II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3702 

To provide grants to establish veteran’s treatment courts. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 20, 2012 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, 

and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide grants to establish veteran’s treatment courts. 

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 ‘‘Services, Education, 

5 and Rehabilitation for Veterans Act’’ or the ‘‘SERV Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

9 the Director of the Office of National Drug Control 

10 Policy. 


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1 (2) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ means a 

2 person who served in the active military, naval, or 

3 air service, and who was discharged or released 

4 therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable. 

5 (3) VETERAN’S TREATMENT COURT.—The term 

6 ‘‘veteran’s treatment court’’ means a program spe7 cifically for veterans that meets the drug court cri8 teria established by the Violent Crime Control and 

9 Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Public Law 103– 

10 322). 

11 (4) VIOLENT OFFENDER.—The term ‘‘violent 

12 offender’’ means a person who— 

13 (A) is charged with or convicted of an of14 fense, during the course of which offense or 

15 conduct— 

16 (i) the person carried, possessed, or 

17 used a firearm or dangerous weapon; 

18 (ii) there occurred the death of or se19 rious bodily injury to any person; or 

20 (iii) there occurred the use of force 

21 against the person of another, without re22 gard to whether any of the circumstances 

23 described in clause (i) or (ii) is an element 

24 of the offense or conduct of which or for 

25 which the person is charged or convicted. 


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1 (B) has one or more prior convictions for 

2 a felony crime of violence involving the use or 

3 attempted use of force against a person with 

4 the intent to cause death or serious bodily 

5 harm. 

6 SEC. 3. VETERAN’S TREATMENT COURTS. 

7 (a) DELEGATION.—The Director shall delegate the 

8 authority to administer the program and other such activi9 ties necessary to carry out this Act to the Department of 

10 Justice. 

11 (b) GRANTS.—The Attorney General may make 

12 grants to States, State courts, local courts, units of local 

13 government, and Indian tribal governments acting directly 

14 or through agreements with other public or private enti15 ties, for the purpose of developing, implementing, or en16 hancing veteran’s treatment courts or expanding oper17 ational drug courts to serve veterans. 

18 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—Grants under this Act shall be 

19 made to veteran’s treatment courts and drug courts serv20 ing veterans that effectively integrate substance abuse 

21 treatment, mental health treatment, mandatory drug test22 ing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services, in 

23 a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over 

24 nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders that have served 

25 in the United States military. 


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1 SEC. 4. GRANT AUTHORITY. 

2 The Attorney General may make grants to States, 

3 State courts, local courts, units of local government, and 

4 Indian tribal governments, acting directly or through 

5 agreements with other public or private entities, for pro6 grams that involve— 

7 (1) continuing judicial supervision over offend8 ers with substance abuse or mental health problems 

9 who are not violent offenders and have served in the 

10 United States military; and 

11 (2) the integrated administration of other sanc12 tions and services, which shall include— 

13 (A) mandatory periodic testing for the use 

14 of controlled substances or other addictive sub15 stances during any period of supervised release 

16 or probation for each participant; 

17 (B) substance abuse and mental health 

18 treatment (such as treatment for depression 

19 and post-traumatic stress disorder) for each 

20 participant; 

21 (C) diversion, probation, or other super22 vised release involving the possibility of prosecu23 tion, confinement, or incarceration based on 

24 noncompliance with program requirements or 

25 failure to show satisfactory progress; and 


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1 (D) programmatic, offender management, 

2 and aftercare services such as relapse preven3 tion, health care, education, vocational training, 

4 job placement, housing placement, and child 

5 care or other family support services for each 

6 participant who requires such services. 

7 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under this 

9 Act, a State, State court, local court, unit of local govern10 ment, or Indian tribal government shall submit an applica11 tion to the Attorney General in such form and containing 

12 such information as the Attorney General may reasonably 

13 require. 

14 (b) APPLICATIONS.—In addition to any other require15 ments that may be specified by the Attorney General, an 

16 application for a grant under this Act shall— 

17 (1) include a long-term strategy and detailed 

18 implementation plan; 

19 (2) explain the applicant’s inability to fund the 

20 program adequately without Federal assistance; 

21 (3) certify that the Federal support provided 

22 will be used to supplement, and not supplant, State, 

23 Indian tribal, and local sources of funding that 

24 would otherwise be available; 


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1 (4) identify related governmental or community 

2 initiatives which complement or will be coordinated 

3 with the proposal; 

4 (5) certify that there has been appropriate con5 sultation with all affected agencies, specifically the 

6 Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department 

7 of Health and Human Services, and that there will 

8 be appropriate coordination with all affected agen9 cies in the implementation of the program; 

10 (6) certify that participating offenders will be 

11 supervised by one or more designated judges with re12 sponsibility for the veteran’s treatment court pro13 gram; 

14 (7) specify plans for obtaining necessary sup15 port and continuing the proposed program following 

16 the conclusion of Federal support; and 

17 (8) describe the methodology that will be used 

18 in evaluating the program. 

19 (c) CERTIFICATIONS.—Each such application shall 

20 contain the certification that the program for which the 

21 grant is requested shall meet each of the requirements of 

22 this Act. 

23 SEC. 6. FEDERAL SHARE. 

24 The Federal share of a grant made under this Act 

25 may not exceed 75 percent of the total costs of the proVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:38 Dec 28, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3702.IS S3702

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1 gram described in the application submitted under section 

2 5 for the fiscal year for which the program receives assist3 ance under this Act, unless the Attorney General waives, 

4 wholly or in part, the requirement of a matching contribu5 tion under this section. In-kind contributions may con6 stitute a portion of the non-Federal share of a grant. 

7 SEC. 7. REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS. 

8 (a) REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE DI9 RECTOR.—For each fiscal year, each recipient of a grant 

10 under this Act during that fiscal year shall submit to the 

11 Attorney General, the Director, and the Secretary of Vet12 erans Affairs a report regarding the effectiveness of activi13 ties carried out using that grant. Each report shall include 

14 an evaluation in such form and containing such informa15 tion as the Attorney General may reasonably require. The 

16 Attorney General shall specify the dates on which such 

17 reports shall be submitted. 

18 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director, in con19 sultation with the Attorney General, shall submit a yearly 

20 report on the effectiveness on the activities carried out 

21 under this Act to the House and Senate Committees on 

22 the Judiciary and the House and Senate Committees on 

23 Veterans’ Affairs. 


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1 SEC. 8. ADMINISTRATION. 

2 (a) CONSULTATION.—The Attorney General shall 

3 consult with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Sec4 retary of Health and Human Services, and any other ap5 propriate officials in carrying out this Act. 

6 (b) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 

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

8 issue regulations and guidelines necessary to carry 

9 out this Act. 

10 (2) PARTICIPATION LIMITS.—In addition to the 

11 general authority provided under paragraph (1), the 

12 Attorney General shall— 

13 (A) issue regulations and guidelines to en14 sure that programs authorized in this Act do 

15 not permit participation by violent offenders; 

16 and 

17 (B) immediately suspend funding for any 

18 grant under this part, pending compliance, if 

19 the Attorney General finds that violent offend20 ers are participating in any program funded 

21 under this part. 

22 (c) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Attorney 

23 General shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, an eq24 uitable geographic distribution of grant awards is made 

25 under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TRAINING, AND EVALUA2 TION. 

3 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The 

4 Attorney General may provide technical assistance and 

5 training in furtherance of the purposes of this Act. 

6 (b) EVALUATIONS.—The Attorney General may pro7 vide for evaluations in furtherance of the purposes of this 

8 Act. 

9 SEC. 10. FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL DRUG COURT INSTI10 TUTE. 

11 (a) COMPREHENSIVE, NATIONAL TRAINING AND

12 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR DRUG COURTS.—The Na13 tional Drug Court Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, 

14 shall— 

15 (1) conduct national, comprehensive training 

16 programs for State and local communities for the 

17 purpose of improving the professional skills of drug 

18 court practitioners and enhancing the ability of 

19 State and local communities to expand drug courts 

20 to reach all addicted citizens in need of their re21 sources; and 

22 (2) provide national, comprehensive Technical 

23 Assistance to adult, juvenile and family dependency 

24 drug courts including a combination of information 

25 gathering, needs assessment, cultural proficiency, 


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1 analysis, problem solving, action planning, referral 

2 and follow-up. 

3 (b) ANCILLARY PROJECTS.—The National Drug 

4 Court Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, shall complete an5 cillary programs designed to facilitate the expansion and 

6 improvement of drug courts nationwide including— 

7 (1) a Judicial Task Force to develop a transi8 tion plan for new drug court judges; 

9 (2) a resource center to maintain and distribute 

10 drug court evaluations reviewed in the National 

11 Drug Court Institute Review, and to request new re12 search and evaluations for the drug court field; 

13 (3) publishing annually the National Drug 

14 Court Institute Review to provide research, analysis, 

15 and commentary of importance to the drug court 

16 field; and 

17 (4) searching drug court literature and identify, 

18 reprint, and disseminate important and relevant 

19 scholarship to the drug court field. 

20 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

22 to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

23 years 2013 through 2018 to remain available until ex24 pended. 


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1 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 Except for section 10, there are authorized to be ap3 propriated to the Director to carry out this Act 

4 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 to 2018. 

Æ 


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