I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1870 

To require that States receiving Byrne JAG funds to require sensitivity 

training for law enforcement officers of that State and to incentivize 

States to enact laws requiring the independent investigation and prosecution of the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 4, 2017 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BASS, 

Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. 

CASTOR of Florida, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. 

CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 

CLEAVER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DELAURO, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. EDDIE

BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAPTUR, 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. 

MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. 

NADLER, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. PASCRELL, 

Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RICHMOND, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 

SERRANO, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 

SMITH of Washington, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 

VEASEY, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, Mrs. 

WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. EVANS, Ms. 

JAYAPAL, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. 

KHANNA, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. POLIS, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. LEE, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 


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•HR 1870 IH

A BILL 

To require that States receiving Byrne JAG funds to require 

sensitivity training for law enforcement officers of that 

State and to incentivize States to enact laws requiring 

the independent investigation and prosecution of the use 

of deadly force by law enforcement officers, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Police Training and 

5 Independent Review Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRAINING ON DIVERSITY AND SENSITIVITY FOR 

7 LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

8 (a) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year 

9 after the expiration of the period specified in subsection 

10 (b)(1) in which a State receives funds for a program re11 ferred to in subsection (b)(2), the State shall require that 

12 all individuals enrolled in an academy of a law enforce13 ment agency of the State and all law enforcement officers 

14 of the State fulfill a training session on sensitivity each 

15 fiscal year, including training on ethnic and racial bias, 

16 cultural diversity, and police interaction with the disabled, 

17 mentally ill, and new immigrants. In the case of individ18 uals attending an academy, such training session shall be 

19 for 8 hours, and in the case of all other law enforcement 


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1 officers, the training session shall be for 4 hours. The 

2 State shall certify to the Attorney General of the United 

3 States that such training sessions have been completed. 

4 (b) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 

5 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 

6 not more than 120 days, beginning on the date of 

7 enactment of this Act, to comply with subsection (a), 

8 except that— 

9 (A) the Attorney General may grant an ad10 ditional 120 days to a State that is making 

11 good faith efforts to comply with such sub12 section; and 

13 (B) the Attorney General shall waive the 

14 requirements of subsection (a) if compliance 

15 with such subsection by a State would be un16 constitutional under the constitution of such 

17 State. 

18 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any fiscal 

19 year after the expiration of the period specified in 

20 paragraph (1), a State that fails to comply with sub21 section (a), shall, at the discretion of the Attorney 

22 General, be subject to not more than a 20-percent 

23 reduction of the funds that would otherwise be allo24 cated for that fiscal year to the State under subpart 

25 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 


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1 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et 

2 seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne 

3 Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assist4 ance Programs, the Local Government Law Enforce5 ment Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me6 morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or other7 wise. 

8 (c) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 

9 program referred to in subsection (b)(2) to a State for 

10 failure to fully comply with subsection (a) shall be reallo11 cated under that program to States that have not failed 

12 to comply with such subsection. 

13 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT USE 

14 OF DEADLY FORCE. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State or unit of 

16 local government that received a grant award under sub17 part 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

18 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), 

19 if that State or unit of local government fails by the end 

20 of a fiscal year to enact or have in effect an independent 

21 prosecution of law enforcement law, the Attorney General 

22 shall reduce the amount that would otherwise be awarded 

23 to that State or unit of local government under such grant 

24 program in the following fiscal year by 20 percent. 


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1 (b) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 

2 program referred to in subsection (a) to a State for failure 

3 to be in compliance with this section shall be reallocated 

4 under that program to States that are in compliance with 

5 this section. 

6 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘deadly force’’ means that force 

9 which a reasonable person would consider likely to 

10 cause death or serious bodily harm. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘independent prosecution of law 

12 enforcement law’’ means a statute requiring the ap13 pointment of an independent prosecutor to conduct 

14 any criminal investigation and prosecution in 

15 which— 

16 (A) one or more of the possible defendants 

17 is a law enforcement officer; 

18 (B) one or more of the alleged offenses in19 volves the law enforcement officer’s use of dead20 ly force in the course of carrying out that offi21 cer’s duty; and 

22 (C) the law enforcement officer’s use of 

23 deadly force resulted in a death or injury. 


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1 (3) The term ‘‘independent prosecutor’’ means, 

2 with respect to a criminal investigation or prosecu3 tion, a prosecutor who— 

4 (A) does not live or work in the same 

5 county as the county in which the alleged crime 

6 was committed; and 

7 (B) would not be involved in the prosecu8 tion in the ordinary course of that prosecutor’s 

9 duties. 

Æ 


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