I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3544 

To help keep law enforcement officers and communities safer by making 

grants to purchase body worn cameras for use by State, local, and 

tribal law enforcement officers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 

Ms. HAHN (for herself, Mr. FOSTER, and Ms. ESTY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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 help keep law enforcement officers and communities safer 

by making grants to purchase body worn cameras for 

use by State, local, and tribal law enforcement officers. 

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 ‘‘Safer Officers and 

5 Safer Citizens Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) While police body worn cameras are not a 

2 panacea, they do contribute to keeping both law en3 forcement officers and citizens safer. 

4 (2) Increasing the use of body worn cameras by 

5 law enforcement officers has been shown by multiple 

6 studies to significantly reduce the number of use of 

7 force incidents and the number of citizen complaints. 

8 (3) Increased accountability and transparency 

9 in policing activities will benefit all our citizens, in10 cluding our law enforcement officers. 

11 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 

12 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

13 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 

14 by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘PART LL—GRANT PROGRAM FOR BODY WORN 

16 CAMERAS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS 

17 ‘‘SEC. 3021. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

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

19 Justice Assistance is authorized to make grants to States, 

20 units of local government, and Indian tribes to purchase 

21 body worn cameras for use by State, local, and tribal law 

22 enforcement officers. 

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

24 section shall be— 


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

2 local government, or Indian tribe; and 

3 ‘‘(2) used for the purchase of— 

4 ‘‘(A) body worn cameras for law enforce5 ment officers; and 

6 ‘‘(B) necessary initial supportive techno7 logical infrastructure for body worn cameras for 

8 law enforcement officers in the jurisdiction of 

9 the grantee. 

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

11 grants under this part, the Director of the Bureau of Jus12 tice Assistance shall give preferential consideration, if fea13 sible, to an application from a jurisdiction that— 

14 ‘‘(1) has in place a comprehensive policy that 

15 is— 

16 ‘‘(A) developed in consultation with a 

17 broad group of criminal justice experts and 

18 community members, and that contains policies 

19 and procedures addressing deployment, video 

20 capture, privacy protections, viewing, use, re21 lease, storage, retention, the effect on commu22 nity-police interactions, and audits and controls; 

23 ‘‘(B) supported by a comprehensive com24 munication and education campaign that in25 volves interested parties in law enforcement, 


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1 courts, prosecution, the defense bar, civic lead2 ership, labor organizations, victim and juvenile 

3 advocacy, the media, and the public; and 

4 ‘‘(C) informed by the best practices on 

5 body worn cameras developed by the Depart6 ment of Justice; 

7 ‘‘(2) has the greatest need for body worn cam8 eras based on the percentage of law enforcement of9 ficers in the department who do not have access to 

10 a body worn camera; 

11 ‘‘(3) has a violent crime rate at or above the 

12 national average as determined by the Bureau of 

13 Justice Statistics; and 

14 ‘‘(4) commits to submitting such metrics on the 

15 usage of body worn cameras, in such a format and 

16 at such a time as the Department of Justice shall 

17 reasonably specify, for the purposes of collecting and 

18 studying data on the effectiveness of body worn cam19 eras to increase safety for both law enforcement offi20 cers and citizens. 

21 ‘‘(d) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of 

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

23 not exceed 75 percent. Any funds appropriated by Con24 gress for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal 

25 government or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing 


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1 law enforcement functions on any Indian lands may be 

2 used to provide the non-Federal share of a matching re3 quirement funded under this subsection. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 3022. APPLICATIONS. 

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

6 part, the chief executive of a State, unit of local govern7 ment, or Indian tribe shall submit an application to the 

8 Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance in such form 

9 and containing such information as the Director may rea10 sonably require. 

11 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the date of the enactment of this part, the Director of 

13 the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regula14 tions to implement this section, including the information 

15 that must be included and the requirements that the 

16 States, units of local government, and Indian tribes must 

17 meet in submitting the applications required under this 

18 section. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 3023. DEFINITIONS. 

20 ‘‘For purposes of this part— 

21 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the same mean22 ing as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina23 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

24 450b(e)); 


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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 

2 any officer, agent, or employee of a State, unit of 

3 local government, or Indian tribe authorized by law 

4 or by a government agency to engage in or supervise 

5 the prevention, detection, or investigation of any vio6 lation of criminal law, or authorized by law to super7 vise sentenced criminal offenders; 

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

9 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

10 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

11 American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana 

12 Islands; and 

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

14 a county, municipality, town, township, village, par15 ish, borough, or other unit of general government 

16 below the State level. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 3024. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap19 propriated to carry out this part, $100,000,000 for each 

20 of fiscal years 2016 through 2021. 

21 ‘‘(b) REMAINING FUNDS.—Any amounts made avail22 able to carry out this part that are unobligated at the end 

23 of each fiscal year, shall be returned to the general fund 

24 of the Treasury for debt reduction.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. OFFSET. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Office of Personnel Management allows 

4 for administrative leave as an administratively au5 thorized absence from duty without loss of pay or 

6 charge to leave, but recognizes that administrative 

7 leave is not an entitlement, and agencies are not re8 quired to grant it. 

9 (2) Administrative leave does not include an10 nual leave, maternity leave, sick leave, leave taken in 

11 accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act 

12 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.), or military leave. 

13 (3) A Government Accountability Office report 

14 on Federal paid administrative leave detailed data 

15 from the Office of Personnel Management that 

16 showed that from fiscal year 2011 through fiscal 

17 year 2013, about 97 percent of Federal employees 

18 charged 20 days or less of paid administrative leave, 

19 although some Federal employees charged between 1 

20 and 3 years of paid administrative leave. Further, 

21 Agency officials stated that the most common reason 

22 for which selected employees charged amounts rel23 atively higher than the agency average was for per24 sonnel matters, such as investigations into alleged 

25 misconduct. 

26 (b) REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

2 (A) the term ‘‘administrative leave’’ means 

3 leave without loss of or reduction in— 

4 (i) pay; 

5 (ii) leave to which an employee is oth6 erwise entitled; or 

7 (iii) credit for time or service; and 

8 (B) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning 

9 given the term ‘‘executive agency’’ under sec10 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

11 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act— 

13 (A) the Office of Personnel Management 

14 shall issue regulations limiting administrative 

15 leave for an employee of any agency to not 

16 more than 20 days per year, unless approved 

17 individually by the head of the agency; and 

18 (B) the Office of Management and Budget 

19 shall ensure each agency adjusts the number of 

20 employees (determined on a full-time equivalent 

21 basis) authorized to be employed by the agency, 

22 and each component of the agency, to reflect 

23 lower personnel requirements due to increased 

24 available work hours per employee. 

Æ 


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