II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1958 

To authorize the Attorney General to establish and carry out a program, 

known as the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds 

to northern border States to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs associated with certain criminal activities, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2005 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. 

LEAHY, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. BAUCUS, and Mrs. CLINTON) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to establish and carry 

out a program, known as the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds to northern border States 

to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs 

associated with certain criminal activities, 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 ‘‘Northern Border Pros5 ecution Initiative Reimbursement Act’’. 
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•S 1958 IS

1 SEC. 2. NORTHERN BORDER PROSECUTION INITIATIVE. 

2 (a) INITIATIVE REQUIRED.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail4 able to carry out this section, the Attorney General, 

5 acting through the Director of the Bureau of Justice 

6 Assistance of the Office of Justice Programs, shall 

7 establish and carry out a program, to be known as 

8 the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to pro9 vide funds to reimburse eligible northern border en10 tities for costs incurred by those entities for han11 dling case dispositions of criminal cases that are fed12 erally initiated but federally declined-referred. 

13 (2) RELATION WITH SOUTHWESTERN BORDER

14 PROSECUTION INITIATIVE.—The program estab15 lished in paragraph (1) shall— 

16 (A) be modeled after the Southwestern 

17 Border Prosecution Initiative; and 

18 (B) serve as a partner program to that ini19 tiative to reimburse local jurisdictions for proc20 essing Federal cases. 

21 (b) PROVISION AND ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

22 Funds provided under the program established in sub23 section (a) shall be— 

24 (1) provided in the form of direct reimburse25 ments; and 
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1 (2) allocated in a manner consistent with the 

2 manner under which funds are allocated under the 

3 Southwestern Border Prosecution Initiative. 

4 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided to an eligible 

5 northern border entity under this section may be used by 

6 the entity for any lawful purpose, including: 

7 (1) Prosecution and related costs. 

8 (2) Court costs. 

9 (3) Costs of courtroom technology. 

10 (4) Costs of constructing holding spaces. 

11 (5) Costs of administrative staff. 

12 (6) Costs of defense counsel for indigent de13 fendants. 

14 (7) Detention costs, including pre-trial and 

15 post-trial detention. 

16 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 (1) CASE DISPOSITION.—The term ‘‘case dis18 position’’— 

19 (A) for purposes of the Northern Border 

20 Prosecution Initiative, refers to the time be21 tween the arrest of a suspect and the resolution 

22 of the criminal charges through a county or 

23 State judicial or prosecutorial process; and 
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1 (B) does not include incarceration time for 

2 sentenced offenders, or time spent by prosecu3 tors on judicial appeals. 

4 (2) ELIGIBLE NORTHERN BORDER ENTITY.— 

5 The term ‘‘eligible northern border entity’’ means— 

6 (A) the States of Alaska, Idaho, Maine, 

7 Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hamp8 shire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsyl9 vania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin; or 

10 (B) any unit of local government within a 

11 State referred to in subparagraph (A). 

12 (3) FEDERALLY DECLINED-REFERRED.—The 

13 term ‘‘federally declined-referred’’— 

14 (A) means, with respect to a criminal case, 

15 that a decision has been made in that case by 

16 a United States Attorney or a Federal law en17 forcement agency during a Federal investiga18 tion to no longer pursue Federal criminal 

19 charges against a defendant and to refer such 

20 investigation to a State or local jurisdiction for 

21 possible prosecution; and 

22 (B) includes a decision made on an individ23 ualized case-by-case basis as well as a decision 

24 made pursuant to a general policy or practice 

25 or pursuant to prosecutorial discretion. 
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1 (4) FEDERALLY INITIATED.—The term ‘‘feder2 ally initiated’’ means, with respect to a criminal 

3 case, that the case results from a criminal investiga4 tion or an arrest involving Federal law enforcement 

5 authorities for a potential violation of Federal crimi6 nal law, including investigations resulting from 

7 multi-jurisdictional task forces. 

8 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

10 this Act $28,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and such sums 

11 as may be necessary for fiscal years thereafter. 

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