I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7133 

To encourage State and local demilitarization by incentivizing the return 

of purchases made through the LESO program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 8, 2020 

Ms. HAALAND (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. 

BASS, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEAN, Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

of New York, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Ms. SCANLON, and Mrs. 

WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To encourage State and local demilitarization by incentivizing 

the return of purchases made through the LESO program, 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 ‘‘Police Receiving Overly 

5 Traumatizing Equipment Changes Today Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘PROTECT Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Under section 2576a of title 10, United 

4 States Code, the Department of Defense is author5 ized to provide excess property to local law enforce6 ment agencies. The Defense Logistics Agency ad7 ministers such section by operating the Law En8 forcement Support Office (referred to in this Act as 

9 ‘‘LESO’’) program. 

10 (2) New and used material, including mine-re11 sistant ambush-protected vehicles and weapons de12 termined by the Department of Defense to be ‘‘mili13 tary grade’’ are transferred to Federal, State, tribal, 

14 and local law enforcement agencies through the pro15 gram. 

16 (3) As of September 30, 2019, the Department 

17 of Defense, through the LESO, as reported through 

18 public information, has transferred 

19 $1,796,844,591.74 worth of equipment with over 

20 1,474,319 units of goods. 

21 (4) Research has shown that as transfers of 

22 militarization equipment increase in States, reputa23 tion of police officers decreases and the increased 

24 equipment shows no change in the crime rate. 

25 (5) Research shows that police officers are more 

26 likely to be harmed by civilians when States receive 


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1 certain transfers and police frequently engage in vio2 lent actions against civilians. 

3 (6) On January 16, 2015, President Barack 

4 Obama issued Executive Order 13688 to better co5 ordinate and regulate the Federal transfer of mili6 tary weapons and equipment to State, local, and 

7 tribal law enforcement agencies and stated that ‘‘the 

8 show of force typically associated with military oper9 ations, when employed by civilian police, can weaken 

10 community trust, especially in communities with a 

11 history of strained relationships between the commu12 nity and local law enforcement’’. 

13 (7) In July 2017, the Government Account14 ability Office reported that the program’s internal 

15 controls were inadequate to prevent fraudulent appli16 cants’ access to the program. 

17 SEC. 3. LIMITING SALE OR DONATION OF EXCESS PROP18 ERTY FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES. 

19 Section 2576a of title 10, United States Code, is 

20 amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

22 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

23 (A), by striking ‘‘, including small arms and 

24 ammunition,’’; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘counterdrug, counterterrorism, and border se3 curity activities’’ and inserting ‘‘counterter4 rorism’’; and 

5 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘counterdrug, 

6 counterterrorism, or border security activities’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘counterterrorism’’. 

8 SEC. 4. GEAR FOR GRANTS PROGRAM. 

9 Part A of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

10 Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 110. DEMILITARIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 

13 AGENCIES. 

14 ‘‘(a) PRIORITY.—In awarding funds under covered 

15 grant programs, priority shall be given to States and units 

16 of local government with law enforcement agencies that, 

17 in the 12 months prior to the date on which the applica18 tion for the covered grant program is submitted— 

19 ‘‘(1) have no transfers from the Department of 

20 Defense; or 

21 ‘‘(2) have— 

22 ‘‘(A) returned to the Department of De23 fense an appropriate number of transfers such 

24 that the value of transfers is equal to twice the 

25 value of the funds that the applicant would reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7133.IH H7133

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1 ceive under the applicable covered grant pro2 gram; and 

3 ‘‘(B) not received transfers from the De4 partment of Defense in the 12 months prior to 

5 the date on which the grant is awarded. 

6 ‘‘(b) COVERED GRANT PROGRAMS.—The programs 

7 referred to in subsection (a) are the following:: 

8 ‘‘(1) The program under part Q of this title. 

9 ‘‘(2) Any other grant program carried out by 

10 the Department of Justice for the benefit of law en11 forcement agencies that the Attorney General con12 siders appropriate. 

13 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) TRANSFERS.—The term ‘transfers’ means 

15 the equipment provided under section 2576a of title 

16 10, United States Code, which includes the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(A) Controlled firearms, ammunition, 

19 bayonets, grenade launchers, grenades (includ20 ing stun and flash-bang), and explosives. 

21 ‘‘(B) Controlled vehicles, highly mobile 

22 multiwheeled vehicles, mine-resistant ambush23 protected vehicles, trucks, truck dump, truck 

24 utility, and truck carryall. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Drones that are armored, weaponized, 

2 or both. 

3 ‘‘(D) Controlled aircrafts that— 

4 ‘‘(i) are combat configured or combat 

5 coded; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) have no established commercial 

7 flight application. 

8 ‘‘(E) Silencers. 

9 ‘‘(F) Long-range acoustic devices. 

10 ‘‘(G) Items in the Federal Supply Class of 

11 banned items. 

12 ‘‘(2) VALUE OF TRANSFERS.—The term ‘value 

13 of such transfers’ means the fair market value of the 

14 equipment described in section 2576(a) of title 10, 

15 United States Code, at the time of transfer.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. GRANT AUTHORIZATION. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 

18 grants to States, units of local government, Indian tribal 

19 governments, or other public and private entities, or to 

20 any multijurisdictional or regional consortia of such enti21 ties to implement one or more of the programs and 

22 trainings described in subsection (b). 

23 (b) PROGRAMS.—The programs and trainings de24 scribed in this subsection consist of the following: 


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1 (1) Effective trainings on ethnic and racial bias, 

2 cultural diversity, and police interaction with the dis3 abled, mentally ill, and immigrants. 

4 (2) Training on de-escalation techniques, in5 cluding— 

6 (A) verbal and physical tactics to minimize 

7 the need for the use of force, with an emphasis 

8 on communication and negotiation; 

9 (B) providing the time needed to resolve 

10 the incident safely for everyone; 

11 (C) the use of alternative non-lethal meth12 ods of force; and 

13 (D) techniques that prevent the officer 

14 from escalating any situation where force is 

15 likely to be used. 

16 (3) Crisis intervention trainings to appro17 priately identify and respond to individuals suffering 

18 from mental health or substance abuse issues, with 

19 an emphasis on de-escalation tactics and promoting 

20 effective communication. 

21 (4) A body-worn camera program in order to 

22 deter excessive force, improve accountability and 

23 transparency of use of force by law enforcement offi24 cers, and improve evidence collection. 


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1 (c) APPLICATION.—To receive a grant under this 

2 part, a State, unit of local government, Indian tribal gov3 ernment, or other public and private entity shall submit 

4 to the Attorney General an application at such time, in 

5 such form, and containing such information as the Attor6 ney General may require. 

7 (d) TERM.—A grant under this section shall be made 

8 for a 1-year period. 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

10 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec11 essary to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 

12 2021 through 2025. 

Æ 


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