I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3081 

To authorize the Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2019 

Mr. ARMSTRONG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant 

program, 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 Reinvestment 

5 Initiative Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. JUSTICE REINVESTMENT INITIATIVE. 

7 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au8 thorized to make grants to States, units of local govern9 ment, Indian tribes, entities with national law enforcement 

10 and corrections expertise, and institutions of higher eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:47 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3081.IH H3081

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1 cation with national law enforcement and corrections ex2 pertise for the purposes described in subsection (b). 

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the grant program 

4 under this section are to— 

5 (1) identify drivers of criminal justice resource 

6 consumption; 

7 (2) improve jurisdictions’ capacity to prevent 

8 and respond to violent crime, including by reducing 

9 the risk for recidivism (as measured by arrests for 

10 new crimes, convictions for new crimes, incarcer11 ations for new crimes, and revocations based on 

12 technical violations); 

13 (3) identify offenders’ risks for general and vio14 lent recidivism, and related substance use and men15 tal health needs, and mitigate their risk for engaging 

16 in violent behavior or being the victims of violent 

17 crime; and 

18 (4) improve public safety through a re-alloca19 tion of resources in high performing crime- and re20 cidivism-reduction efforts. 

21 (c) APPLICATION.—An applicant seeking a grant 

22 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 

23 an application at such time, in such manner, and con24 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea25 sonably require. 


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1 (d) USES OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 

2 this section shall use the grant funds for programs de3 signed to— 

4 (1) analyze criminal justice trends to under5 stand factors driving jail and prison population 

6 growth; 

7 (2) develop and implement policy options to 

8 generate savings and increase public safety; 

9 (3) quantify savings and reinvest in select, 

10 high-risk communities and other prevention-oriented 

11 strategies; and 

12 (4) measure the impact of policy changes and 

13 reinvestment resources and enhance the account14 ability of criminal justice system actors and policies. 

15 (e) CONTRACTS AND SUBAWARDS.—A State, unit of 

16 local government, or Indian tribe may, in using a grant 

17 under this part for program described in subsection (d), 

18 use all or a portion of that grant to contract with, or make 

19 one or more subawards to, one or more— 

20 (1) local or regional organizations that are pri21 vate and nonprofit, including faith-based organiza22 tions; 

23 (2) units of local government; or 

24 (3) tribal organizations. 

25 (f) PROGRAM ASSESSMENT COMPONENT; WAIVER.— 


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1 (1) PROGRAM ASSESSMENT COMPONENT.— 

2 Each program funded under this part shall contain 

3 a program assessment component, developed pursu4 ant to guidelines established by the Attorney Gen5 eral, in coordination with the National Institute of 

6 Justice. 

7 (2) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may waive 

8 the requirement of paragraph (1) with respect to a 

9 program if, in the opinion of the Attorney General, 

10 the program is not of sufficient size to justify a full 

11 program assessment. 

12 (g) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 10 per13 cent of a grant made under this part may be used for 

14 costs incurred to administer such grant. 

15 (h) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—In 

16 awarding grants under this section, the Attorney General 

17 shall distribute funds in a manner that equitably address18 es the needs of underserved populations, including rural 

19 and tribal communities. 

20 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

22 $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 

23 SEC. 3. AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF GRANTEES. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘covered grant program’’ means 

2 the awarding of grants under section 2; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘covered grantee’’ means a recipi4 ent of a grant from the covered grant program; 

5 (3) the term ‘‘nonprofit’’, when used with re6 spect to an organization, means an organization that 

7 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986, and is exempt from taxation 

9 under section 501(a) of such Code; and 

10 (4) the term ‘‘unresolved audit finding’’ means 

11 an audit report finding in a final audit report of the 

12 Inspector General of the Department of Justice that 

13 a covered grantee has used grant funds awarded to 

14 that grantee under the covered grant program for an 

15 unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable 

16 cost that is not closed or resolved during a 12-month 

17 period prior to the date on which the final audit re18 port is issued. 

19 (b) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.—Beginning in fiscal year 

20 2020, and annually thereafter, the Inspector General of 

21 the Department of Justice shall conduct audits of covered 

22 grantees to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds 

23 awarded under covered grant programs. The Inspector 

24 General shall determine the appropriate number of cov25 ered grantees to be audited each year. 


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1 (c) MANDATORY EXCLUSION.—A grantee that is 

2 found to have an unresolved audit finding under an audit 

3 conducted under subsection (b) may not receive grant 

4 funds under the covered grant program in the fiscal year 

5 following the fiscal year to which the finding relates. 

6 (d) REIMBURSEMENT.—If a covered grantee is 

7 awarded funds under the covered grant program from 

8 which it received a grant award during the 1-fiscal-year 

9 period during which the covered grantee is ineligible for 

10 an allocation of grant funds under subsection (c), the At11 torney General shall— 

12 (1) deposit into the General Fund of the Treas13 ury an amount that is equal to the amount of the 

14 grant funds that were improperly awarded to the 

15 covered grantee; and 

16 (2) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment 

17 to the Fund from the covered grantee that was im18 properly awarded the grant funds. 

19 (e) PRIORITY OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Attorney 

20 General, in awarding grants under the covered grant pro21 gram shall give priority to eligible entities that during the 

22 2-year period preceding the application for a grant have 

23 not been found to have an unresolved audit finding. 

24 (f) NONPROFIT REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 (1) PROHIBITION.—A nonprofit organization 

2 that holds money in offshore accounts for the pur3 pose of avoiding the tax described in section 511(a) 

4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, shall not be 

5 eligible to receive, directly or indirectly, any funds 

6 from the covered grant program. 

7 (2) DISCLOSURE.—Each nonprofit organization 

8 that is a covered grantee shall disclose in its applica9 tion for such a grant, as a condition of receipt of 

10 such a grant, the compensation of its officers, direc11 tors, and trustees. Such disclosure shall include a 

12 description of the criteria relied on to determine 

13 such compensation. 

14 (g) PROHIBITION ON LOBBYING ACTIVITY.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts made available 

16 under the covered grant program may not be used 

17 by any covered grantee to— 

18 (A) lobby any representative of the Depart19 ment of Justice regarding the award of grant 

20 funding; or 

21 (B) lobby any representative of the Federal 

22 Government or a State, local, or tribal govern23 ment regarding the award of grant funding. 


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1 (2) PENALTY.—If the Attorney General deter2 mines that a covered grantee has violated paragraph 

3 (1), the Attorney General shall— 

4 (A) require the covered grantee to repay 

5 the grant in full; and 

6 (B) prohibit the covered grantee from re7 ceiving a grant under the covered grant pro8 gram from which it received a grant award dur9 ing at least the 5-year period beginning on the 

10 date of such violation. 

Æ 


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