I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3877

To provide grants to States which comply with certain requirements.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 23, 1994

Mrs. BYRNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide grants to States which comply with certain

requirements.

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 ‘‘Two Strikes and In

5 Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION.

7 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘crime of vio8 lence’’ means a felony offense under Federal or State law

9 that is a crime of violence which may include the following

10 (or a State equivalent of such crime):

11 (1) Murder.
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1 (2) Homicide.

2 (3) Kidnapping.

3 (4) Assault resulting in a serious bodily injury.

4 (5) Assault with intent to commit murder.

5 (6) Rape.

6 (7) Voluntary manslaughter.

7 (8) Criminal sexual assault.

8 SEC. 3. PRISONS FOR VIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS.

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT AND TECHNICAL AS10 SISTANCE PROGRAM.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may

12 make grants to States and to multi-State compact

13 associations for the purposes of—

14 (A) developing, constructing, expanding,

15 operating, and improving boot camp prison pro16 grams, city or county detention facilities, or

17 low- to medium-security prisons;

18 (B) developing, constructing, and operating

19 prisons that house and provide treatment for

20 violent offenders with serious substance abuse

21 problems; and

22 (C) assisting in activating existing boot

23 camp or prison facilities that are unutilized or

24 underutilized because of lack of funding.
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1 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney

2 General may provide technical assistance to grantees

3 under this section.

4 (3) UTILIZATION OF PRIVATE SECTOR.—Noth5 ing herein shall prevent the utilization of any grant

6 funds to contract with the private sector to design,

7 construct or provide any services associated with any

8 facilities funded herein.

9 (4) UTILIZATION OF COMPONENTS.—The Attor10 ney General may utilize any component or compo11 nents of the Department of Justice in carrying out

12 this section.

13 (b) STATE AND MULTI-STATE COMPACT APPLICA14 TIONS.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under

16 this section, the chief executive of a State or the co17 ordinator of a multi-State compact association shall

18 submit an application to the Attorney General in

19 such form and containing such information as the

20 Attorney General may prescribe by regulation or

21 guidelines. The chief executive of a State or the co22 ordinator of a multi-State compact association may

23 designate private sector participants for the design,

24 construction, or provision of services associated with

25 any facilities for which funding is requested.
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1 (2) CONTENT OF APPLICATION.—In accordance

2 with the regulations or guidelines established by the

3 Attorney General, an application for a grant under

4 this section shall—

5 (A) provide a description of any construc6 tion activities, including cost estimates;

7 (B) provide a description of selection cri8 teria for prisoners for various prison programs;

9 and

10 (C) certify that such State or States have

11 in effect a law which requires a sentence of life

12 imprisonment for individuals who have been

13 previously convicted of a crime of violence at

14 the State or Federal level.

15 (c) QUALIFYING STATE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a

17 grant under this section, a State shall provide a

18 mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without pa19 role for individuals who have been previously con20 victed of a crime of violence at the State or Federal

21 level.

22 (2) DISQUALIFICATION.—The Attorney General

23 shall withdraw a State’s status as a qualifying State

24 if the Attorney General finds that the State no

25 longer appropriately provides for the matters de-
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1 scribed in paragraph (1) or has ceased making sub2 stantial progress toward attaining them, in which

3 event the State shall no longer be entitled to the

4 benefits of this section, except to the extent the At5 torney General otherwise directs.

6 (3) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may

7 waive, for no more than one year, any of the require8 ments of this subsection with respect to a particular

9 State if the Attorney General certifies that, in the

10 Attorney General’s judgment, there are compelling

11 law enforcement reasons for doing so. Any State

12 granted any such waiver shall be treated as a quali13 fying State for all purposes of this subtitle, unless

14 the Attorney General otherwise directs.

15 (d) REVOCATION OR SUSPENSION OF FUNDING.—If

16 the Attorney General determines, as a result of the reviews

17 required by subsection (f), or otherwise, that a grant recip18 ient under this section is not in substantial compliance

19 with the terms and requirements of an approved grant ap20 plication, the Attorney General may revoke or suspend

21 funding of the grant in whole or in part.

22 (e) ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS.—The Attorney General

23 and the Comptroller General shall have access for the pur24 pose of audit and examination to—
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1 (1) the pertinent books, documents, papers, or

2 records of a grant recipient under this section; and

3 (2) the pertinent books, documents, papers, or

4 records of other persons and entities that are in5 volved in programs for which assistance is provided

6 under this section.

7 (f) GENERAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Attor8 ney General may issue regulations and guidelines to carry

9 out this section.

10 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec12 tion—

13 (1) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 1994;

14 (2) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 1995;

15 (3) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 1996;

16 (4) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 1997; and

17 (5) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 1998.

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