II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3586 

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

establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train bilingual 

law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 11, 2024 

Mr. OSSOFF 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 establish a grant program to recruit, 

retain, certify, and train bilingual law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Bilingual Public Safety 

5 Act’’. 

2 

•S 3586 IS

1 SEC. 2. BILINGUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER GRANTS. 

2 Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

3 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amend4 ed by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(o) BILINGUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

6 GRANTS.— 

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

8 ‘‘(A) COVERED TRAINING PROGRAM.—The 

9 term ‘covered training program’ means— 

10 ‘‘(i) training curricula for law enforce11 ment officers to enable effective commu12 nication with members of communities 

13 with limited English proficiency; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) an education program relating to 

15 the matter described in clause (i), includ16 ing a partnership between a law enforce17 ment agency and a community college or 

18 university under which law enforcement of19 ficers of the law enforcement agency take 

20 language classes or participate in a series 

21 of trainings conducted by the law enforce22 ment agency. 

23 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi24 ble entity’ means— 

25 ‘‘(i) a State, Tribal, or local law en26 forcement agency; and 

3 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) a group of Tribal law enforce2 ment agencies. 

3 ‘‘(C) GRANT RECIPIENT.—The term ‘grant 

4 recipient’ means a recipient of a grant under 

5 the Program. 

6 ‘‘(D) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The 

7 term ‘law enforcement agency’ means a public 

8 agency charged with policing functions, includ9 ing any component bureau of the agency (such 

10 as a governmental victim services program or 

11 village public safety officer program), including 

12 an agency composed of officers or persons re13 ferred to in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 

14 2(10) of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform 

15 Act (25 U.S.C. 2801(10)). 

16 ‘‘(E) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ 

17 means the grant program established under 

18 subsection paragraph (2). 

19 ‘‘(2) GRANT PROGRAM.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of enactment of the Bilingual 

21 Public Safety Act, the Attorney General shall estab22 lish a grant program within the Office of Commu23 nity Oriented Policing Services under which the At24 torney General awards grants to eligible entities to 

25 aid in recruiting, retaining, or training law enforceVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3586.IS S3586
4 

•S 3586 IS

1 ment officers for the purpose of serving communities 

2 with limited English proficiency. 

3 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity seeking 

4 a grant under the Program shall submit to the At5 torney General an application at such time, in such 

6 manner, and containing or accompanied by— 

7 ‘‘(A) such information as the Attorney 

8 General may reasonably require; 

9 ‘‘(B) a description of each eligible project 

10 under paragraph (5) that the grant will fund; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(C) a plan for evaluating the effectiveness 

13 of the eligible entity in implementing each 

14 project described in subparagraph (B). 

15 ‘‘(4) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In 

16 selecting a recipient of a grant under the Program, 

17 the Attorney General shall consider— 

18 ‘‘(A) the specific plan and activities pro19 posed by the applicant to improve the ability of 

20 the applicant to serve communities with limited 

21 English proficiency; 

22 ‘‘(B) the size of each community with lim23 ited English proficiency that will be directly 

24 served by recipient; 

5 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(C) the number of law enforcement offi2 cers the grant would support; 

3 ‘‘(D) the plan of the recipient described in 

4 paragraph (3)(C); and 

5 ‘‘(E) the amount of funding from the 

6 grant the recipient will dedicate to direct pro7 gram activities, as opposed to program adminis8 tration. 

9 ‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A grant recipient shall 

11 use the grant for activities with the specific ob12 jective of improving the ability of the grant re13 cipient to serve communities with limited 

14 English proficiency, including by— 

15 ‘‘(i) hiring or retaining bilingual or 

16 multilingual officers who, in the course of 

17 their official duties, use their foreign lan18 guage skills to communicate with members 

19 of those communities; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) providing language education or 

21 training developed, identified, or approved 

22 by the Attorney General under paragraph 

23 (6) to monolingual, bilingual, or multi24 lingual law enforcement officers to enable 

25 those law enforcement officers to commuVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3586.IS S3586
6 

•S 3586 IS

1 nicate with members of those communities 

2 and in the course of their official duties. 

3 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) COMPENSATION AND BONUSES.— 

5 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—With respect 

6 to a grant recipient that uses amounts 

7 from a grant under this subsection to 

8 provide compensation or recruitment 

9 or retention bonuses to law enforce10 ment officers, the grant recipient shall 

11 require the law enforcement officer to 

12 commit to employment by the grant 

13 recipient during the 3-year period be14 ginning on the date of the provision of 

15 the compensation or recruitment or 

16 retention bonus. 

17 ‘‘(II) RETURN OF FUNDS.—A 

18 law enforcement officer who does not 

19 remain employed by a grant recipient 

20 during the 3-year period described in 

21 subclause (I) after receiving com22 pensation or a recruitment or reten23 tion bonus pursuant to subclause (I) 

24 shall return a prorated amount of the 

25 compensation or recruitment or retenVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3586.IS S3586
7 

•S 3586 IS

1 tion bonus based on the period during 

2 which the law enforcement officer 

3 does not remain employed. 

4 ‘‘(ii) PROHIBITION ON REMOTE SERV5 ICES.—A grant recipient may not use 

6 funds from the grant for remote, on-de7 mand translation services, such as entering 

8 into a contract with a translation service 

9 that English-speaking law enforcement of10 ficers call during the course of an encoun11 ter to provide translation by phone. 

12 ‘‘(6) LANGUAGE EDUCATION OR TRAINING.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

14 days after the date of enactment of the Bilin15 gual Public Safety Act, the Attorney General 

16 shall develop or identify effective covered train17 ing programs for law enforcement officers. 

18 ‘‘(B) APPROVAL OF PROPOSED PRO19 GRAMS.—The Attorney General may approve a 

20 covered training program identified by an eligi21 ble entity in an application submitted under 

22 paragraph (3). 

23 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS.—The covered train24 ing programs developed, identified, or approved 

25 under this paragraph shall include— 

8 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(i) pre-training and post-training 

2 tests to assess relevant knowledge and 

3 skills covered in the covered training pro4 gram; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) follow-up evaluative assessments 

6 to determine the degree to which partici7 pants in the covered training program 

8 apply the knowledge and skills gained in 

9 the covered training program in their jobs. 

10 ‘‘(D) CONSULTATION.—The Attorney Gen11 eral shall develop, identify, and approve train12 ing curricula under this paragraph in consulta13 tion with— 

14 ‘‘(i) relevant law enforcement agencies 

15 of States and units of local government; 

16 ‘‘(ii) professional law enforcement 

17 agencies; 

18 ‘‘(iii) law enforcement labor or rep19 resentative associations; 

20 ‘‘(iv) racial, ethnic, or cultural affinity 

21 groups; 

22 ‘‘(v) associations made up of or that 

23 represent individuals with limited English 

24 proficiency; and 

9 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(vi) civil rights and civil liberties 

2 groups. 

3 ‘‘(E) TIMING OF GRANT.—Before the date 

4 on which the Attorney General awards a grant 

5 to a grant recipient under this subsection, the 

6 Attorney General shall confirm that the cur7 ricula the grant recipient plans to use for lan8 guage education or training is developed, identi9 fied, or approved under this paragraph. 

10 ‘‘(F) LIST.—The Attorney General shall 

11 include as a part of grant application materials 

12 for the Program on the website of the Depart13 ment of Justice a list of the covered training 

14 programs developed, identified, or approved 

15 under this paragraph. 

16 ‘‘(7) BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENT.—An 

17 eligible entity that uses amounts from a grant under 

18 this subsection to hire a new law enforcement officer 

19 shall, before hiring the law enforcement officer, per20 form a background check on the law enforcement of21 ficer that includes— 

22 ‘‘(A) if permitted, a psychological evalua23 tion; and 

24 ‘‘(B) a search against, if reasonably avail25 able— 

10 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(i) the National Decertification 

2 Index established by the International As3 sociation of Directors of Law Enforcement 

4 Standards and Training; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the National Law Enforcement 

6 Accountability Database established under 

7 Executive Order 14074 (87 Fed. Reg. 

8 32945; relating to effective, accountable 

9 policing and criminal justice practices); 

10 ‘‘(iii) any system established by the 

11 State of the eligible entity to track the 

12 misconduct, disciplinary history, or decerti13 fication of law enforcement officers; and 

14 ‘‘(iv) any system established by the lo15 cality of the eligible entity to track the 

16 items described in clause (iii). 

17 ‘‘(8) REPORT.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

19 after the date on which a grant recipient re20 ceives a grant under the Program, and annually 

21 thereafter until the date described in subpara22 graph (B), the grant recipient shall submit to 

23 the Attorney General a report on the activities 

24 carried out using the grant, including, if appli25 cable— 

11 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(i) the number of bilingual or multi2 lingual law enforcement officers who re3 ceived compensation or recruitment or re4 tention bonuses awarded with amounts 

5 from a grant under this subsection and the 

6 amount of grant funds expended for such 

7 compensation or bonuses of law enforce8 ment officers; 

9 ‘‘(ii) with respect to language edu10 cation or training provided with a grant 

11 under the Program— 

12 ‘‘(I) the number of law enforce13 ment officers who received the edu14 cation or training; 

15 ‘‘(II) a description of the edu16 cation or training; and 

17 ‘‘(III) data on the effectiveness of 

18 the education or training; 

19 ‘‘(iii) with respect to encounters of 

20 law enforcement officers with members of 

21 communities with limited English pro22 ficiency during the preceding year, data 

23 on— 

24 ‘‘(I) the number of those encoun25 ters; and 

12 

•S 3586 IS

1 ‘‘(II) the portion of those encoun2 ters that involved personnel who re3 ceived, using funds from a grant— 

4 ‘‘(aa) compensation or re5 cruitment or retention bonuses; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(bb) language education or 

8 training; and 

9 ‘‘(iv) any other data the Attorney 

10 General determines appropriate. 

11 ‘‘(B) DATE DESCRIBED.—The date de12 scribed in this subparagraph, with respect to a 

13 grant recipient, is— 

14 ‘‘(i) the date on which the grant re15 cipient expends all amounts from the grant 

16 and completes each activity conducted with 

17 those amounts; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) an appropriate date determined 

19 by the Attorney General that is not later 

20 than the third September 30 occurring 

21 after the date described in clause (i). 

22 ‘‘(9) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) EVALUATION.—Not later than 2 

24 years after the date of enactment of the Bilin25 gual Public Safety Act, and every 2 years thereVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3586.IS S3586
13 

•S 3586 IS

1 after, the Director of the National Institute of 

2 Justice shall conduct an evaluation of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the practices deployed by grant 

4 recipients to serve communities with lim5 ited English proficiency; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the efficacy of the Program in 

7 improving law enforcement communication 

8 with communities with limited English pro9 ficiency. 

10 ‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 2 

11 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 

12 the Director of the National Institute of Justice 

13 shall submit to Congress and make publicly 

14 available a report summarizing the evaluation 

15 conducted under subparagraph (A). 

16 ‘‘(10) APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

17 to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

18 $50,000,000 to carry out this subsection for each of 

19 fiscal years 2024 through 2033.’’. 

Æ