cers and support staff to combat auto theft; 


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1 (5) providing resources for joint task forces es2 tablished to combat auto theft; 

3 (6) funding law enforcement data collection, 

4 data storage, and research activities related to com5 bating auto theft; and 

6 (7) funding for the administrative costs of ap7 plying for and implementing the grant, up to a max8 imum of 5 percent of the grant amount. 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

10 authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for each of fis11 cal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out the Program. 

12 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZED USES OF COPS GRANT 

13 PROGRAM FUNDS. 

14 Section 1701(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

15 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(b)) is amend16 ed— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraph (23) as para18 graph (24); 

19 (2) in paragraph (22)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘(21)’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘(22)’’; and 

22 (B) by redesignating paragraph (22) as 

23 paragraph (23); and 

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (21), the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(22) to combat auto thefts and stolen auto2 mobile trafficking by purchasing equipment, hiring 

3 law enforcement officers and support staff, covering 

4 overtime and officer compensation costs, expanding 

5 access to training initiatives, funding joint task 

6 forces, and funding law enforcement data collection 

7 and research activities related to auto thefts;’’. 

8 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The 

11 term ‘‘local law enforcement agency’’ means any en12 tity administered by a locality that exists primarily 

13 to prevent and detect crime and enforce criminal 

14 laws. 

15 (2) LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘locality’’ means any 

16 city, county, township, town, borough, parish, vil17 lage, or other general purpose political subdivision of 

18 a State. 

19 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

20 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

21 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is22 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common23 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

24 (4) STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The 

25 term ‘‘State law enforcement agency’’ means any 


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1 State entity that exists primarily to prevent and de2 tect crime and enforce criminal laws. 

Æ 


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