I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8803 

To establish the National Telephone Hotline and Online Resource Service 

for Victims of Police Violence and Harassment, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2020 

Mr. MCEACHIN (for himself, Mr. RASKIN, and Mr. RICHMOND) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish the National Telephone Hotline and Online Resource Service for Victims of Police Violence and Harassment, 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 ‘‘Justice Hotline Act 

5 of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TELEPHONE HOTLINE AND ONLINE RE7 SOURCE SERVICE FOR VICTIMS OF POLICE 

8 VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2021, 

10 and in each fiscal year thereafter, the Attorney General, 


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1 in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human 

2 Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), 

3 shall make grants for a national, confidential telephone 

4 hotline and online resource service to assist victims of law 

5 enforcement officer violence and harassment in commu6 nicating with service providers. The Attorney General 

7 shall give priority to grant applicants that have experience 

8 in providing services and supports to victims of law en9 forcement officer violence or harassment. 

10 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities shall in11 clude the following: 

12 (1) Institutions of higher learning, such as His13 torically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority 

14 serving institution, and Tribal College or Univer15 sities. 

16 (2) Private nonprofit agencies. 

17 (c) GRANTS.—The Attorney General, in coordination 

18 with the Secretary, shall make grants which shall be used 

19 for the performance of the organization’s national pro20 grams, including the following: 

21 (1) Operation of a confidential 24-hour, na22 tional, toll-free telephone hotline and a confidential 

23 24-hour, national, free online resource service for 

24 victims of law enforcement officer violence, law en25 forcement officer harassment, family and household 


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1 members of such victims, and persons affected by 

2 the victimization, by which individuals may— 

3 (A) report information regarding the loca4 tion of any law enforcement officer violence or 

5 harassment; and 

6 (B) request information pertaining to pro7 cedures necessary to file formal complaints 

8 against law enforcement officers; receive infor9 mation and assistance for adult and youth vic10 tims of law enforcement officer violence, law en11 forcement officer harassment, family and house12 hold members of such victims, and persons af13 fected by the victimization. 

14 (2) Providing to State and local governments, 

15 public and private nonprofit agencies, State and 

16 local educational agencies, and individuals, resource 

17 information regarding victims of law enforcement of18 ficer violence, law enforcement officer harassment, 

19 family and household members of such victims, and 

20 persons affected by the victimization. 

21 (d) ACTIVITIES.—In establishing and operating the 

22 telephone hotline and online resource service, the entity— 

23 (1) shall contract with a carrier for the use of 

24 a toll-free, single telephone line; 


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1 (2) shall employ, train (including providing 

2 technology training), and supervise personnel to an3 swer incoming calls and online messages, provide 

4 counseling and referral services on a 24-hour-a-day 

5 basis, and direct connections to service providers; 

6 (3) shall assemble and maintain a database of 

7 information relating to services for adult and youth 

8 victims of law enforcement officer violence or harass9 ment to which callers may be referred throughout 

10 the United States, including information on the 

11 availability of supportive services for victims of law 

12 enforcement officer violence or harassment; 

13 (4) shall widely publicize the contact informa14 tion of the telephone hotline and online resource 

15 service throughout the United States, including to 

16 potential users; 

17 (5) shall provide assistance and referrals to 

18 meet the needs of underserved populations and indi19 viduals with disabilities; 

20 (6) shall collect audio or visual recordings, if 

21 applicable; 

22 (7) shall provide assistance and referrals for 

23 youth victims of law enforcement officer violence or 

24 harassment who are minors; 


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1 (8) shall collect geographic information relating 

2 to the location, time, and date of the law enforce3 ment officer violence or harassment; 

4 (9) shall not collect any personally identifiable 

5 information unless informed consent is provided by 

6 the person who is the subject of an incident of law 

7 enforcement officer harassment or violence and by 

8 the person who reports an incident of law enforce9 ment officer harassment or violence, if such person 

10 is not the subject of the incident; and 

11 (10) may provide appropriate assistance and re12 ferrals for family and household members of victims 

13 of law enforcement officer violence and harassment, 

14 and persons affected by the victimization described 

15 in subsection (c)(1). 

16 (e) GRANT APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive 

17 a grant under this section, an entity shall submit an appli18 cation to the Attorney General that shall— 

19 (1) contain such agreements, assurances, and 

20 information, be in such form, and be submitted in 

21 such manner, as the Attorney General shall pre22 scribe; 

23 (2) include a complete description of the appli24 cant’s plan for the operation of a telephone hotline 


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1 and online resource service, including descriptions 

2 of— 

3 (A) the training program for telephone 

4 hotline and online resource service personnel, 

5 including technology training to ensure that all 

6 persons affiliated with the telephone hotline and 

7 online resource service are able to effectively op8 erate any technological systems used by the 

9 telephone hotline and online resource service; 

10 (B) the hiring criteria and qualifications 

11 for telephone hotline and online resource service 

12 personnel; 

13 (C) the methods for the creation, mainte14 nance, and updating of an online resource serv15 ice; 

16 (D) a plan for publicizing the availability 

17 of the telephone hotline and online resource 

18 service; 

19 (E) plan for providing services to Limited 

20 English Proficient individuals, including service 

21 through telephone hotline and online resource 

22 service personnel who have non-English lan23 guage capabilities; and 

24 (F) a plan for facilitating access to the 

25 telephone hotline and online resource service by 


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1 persons with disabilities, including persons who 

2 are deaf or have hearing impairments; 

3 (3) demonstrate that the applicant has recog4 nized expertise in the area of social service oper5 ations and a record of high quality service to victims 

6 of violence and harassment, including a demonstra7 tion of support from advocacy groups; 

8 (4) demonstrate that the applicant has the ca9 pacity and the expertise to maintain a telephone hot10 line and online resource service and a comprehensive 

11 database of service providers for victims of law en12 forcement violence and harassment; 

13 (5) demonstrate the ability to provide informa14 tion and referrals for callers, directly connect callers 

15 to service providers, and employ crisis interventions 

16 meeting the standards; 

17 (6) demonstrate that the applicant has a com18 mitment to diversity and to the provision of services 

19 to underserved populations, including to ethnic, ra20 cial, and non-English speaking minorities, in addi21 tion to older individuals and individuals with disabil22 ities; 

23 (7) demonstrate that the applicant complies 

24 with non-disclosure requirements and follows com25 prehensive quality assurance practices; and 


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1 (8) contain such other information as the Attor2 ney General may require. 

3 (f) NOTICE.—The national telephone hotline and the 

4 URL of the online resource service described in this sec5 tion shall be posted in a visible place in all Federal build6 ings. 

7 (g) DURATION.—Grants awarded to eligible entities 

8 and institutions under this subsection shall be 2 years in 

9 duration. A grant may be extended for additional 2-year 

10 periods. 

11 (h) CONDITIONS ON PAYMENT.—The provision of 

12 payments under a grant awarded under this section shall 

13 be subject to annual approval by the Attorney General and 

14 subject to the availability of appropriations for each fiscal 

15 year to make the payment. 

16 (i) GRANTEE REPORT.—Each eligible entity or insti17 tution that receives a grant shall submit a yearly report 

18 to the Attorney General detailing how the grant recipient 

19 has been able to meet the goals of its plans and reporting 

20 the statistical summaries. 

21 (j) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, and every year 

23 thereafter, the Attorney General shall report to Congress 

24 on the implementation operations and statistical sum25 maries developed and collected under this section and polVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8803.IH H8803

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1 icy changes made within the Department of Justice in re2 sponse to the implementation operations and statistical 

3 summaries. 

4 (k) GAO REVIEW AND REPORT.— 

5 (1) REVIEW.—Not later than 2 years after the 

6 date on which the Attorney General establishes the 

7 national telephone hotline and online resource serv8 ice to assist victims of law enforcement officer vio9 lence and harassment in communicating with service 

10 providers, the Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall conduct a review of the program to en12 sure the effectiveness of the telephone hotline and 

13 online resource service in enhancing awareness and 

14 education of services available to victims of law en15 forcement officer violence or harassment, which shall 

16 include— 

17 (A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

18 the telephone hotline and online resource serv19 ice, including— 

20 (i) assessing the effectiveness of the 

21 telephone hotline and online resource serv22 ice in reaching underserved and minority 

23 communities; 

24 (ii) assessing the effectiveness of 

25 grant recipients to undertake efforts to 


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1 educate the public about the telephone hot2 line and online resource service; and 

3 (iii) a comprehensive review of the ac4 tivities data described in subsection (d); 

5 and 

6 (B) recommendations for any changes to 

7 the program. 

8 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after 

9 the date on which the Comptroller General of the 

10 United States begins the review required under 

11 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 

12 to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

13 on the review. 

Æ 


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