II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 281 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

direct certain prosecutor’s offices to annually report to the Attorney 

General, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. THUNE, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to direct certain prosecutor’s offices to annually report to the Attorney General, 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 ‘‘Prosecutors Need to 

5 Prosecute Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND PROSECUTOR REPORTS. 

2 Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

3 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as 

6 subsections (h) and (i), respectively; and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(f) DISTRICT ATTORNEY REPORTING REQUIRE10 MENTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

12 ‘‘(A) COVERED OFFENSE.—The term ‘cov13 ered offense’ means any of the following: 

14 ‘‘(i) Murder or non-negligent man15 slaughter. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Forcible rape. 

17 ‘‘(iii) Robbery. 

18 ‘‘(iv) Aggravated assault. 

19 ‘‘(v) Burglary. 

20 ‘‘(vi) Larceny. 

21 ‘‘(vii) Motor vehicle theft. 

22 ‘‘(viii) Arson. 

23 ‘‘(ix) Any offense involving the illegal 

24 use of a firearm. 

25 ‘‘(x) Any offense involving the illegal 

26 possession of a firearm. 


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1 ‘‘(B) COVERED PROSECUTOR.—The term 

2 ‘covered prosecutor’ means the chief executive 

3 of a district attorney or prosecutor’s office that 

4 serves a local government— 

5 ‘‘(i) the population of the jurisdiction 

6 of which is not less than 360,000 individ7 uals; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) that receives funds under this 

9 part. 

10 ‘‘(2) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later 

11 than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Pros12 ecutors Need to Prosecute Act of 2023, and annu13 ally thereafter, a covered prosecutor shall submit to 

14 the Attorney General a report that contains, for the 

15 previous fiscal year, the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) The total number of cases referred to 

17 the covered prosecutor for prosecution of a cov18 ered offense. 

19 ‘‘(B) The number of cases involving a cov20 ered offense— 

21 ‘‘(i) that the covered prosecutor de22 clined to prosecute or refer for diversion; 

23 or 

24 ‘‘(ii) for which the covered prosecutor 

25 declines to reach a plea agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(C) For cases involving a covered offense 

2 that result in a plea agreement or referral for 

3 diversion reached with the defendant, the num4 ber of cases for which the defendant— 

5 ‘‘(i) was previously arrested for a cov6 ered offense arising out of a separate con7 viction; 

8 ‘‘(ii) was previously convicted for a 

9 covered offense arising out of a separate 

10 conviction; 

11 ‘‘(iii) with an open case involving a 

12 covered offense arising out of separate con13 viction; 

14 ‘‘(iv) serving a term of probation for 

15 a conviction for a covered offense arising 

16 out of separate conduct; and 

17 ‘‘(v) was released on parole for a con18 viction for a covered offense arising out of 

19 separate conduct. 

20 ‘‘(D) The number of covered offenses that 

21 the covered prosecutor does not prosecute as a 

22 result of an internal policy against prosecuting 

23 specific criminal offenses including— 

24 ‘‘(i) each covered offense captured in 

25 the internal policy; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) each criminal offense that is not 

2 captured in the internal policy. 

3 ‘‘(3) COMPLIANCE.—With respect to a covered 

4 prosecutor that complies with the requirement under 

5 paragraph (2)— 

6 ‘‘(A) the Attorney General shall give pri7 ority in disbursing funds under this part to the 

8 local government served by the covered pros9 ecutor; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the local government described in 

11 subparagraph (A) shall ensure that the covered 

12 prosecutor receives a portion of the funds re13 ceived under this part. 

14 ‘‘(4) UNIFORM STANDARDS.—The Attorney 

15 General shall establish uniform standards for the re16 porting of the information required under this sub17 section, including the form such reports shall take 

18 and the process by which such reports shall be 

19 shared with the Attorney General. 

20 ‘‘(5) SUBMISSION TO JUDICIARY COMMIT21 TEES.—The Attorney General shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) submit the information received 

23 under this subsection to the Committee on the 

24 Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) publish such information on a pub4 licly viewable website.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. BYRNE-JAG FUNDS AND ELIMINATION OF CASH 

6 BAIL. 

7 The Attorney General shall not distribute amounts 

8 under subpart I of part E of title 1 of the Omnibus Crime 

9 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 

10 et seq.) to a State or local government that has in effect 

11 a policy that prohibits the use of cash bail for a defendant 

12 in a case involving the illegal use or illegal possession of 

13 a firearm. 

Æ 


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