I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8597 

To improve the collection and retention of disciplinary records of law 

enforcement officers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 16, 2020 

Mr. CARTER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To improve the collection and retention of disciplinary 

records of 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 ‘‘Policing Transparency 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL USE-OF-FORCE DATA COLLECTION. 

7 Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

8 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152) is amend9 ed by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(h) NATIONAL USE-OF-FORCE DATA COLLEC2 TION.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(A) the term ‘law enforcement officer’— 

5 ‘‘(i) means any officer, agent, or em6 ployee of a State, unit of local government, 

7 or an Indian tribe authorized by law or by 

8 a government agency to engage in or su9 pervise the prevention detection, or inves10 tigation of any violation of criminal law, or 

11 authorized by law to supervise sentenced 

12 criminal offenders; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) includes an individual described 

14 in clause (i) who is employed or volunteers 

15 in a full-time, part-time, or auxiliary ca16 pacity; 

17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘National Use-of-Force Data 

18 Collection’ means the National Use-of-Force 

19 Data Collection of the Federal Bureau of Inves20 tigation; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the term ‘serious bodily injury’ means 

22 bodily injury that results in death, unconscious23 ness, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or 

24 protracted loss or impairment of the function of 

25 a bodily member or organ. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—For each fis2 cal year in which a State or unit of local government 

3 receives funds under subsection (a), the State or 

4 unit of local government shall report to the National 

5 Use-of-Force Data Collection on an annual basis and 

6 pursuant to guidelines established by the Federal 

7 Bureau of Investigation, information regarding— 

8 ‘‘(A) a use-of-force event by a law enforce9 ment officer in the State or unit of local gov10 ernment that results in— 

11 ‘‘(i) the fatality of an individual that 

12 is connected to use of force by a law en13 forcement officer; 

14 ‘‘(ii) the serious bodily injury of an in15 dividual that is connected to use of force 

16 by a law enforcement officer; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) in the absence of either death or 

18 serious bodily injury, when a firearm is 

19 discharged by a law enforcement officer at 

20 or in the direction of an individual; 

21 ‘‘(B) any event in which a firearm is dis22 charged by a civilian at or in the direction of 

23 a law enforcement officer; and 

24 ‘‘(C) the death or serious bodily injury of 

25 a law enforcement officer that results from any 


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1 discharge of a firearm by a civilian, or any 

2 other means, including whether the law enforce3 ment officer was killed or suffered serious bod4 ily injury as part of an ambush or calculated 

5 attack. 

6 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—For each use7 of-force event required to be reported under para8 graph (2), the following information shall be pro9 vided, as required by the Federal Bureau of Inves10 tigation: 

11 ‘‘(A) Incident information, including the 

12 type of incident, the type of force used, and the 

13 weapon type, if applicable. 

14 ‘‘(B) Subject information, including any 

15 injuries sustained by the subject and the race of 

16 the subject. 

17 ‘‘(C) Officer information, including the 

18 race of each officer involved, the length of serv19 ice of each officer involved, the number of offi20 cers involved, and the size of the law enforce21 ment agency that employs each such officer. 

22 ‘‘(4) COMPLIANCE.— 

23 ‘‘(A) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.— 

24 ‘‘(i) FIRST FISCAL YEAR.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) STATES.—For the first fis2 cal year beginning after the date of 

3 enactment of the Policing Trans4 parency Act in which a State fails to 

5 comply with paragraph (2) with re6 spect to a State law enforcement 

7 agency, the State shall be subject to a 

8 20-percent reduction of the funds that 

9 would otherwise be allocated for reten10 tion by the State under section 505(c) 

11 for that fiscal year, and if any unit of 

12 local government within the State fails 

13 to comply with paragraph (2), the 

14 State shall be subject to a reduction 

15 of the funds allocated for retention by 

16 the State under section 505(c) that is 

17 equal to the percentage of the popu18 lation of the State represented by the 

19 unit of local government, not to ex20 ceed 20 percent. 

21 ‘‘(II) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

22 For the first fiscal year beginning 

23 after the date of enactment of the Po24 licing Transparency Act in which a 

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1 ply with paragraph (2), the unit of 

2 local government shall be subject to a 

3 20-percent reduction of the funds that 

4 would otherwise be allocated to the 

5 unit of local government for that fis6 cal year under this subpart. 

7 ‘‘(ii) SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.— 

8 ‘‘(I) STATES.—Beginning in the 

9 first fiscal year beginning after the 

10 first fiscal year described in clause 

11 (i)(I) in which a State fails to comply 

12 with paragraph (2) with respect to a 

13 State law enforcement agency, the 

14 percentage by which the funds de15 scribed in clause (i)(I) are reduced 

16 shall be increased by 5 percent each 

17 fiscal year the State fails to comply 

18 with paragraph (2), except that such 

19 reduction shall not exceed 25 percent 

20 in any fiscal year. 

21 ‘‘(II) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

22 Beginning in the first fiscal year be23 ginning after the first fiscal year de24 scribed in clause (i)(II) in which a 

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1 ply with paragraph (2), the percent2 age by which the funds described in 

3 clause (i)(II) are reduced shall be in4 creased by 5 percent each fiscal year 

5 the unit of local government fails to 

6 comply with paragraph (2), except 

7 that such reduction shall not exceed 

8 25 percent in any fiscal year. 

9 ‘‘(B) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allo10 cated under a program referred to in subpara11 graph (A) to a State or unit of local govern12 ment for failure to comply with paragraph (2) 

13 shall be reallocated to the United States Treas14 ury. 

15 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—Not 

16 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act, and each year thereafter, the Director of the 

18 Federal Bureau of Investigation shall publish, and 

19 make available to the public, the National Use-of20 Force Data Collection. 

21 ‘‘(6) FBI OUTREACH AND TECHNICAL ASSIST22 ANCE.—The Director of the Federal Bureau of In23 vestigation shall provide to a State or unit of local 

24 government technical assistance and training for the 


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1 collection and submission of data in accordance with 

2 this subsection.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS RETENTION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of title I of the Omnibus 

5 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

6 10151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘Subpart 4—Law Enforcement Records Retention 

9 ‘‘SEC. 531. LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS RETENTION. 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘applicable covered system’, with 

12 respect to a law enforcement agency, means the cov13 ered system of the covered government of which the 

14 law enforcement agency is part; 

15 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered government’ means a 

16 State or unit of local government; 

17 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered system’ means a system 

18 maintained by a covered government under sub19 section (b); and 

20 ‘‘(4) the term ‘disciplinary record’— 

21 ‘‘(A) means any written document regard22 ing an allegation of misconduct by a law en23 forcement officer that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) is substantiated and is adju2 dicated by a government agency or court; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(ii) results in— 

5 ‘‘(I) resignation, dismissal of em6 ployment, relief of duty status exceed7 ing three days, or another adverse ac8 tion by the employing law enforcement 

9 agency resulting in the loss of pay or 

10 demotion; or 

11 ‘‘(II) criminal charges; and 

12 ‘‘(B) does not include a written document 

13 regarding an allegation described in subpara14 graph (A) if the adjudication described in 

15 clause (i) of that subparagraph has been over16 turned on appeal. 

17 ‘‘(b) RECORDS RETENTION REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) RECORDS RETENTION SYSTEM.—A covered 

19 government that receives funds under this part shall 

20 maintain a system for sharing disciplinary records of 

21 law enforcement officers that meets the require22 ments under paragraph (2). 

23 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In administering a cov24 ered system, a covered government shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) retain each disciplinary record or in2 ternal investigation record regarding a law en3 forcement officer that is prepared by a law en4 forcement agency of the covered government, 

5 and retain, for each law enforcement officer 

6 with respect to whom a record is retained under 

7 this subparagraph, at the time of the creation 

8 of the record— 

9 ‘‘(i) the number of official claims 

10 made against the officer and investigations 

11 regarding the officer that were based on 

12 discrimination; 

13 ‘‘(ii) the number of investigations with 

14 respect to which the complaint was deter15 mined to be unfounded; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) the total number of official civil17 ian interactions (including traffic stops and 

18 arrests) the officer has had during their 

19 employment with the law enforcement 

20 agency; 

21 ‘‘(B) retain a record of each award or com22 mendation regarding a law enforcement officer 

23 that is prepared by a law enforcement agency 

24 of the covered government; 


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1 ‘‘(C) establish a policy that ensures that 

2 each record included in the covered system is 

3 retained and accessible for not less than 20 

4 years; 

5 ‘‘(D) allow a law enforcement officer, coun6 sel for a law enforcement officer, or the rep7 resentative organization of a law enforcement 

8 officer to— 

9 ‘‘(i) submit information to the covered 

10 system relating to a disciplinary record or 

11 internal investigation record regarding the 

12 law enforcement officer that is retained 

13 under subparagraph (A); or 

14 ‘‘(ii) obtain access to the covered sys15 tem in order to review a disciplinary record 

16 or internal investigation record described 

17 in clause (i); 

18 ‘‘(E) allow any Federal, State, or local law 

19 enforcement agency to access any record in20 cluded in the covered system for the purpose of 

21 making a decision to hire a law enforcement of22 ficer; 

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1 forcement agency of the covered government 

2 with hiring authority— 

3 ‘‘(i) search the applicable covered sys4 tem of each law enforcement agency that 

5 has employed the applicant as a law en6 forcement officer in order to determine 

7 whether the applicant has a disciplinary 

8 record, internal investigation record, or 

9 record of an award or commendation on 

10 file; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) if a record described in clause (i) 

12 exists, review the record in full before hir13 ing the law enforcement officer; and 

14 ‘‘(G) prohibit access to the covered system 

15 by any individual other than an individual who 

16 is authorized to access the covered system for 

17 purposes of— 

18 ‘‘(i) submitting records or other infor19 mation to the covered system as described 

20 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (D); or 

21 ‘‘(ii) reviewing records or other infor22 mation in the covered system as described 

23 in subparagraphs (E) and (F). 

24 ‘‘(c) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A covered government may 

2 not receive funds under section 505, 506, 515, or 

3 516 unless the covered government is in compliance 

4 with subsection (b) of this section. 

5 ‘‘(2) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 

6 under a section referred to in paragraph (1) to a 

7 covered government for failure to comply with sub8 section (b) shall be reallocated to the United States 

9 Treasury. 

10 ‘‘(d) ONE-TIME GRANT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

12 award a grant to each State, using an apportion13 ment formula that reflects the differences between 

14 each State, to be used by the State and units of 

15 local government within the State to establish cov16 ered systems. 

17 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award18 ed to a State under paragraph (1) shall be not less 

19 than $1,000,000. 

20 ‘‘(3) DIRECT APPROPRIATIONS.—For the pur21 pose of making grants under this subsection, there 

22 is authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000, to 

23 remain available until expended. 

24 ‘‘(e) INDEMNIFICATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The United States shall in2 demnify and hold harmless a covered government, 

3 and any law enforcement agency thereof, against 

4 any claim (including reasonable expenses of litiga5 tion or settlement) by any person or entity related 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(A) the retention of records in a covered 

8 system as required under subsection (b); or 

9 ‘‘(B) the review of records included in a 

10 covered system as required under subsection 

11 (b). 

12 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

13 apply to the release of a record— 

14 ‘‘(A) to a non-law enforcement entity or in15 dividual; or 

16 ‘‘(B) for a purpose other than making a 

17 decision to hire a law enforcement officer.’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 531(c) of title I of 

19 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 

20 as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on October 

21 1 of the first fiscal year beginning after the date of enact22 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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