I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 144

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 29, 1995

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AN ACT

To amend section 526 of title 28, United States Code, to

authorize awards of attorney’s fees.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa4 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

5 SECTION 1. AWARDS OF ATTORNEY’S FEES.

6 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

7 ‘‘Attorney’s Fees Equity Act of 1995’’.
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1 (b) AWARDS OF ATTORNEY’S FEES.—Section 526 of

2 title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

3 end the following new subsection:

4 ‘‘(c)(1)(A) A current or former Department of Jus5 tice attorney; agent; or employee who supervises an agent

6 who is the subject of a criminal or disciplinary investiga7 tion, instituted on or after the date of enactment of this

8 subsection, arising out of acts performed in the discharge

9 of his or her duties in prosecuting or investigating a crimi10 nal matter, who is not provided representation under De11 partment of Justice regulations, shall be entitled to reim12 bursement of reasonable attorney’s fees incurred during

13 and as a result of the investigation if the investigation

14 does not result in adverse action against the attorney,

15 agent, or employee.

16 ‘‘(B) A current or former attorney; agent; or em17 ployee who supervises an agent employed as or by a Fed18 eral public defender who is the subject of a criminal or

19 disciplinary investigation instituted on or after the date

20 of enactment of this subsection, arising out of acts per21 formed in the discharge of his or her duties in defending

22 or investigating a criminal matter in connection with the

23 public defender program, who is not provided representa24 tion by a Federal public defender or the Administrative

25 Office of the United States Courts is entitled to reim-
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1 bursement of reasonable attorney’s fees incurred during

2 and as a result of the investigation if the investigation

3 does not result in adverse action against the attorney,

4 agent, or employee.

5 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), an investigation

6 shall be considered not to result in adverse action against

7 an attorney, agent, or employee if—

8 ‘‘(A) in the case of a criminal investigation, the

9 investigation does not result in indictment of, the fil10 ing of a criminal complaint against, or the entry of

11 a plea of guilty by the attorney, agent, or super12 vising employee; and

13 ‘‘(B) in the case of a disciplinary investigation,

14 the investigation does not result in discipline or re15 sults in only discipline less serious than a formal let16 ter of reprimand finding actual and specific wrong17 doing.

18 ‘‘(3) The Attorney General shall provide notice in

19 writing of the conclusion and result of an investigation de20 scribed in paragraph (1).

21 ‘‘(4) An attorney, agent, or supervising employee who

22 was the subject of an investigation described in paragraph

23 (1) may waive his or her entitlement to reimbursement

24 of attorney’s fees under paragraph (1) as part of a resolu25 tion of a criminal or disciplinary investigation.
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1 ‘‘(5) An application for attorney fee reimbursement

2 under this subsection shall be made not later than 180

3 days after the attorney, agent, or employee is notified in

4 writing of the conclusion and result of the investigation.

5 ‘‘(6) Upon receipt of a proper application under this

6 subsection for reimbursement of attorney’s fees, the Attor7 ney General and the Director of the Administrative Office

8 of the United States Courts shall award reimbursement

9 for the amount of attorney’s fees that are found to have

10 been reasonably incurred by the applicant as a result of

11 an investigation.

12 ‘‘(7) The official making an award under this sub13 section shall make inquiry into the reasonableness of the

14 amount requested, and shall consider—

15 ‘‘(A) the sufficiency of the documentation ac16 companying the request;

17 ‘‘(B) the need or justification for the underlying

18 item;

19 ‘‘(C) the reasonableness of the sum requested in

20 light of the nature of the investigation; and

21 ‘‘(D) current rates for equal services in the

22 community in which the investigation took place.

23 ‘‘(8)(A) Reimbursements of attorney’s fees ordered

24 under this subsection by the Attorney General shall be
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1 paid from the appropriation made by section 1304 of title

2 31, United States Code.

3 ‘‘(B) Reimbursements of attorney’s fees ordered

4 under this Act by the Director of the Administrative Office

5 of the United States Courts shall be paid from appropria6 tions authorized by section 3006A(i) of title 18, United

7 States Code.

8 ‘‘(9) The Attorney General and the Director of the

9 Administrative Office of the United States Courts may

10 delegate their powers and duties under this subsection to

11 an appropriate subordinate.’’.

Passed the Senate September 28 (legislative day,

September 25), 1995.

Attest: KELLY D. JOHNSTON,

Secretary.