II

Calendar No. 902

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3144

To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) to establish

police powers for certain Inspector General agents engaged in official

duties and provide an oversight mechanism for the exercise of those

powers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 2 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. THOMPSON, from the Committee on Governmental Affairs, reported the

following original bill; which was read twice and placed on the calendar

A BILL

To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.

App.) to establish police powers for certain Inspector

General agents engaged in official duties and provide

an oversight mechanism for the exercise of those powers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

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1 SECTION 1. LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS OF INSPECTOR

2 GENERAL AGENTS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6 of the Inspector General

4 Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the

5 end the following:

6 ‘‘(e)(1) In addition to the authority otherwise pro7 vided by this Act, each Inspector General appointed under

8 section 3, any Assistant Inspector General for Investiga9 tions under such an Inspector General, and any special

10 agent supervised by such an Assistant Inspector General

11 may be authorized by the Attorney General to—

12 ‘‘(A) carry a firearm while engaged in official

13 duties conducted under this Act or other statute, or

14 as expressly authorized by the Attorney General;

15 ‘‘(B) make an arrest without a warrant while

16 engaged in official duties conducted under this Act

17 or other statute, or as expressly authorized by the

18 Attorney General, for any offense against the United

19 States committed in the presence of such Inspector

20 General, Assistant Inspector General, or agent, or

21 for any felony cognizable under the laws of the

22 United States if such Inspector General, Assistant

23 Inspector General, or agent has reasonable grounds

24 to believe that the person to be arrested has com25 mitted or is committing such felony; and
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1 ‘‘(C) seek and execute warrants for arrest,

2 search of a premises, or seizure of evidence issued

3 under the authority of the United States upon prob4 able cause to believe that a violation has been com5 mitted.

6 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General may authorize exercise of

7 the powers under this subsection only upon an initial de8 termination that—

9 ‘‘(A) the affected Office of Inspector General is

10 significantly hampered in the performance of respon11 sibilities established by this Act as a result of the

12 lack of such powers;

13 ‘‘(B) available assistance from other law en14 forcement agencies is insufficient to meet the need

15 for such powers; and

16 ‘‘(C) adequate internal safeguards and manage17 ment procedures exist to ensure proper exercise of

18 such powers.

19 ‘‘(3) The Inspector General offices of the Department

20 of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of

21 Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, De22 partment of Housing and Urban Development, Depart23 ment of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department

24 of Labor, Department of State, Department of Transpor25 tation, Department of the Treasury, Department of Vet-
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1 erans Affairs, Agency for International Development, En2 vironmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insur3 ance Corporation, Federal Emergency Management Agen4 cy, General Services Administration, National Aeronautics

5 and Space Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commis6 sion, Office of Personnel Management, Railroad Retire7 ment Board, Small Business Administration, and Social

8 Security Administration are exempt from the requirement

9 of paragraph (2) of an initial determination of eligibility

10 by the Attorney General.

11 ‘‘(4) The Attorney General shall promulgate, and re12 vise as appropriate, guidelines which shall govern the exer13 cise of the law enforcement powers established under para14 graph (1).

15 ‘‘(5) Powers authorized for an Office of Inspector

16 General under paragraph (1) shall be rescinded or sus17 pended upon a determination by the Attorney General that

18 any of the requirements under paragraph (2) is no longer

19 satisfied or that the exercise of authorized powers by that

20 Office of Inspector General has not complied with the

21 guidelines promulgated by the Attorney General under

22 paragraph (4).

23 ‘‘(6) A determination by the Attorney General under

24 paragraph (2) or (5) shall not be reviewable in or by any

25 court.
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1 ‘‘(7) To ensure the proper exercise of the law enforce2 ment powers authorized by this subsection, the Offices of

3 Inspector General described under paragraph (3) shall,

4 not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of

5 this subsection, collectively enter into a memorandum of

6 understanding to establish an external review process for

7 ensuring that adequate internal safeguards and manage8 ment procedures continue to exist within each Office and

9 within any Office that later receives an authorization

10 under paragraph (2). The review process shall be estab11 lished in consultation with the Attorney General, who shall

12 be provided with a copy of the memorandum of under13 standing that establishes the review process. Under the

14 review process, the exercise of the law enforcement powers

15 by each Office of Inspector General shall be reviewed peri16 odically by another Office of Inspector General or by a

17 committee of Inspectors General. The results of each re18 view shall be communicated in writing to the applicable

19 Inspector General and to the Attorney General.

20 ‘‘(8) No provision of this subsection shall limit the

21 exercise of law enforcement powers established under any

22 other statutory authority, including United States Mar23 shals Service special deputation.’’.

24 (b) PROMULGATION OF INITIAL GUIDELINES.—
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1 (1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term

2 ‘‘memoranda of understanding’’ means the agree3 ments between the Department of Justice and the

4 Inspector General offices described under section

5 6(e)(3) of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5

6 U.S.C. App) (as added by subsection (a) of this sec7 tion) that—

8 (A) are in effect on the date of enactment

9 of this Act; and

10 (B) authorize such offices to exercise au11 thority that is the same or similar to the au12 thority under section 6(e)(1) of such Act.

13 (2) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney

15 General shall promulgate guidelines under section

16 6(e)(4) of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5

17 U.S.C. App) (as added by subsection (a) of this sec18 tion) applicable to the Inspector General offices de19 scribed under section 6(e)(3) of that Act.

20 (3) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines

21 promulgated under this subsection shall include, at

22 a minimum, the operational and training require23 ments in the memoranda of understanding.

24 (4) NO LAPSE OF AUTHORITY.—The memo25 randa of understanding in effect on the date of en-
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1 actment of this Act shall remain in effect until the

2 guidelines promulgated under this subsection take

3 effect.

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall take ef6 fect 180 days after the date of enactment of this

7 Act.

8 (2) INITIAL GUIDELINES.—Subsection (b) shall

9 take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
Calendar No. 902

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3144

A BILL

To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5

U.S.C. App.) to establish police powers for certain Inspector General agents engaged in officialduties and provide an oversight mechanism forthe exercise of those powers.

OCTOBER 2 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Read twice and placed on the calendar