I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4055 

To authorize a national HOPE Program to reduce drug use, crime, and 

the costs of incarceration. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 6, 2009 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself and Mr. POE of Texas) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize a national HOPE Program to reduce drug 

use, crime, and the costs of incarceration. 

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 ‘‘Honest Opportunity 

5 Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Initiative Act of 

6 2009’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Crime continues to inflict a severe cost on 

10 victims and communities across the country. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4055 IH

1 (2) Criminal apprehension and punishment 

2 similarly impose substantial costs on taxpayers, with 

3 States spending over $50,000,000,000 on corrections 

4 in fiscal year 2008, accounting for 1 in every 15 

5 State general fund dollars. 

6 (3) A substantial amount of crime, and a sub7 stantial share of prison occupancy, is directly tied to 

8 illicit drug consumption. A relatively small group of 

9 chronic drug users consumes the vast majority of co10 caine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the United 

11 States, and approximately three-quarters of this 

12 group pass through the criminal justice system at 

13 some point. Consequently, reducing drug consump14 tion in the United States requires effectively ad15 dressing the drug habits of supervised offenders. 

16 (4) One in 100 adults is behind bars, and 1 in 

17 31 is under some form of criminal justice super18 vision, including probation and parole. Of the 

19 7,300,000 individuals in the United States who are 

20 under criminal justice supervision, the majority 

21 (4,300,000) are serving a term of probation in their 

22 communities, in lieu of serving time behind bars. 

23 (5) The failure of individuals serving terms of 

24 probation to successfully complete such terms is a 

25 major contributor to prison admissions. In 2007, 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4055 IH

1 more than 250,000 such individuals were admitted 

2 to prison. Consequently, controlling drug use by in3 dividuals who are serving a period of probation re4 duces both national drug consumption and crime 

5 rates, and reduces taxpayer burdens. 

6 (6) Innovations in offender supervision prove 

7 that swift, certain, and graduated sanctions for non8 compliance can reduce drug use, new crimes, and 

9 revocation to incarceration. 

10 (7) Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with En11 forcement (HOPE) initiative, an offender super12 vision program to reduce probation violations by 

13 drug and other high-risk offenders using a struc14 tured sanctions model, has been shown to be highly 

15 successful at reducing drug use, crime, and recidi16 vism. 

17 (8) According to an article in the Journal of the 

18 American Medical Association in August of 2009, if 

19 the HOPE initiative was replicated effectively in 

20 multiple jurisdictions, the program might have 

21 broader benefits beyond assisting probationer par22 ticipants at risk for heavy drug use, such as helping 

23 to shrink the market for illegal drugs and the profits 

24 of drug trafficking organizations. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4055 IH

1 SEC. 3. HOPE INITIATIVE GRANTS. 

2 (a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 

4 establish a competitive demonstration grant program 

5 to award grants to State, tribal, and local courts to 

6 establish probation programs that reduce drug use, 

7 crime, and recidivism by requiring swift, predictable, 

8 and graduated sanctions for noncompliance with the 

9 conditions of probation, as determined by the Attor10 ney General. 

11 (2) NUMBER AND SELECTION OF GRANTS.— 

12 (A) NUMBER.—The Attorney General shall 

13 have the discretion to award not more than 20 

14 grants under this section. 

15 (B) SELECTION.—The Attorney General 

16 shall ensure that such grants are awarded in a 

17 manner that promotes the strongest proposals, 

18 evaluation designs, and geographic diversity of 

19 the demonstration programs under this section. 

20 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

21 this section, a State, tribal, or local court shall, in addition 

22 to any other requirements required by the Attorney Gen23 eral, submit to the Attorney General an application that— 

24 (1) describes the program to be assisted under 

25 this section and the need for such program; 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4055 IH

1 (2) describes a long-term strategy and detailed 

2 implementation plan for such program, including 

3 how the entity plans to pay for the program after 

4 the Federal funding is discontinued; 

5 (3) certifies that all government entities af6 fected by the program have been appropriately con7 sulted in the development of the program and that 

8 there will be appropriate coordination with all such 

9 entities in the implementation of the program; 

10 (4) identifies the key partners that will be in11 cluded in the program, including the Chief Judge of 

12 the court of the relevant jurisdiction and other par13 ticipating judges in such jurisdiction, State court ad14 ministrator, probation and parole administrators, 

15 jail and prison administrators, prosecutors, public 

16 defenders and defense attorneys, and sheriff or po17 lice administrators; and 

18 (5) includes an assurance that the applicant 

19 will— 

20 (A) collect key process measures, including 

21 the number of individuals enrolled in the pro22 gram, the frequency of drug testing of such in23 dividuals, the certainty of sanctions for a viola24 tion of the terms of probation, the average pe25 riod of time from detection of a violation to 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4055 IH

1 issuance of a sanction for such violation, and 

2 sanction severity; 

3 (B) conduct an unbiased comparison of the 

4 outcomes between program participants and 

5 similarly situated probationers not in the pro6 gram, including the positive and negative drug 

7 test rates, probation and substance abuse treat8 ment appearance rates, probation term modi9 fications, revocations, arrests, time spent in jail 

10 or prison, and total correctional costs incurred; 

11 and 

12 (C) partner with an independent program 

13 advisor and evaluator, who will assist the appli14 cant with designing the demonstration program 

15 to be carried out with the grant, identifying the 

16 appropriate comparison group for the compari17 son required under subparagraph (A), and 

18 measuring relevant outcomes for such compari19 son. 

20 (c) GRANT USES.—A grant awarded under this sec21 tion shall be used by the grantee to establish probation 

22 programs that— 

23 (1) identify for enrollment in the program indi24 viduals who are serving a term of probation and who 

25 are at high risk of failing to observe the conditions 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4055 IH

1 of supervision and of being returned to incarceration 

2 as a result of such failure; 

3 (2) notify probationers of the rules of the pro4 bation demonstration program, and consequences for 

5 violating such rules; 

6 (3) monitor probationers for illicit drug use 

7 with regular and rapid-result drug screening; 

8 (4) monitor probationers for violations of other 

9 rules and probation terms, including failure to pay 

10 court-ordered financial obligations such as child sup11 port or victim restitution; 

12 (5) respond to violations of such rules with im13 mediate arrest of the violating probationer, and swift 

14 and certain modification of the conditions of proba15 tion, including imposition of short jail stays (which 

16 may gradually become longer with each additional 

17 violation and modification); 

18 (6) immediately respond to probationers who 

19 have absconded from supervision with service of 

20 bench warrants and immediate sanctions; 

21 (7) provide rewards to probationers who comply 

22 with such rules; 

23 (8) ensure funding for, and referral to, sub24 stance abuse treatment for probationers who repeat25 edly fail to refrain from illicit drugs use; 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4055 IH

1 (9) establish procedures to terminate program 

2 participation by, and initiate revocation to a term of 

3 incarceration for, probationers who habitually fail to 

4 abide by program rules and pose a threat to public 

5 safety; and 

6 (10) include regular coordination meetings for 

7 the key partners of the demonstration program, in8 cluding the partners identified in the grant applica9 tion in accordance with subsection (b)(4). 

10 (d) DETERMINATION OF PROGRAM SAVINGS.— 

11 (1) GRANTEE SAVINGS AND REINVESTMENT.— 

12 Each court receiving a grant under this section 

13 shall— 

14 (A) not later than 12 months after an ini15 tial grant award under this section, and annu16 ally thereafter through the end of the grant pe17 riod, calculate the amount of cost savings, if 

18 any, resulting from the reduced incarceration 

19 achieved through such grant program; and 

20 (B) report to the Attorney General— 

21 (i) the amount calculated under sub22 paragraph (A); and 

23 (ii) the portion of such amount, if 

24 any, that will be reinvested for expansion 

25 of such grant program. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4055 IH

1 (2) EVALUATION, GUIDANCE, AND REC2 OMMENDATIONS.—The Attorney General shall— 

3 (A) annually evaluate— 

4 (i) the methods used by courts to cal5 culate the cost savings reported under 

6 paragraph (1); and 

7 (ii) the use of such savings by the 

8 courts to reinvest for expansion of the 

9 grant program; and 

10 (B) provide guidance, assistance, and rec11 ommendations to such courts relating to the po12 tential reinvestment of such savings for expan13 sion of such grant program. 

14 (e) EVALUATION COORDINATOR.—The Attorney Gen15 eral shall select an entity to serve as the HOPE initiative 

16 evaluation coordinator to— 

17 (1) analyze and provide feedback on the meas18 ures and outcomes the individual HOPE initiative 

19 demonstration programs are required to collect and 

20 conduct, respectively, in accordance with subsection 

21 (b)(5); 

22 (2) ensure consistent tracking of the progress 

23 of the demonstration programs carried out under 

24 this section, including such measures and outcomes; 

25 and 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 4055 IH

1 (3) ensure that the aggregate data from all 

2 such demonstration programs is available to each of 

3 the programs and the Attorney General. 

4 (f) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Attorney General shall 

5 annually report to Congress on the results of the HOPE 

6 initiative carried out under this section. 

7 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated for grants awarded 

9 under this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

10 2010 through 2014, of which not more than $500,000 

11 shall be available to the Attorney General in each fiscal 

12 year for coordination activities necessary to carry out this 

13 section. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS