II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 996

To establish a matching grant program to help State and local jurisdictions

purchase school safety equipment.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 11, 1999

Mr. CAMPBELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish a matching grant program to help State and

local jurisdictions purchase school safety equipment.

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 ‘‘Students Learning in

5 Safe Schools Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL SAFETY

7 EQUIPMENT.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part Y of title I of the Omnibus

9 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended—
2

•S 996 IS

1 (1) by striking the part designation and part

2 heading and inserting the following:

3 ‘‘PART Y—MATCHING GRANT PROGRAMS

4 ‘‘Subpart A—Grant Program For Armor

5 Vests’’;

6 (2) by striking ‘‘this part’’ each place that term

7 appears and inserting ‘‘this subpart’’; and

8 (3) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘Subpart B—Grant Program For School

10 Safety Equipment

11 ‘‘SEC. 2511. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of

13 Justice Assistance is authorized to make grants to States,

14 units of local government, Indian tribes, and local edu15 cational agencies to purchase school safety equipment for

16 use in and near elementary and secondary schools.

17 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this

18 section shall be—

19 ‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of

20 local government, Indian tribe, or local educational

21 agency, as applicable; and

22 ‘‘(2) used for the purchase of school safety

23 equipment for use in elementary and secondary

24 schools in the jurisdiction of the grantee.
3

•S 996 IS

1 ‘‘(c) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding

2 grants under this subpart, the Director of the Bureau of

3 Justice Assistance may give preferential consideration, if

4 feasible, to an application from a jurisdiction that—

5 ‘‘(1) has the greatest need for school safety

6 equipment, based on the percentage of elementary

7 and secondary schools in the jurisdiction of the ap8 plicant that do not have access to such equipment;

9 ‘‘(2) has a violent crime rate at or above the

10 national average as determined by the Federal Bu11 reau of Investigation; or

12 ‘‘(3) has not received a block grant under the

13 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program de14 scribed under the heading ‘Violent Crime Reduction

15 Programs, State and Local Law Enforcement As16 sistance’ of the Departments of Commerce, Justice,

17 and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Ap18 propriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–119).

19 ‘‘(d) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Unless all eligible applica20 tions submitted by any State or unit of local government

21 within such State for a grant under this section have been

22 funded, such State, together with grantees within the

23 State (other than Indian tribes), shall be allocated in each

24 fiscal year under this section not less than 0.50 percent

25 of the total amount appropriated in the fiscal year for
4

•S 996 IS

1 grants pursuant to this section except that the United

2 States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the

3 Northern Mariana Islands shall each be allocated .25 per4 cent.

5 ‘‘(e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A qualifying State, unit of

6 local government, Indian tribe, or local educational agency

7 may not receive more than 5 percent of the total amount

8 appropriated in each fiscal year for grants under this sec9 tion, except that a State, together with the grantees within

10 the State may not receive more than 20 percent of the

11 total amount appropriated in each fiscal year for grants

12 under this section.

13 ‘‘(f) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of

14 a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may

15 not exceed 50 percent. Any funds appropriated by Con16 gress for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal

17 government or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing

18 law enforcement functions on any Indian lands may be

19 used to provide the non-Federal share of a matching re20 quirement funded under this subsection.

21 ‘‘(g) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Not less than 50 per22 cent of the total amount made available to carry out this

23 subpart in each fiscal year shall be awarded to units of

24 local government with fewer than 100,000 residents.
5

•S 996 IS

1 ‘‘SEC. 2512. APPLICATIONS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under this

3 subpart, the chief executive of a State, unit of local gov4 ernment, Indian tribe, or local educational agency shall

5 submit an application to the Director of the Bureau of

6 Justice Assistance in such form and containing such infor7 mation as the Director may reasonably require.

8 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days

10 after the date of enactment of the Students Learn11 ing in Safe Schools Act of 1999, the Director of the

12 Bureau of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regu13 lations to implement this section (including the in14 formation that must be included and the require15 ments that the States, units of local government, In16 dian tribes, and local educational agencies must

17 meet) in submitting the applications required under

18 this section.

19 ‘‘(2) INTERNET ACCESS.—The regulations pro20 mulgated under this subsection shall provide for the

21 availability of applications for, and other information

22 relating to, assistance under this subpart on the

23 Internet website of the Department of Justice, in a

24 manner that is closely linked to the information on

25 that Internet website concerning the program under

26 part Q.
6

•S 996 IS

1 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—A unit of local government that

2 receives funding under the Local Law Enforcement Block

3 Grant program (described under the heading ‘Violent

4 Crime Reduction Programs, State and Local Law En5 forcement Assistance’ of the Departments of Commerce,

6 Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies

7 Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 104–119)) during

8 a fiscal year in which it submits an application under this

9 subpart shall not be eligible for a grant under this subpart

10 unless the chief executive officer of such unit of local gov11 ernment certifies and provides an explanation to the Di12 rector that the unit of local government considered or will

13 consider using funding received under the block grant pro14 gram for any or all of the costs relating to the purchase

15 of school safety equipment, but did not, or does not expect

16 to use such funds for such purpose.

17 ‘‘SEC. 2513. DEFINITIONS.

18 ‘‘In this subpart—

19 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the same mean20 ing as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina21 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.

22 450b(e));

23 ‘‘(2) the term ‘school safety equipment’ means

24 metal detectors, metal detecting wands, video cam-
7

•S 996 IS

1 eras, and other equipment designed to detect weap2 ons and otherwise enhance school safety;

3 ‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means each of the 50

4 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

5 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands,

6 American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana

7 Islands; and

8 ‘‘(4) the term ‘unit of local government’ means

9 a county, municipality, town, township, village, par10 ish, borough, school district, or other unit of general

11 government below the State level.’’.

12 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

13 1001(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets

14 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3793(a)) is amended by striking

15 paragraph (23) and inserting the following:

16 ‘‘(23) There are authorized to be appropriated to

17 carry out part Y—

18 ‘‘(A) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years

19 2000 through 2002 for grants under subpart A

20 of that part; and

21 ‘‘(B) $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years

22 2000 through 2002 for grants under subpart B

23 of that part.’’.
8

•S 996 IS

1 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING AMERICAN-MADE

2 PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT.

3 In the case of any equipment or products that may

4 be authorized to be purchased with financial assistance

5 provided using funds appropriated or otherwise made

6 available by this Act, it is the sense of the Congress that

7 entities receiving the assistance should, in expending the

8 assistance, purchase only American-made equipment and

9 products, unless such equipment or products are not read10 ily available at reasonable costs.

11 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING SCHOOL SECU12 RITY.

13 It is the sense of the Senate that recipients of assist14 ance under subpart B of part Y of title I of the Omnibus

15 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as added

16 by this Act, should, to the maximum extent practicable,

17 seek to achieve a balance between school security needs

18 and the need for an environment that is conducive to

19 learning.

20 SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT.

21 Section 202 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control

22 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3722) is amend23 ed by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(e) SCHOOL SAFETY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOP25 MENT.—The Institute shall conduct research and other26 wise work to develop new weapons detection technologies
9

•S 996 IS

1 and safety systems that are appropriate to school set2 tings.’’.

Æ