105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1605

AMENDMENTS
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

May 12, 1998.

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 1605) entitled ‘‘An Act to establish a matching grant program to help

States, units of local government, and Indian tribes to purchase armor vests for use by law enforcement officers’’, do

pass with the following

AMENDMENTS:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bulletproof Vest Part3 nership Grant Act of 1998’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

6 (1) the number of law enforcement officers who

7 are killed in the line of duty would significantly de8 crease if every law enforcement officer in the United

9 States had the protection of an armor vest;

10 (2) according to studies, between 1985 and 1994,

11 709 law enforcement officers in the United States

12 were feloniously killed in the line of duty;
2

•S 1605 EAH

1 (3) the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates

2 that the risk of fatality to law enforcement officers

3 while not wearing an armor vest is 14 times higher

4 than for officers wearing an armor vest;

5 (4) the Department of Justice estimates that ap6 proximately 150,000 State, local, and tribal law en7 forcement officers, nearly 25 percent, are not issued

8 body armor;

9 (5) according to studies, between 1985 and 1994,

10 bullet-resistant materials helped save the lives of more

11 than 2,000 law enforcement officers in the United

12 States; and

13 (6) the Executive Committee for Indian Country

14 Law Enforcement Improvements reports that violent

15 crime in Indian country has risen sharply, despite a

16 decrease in the national crime rate, and has con17 cluded that there is a ‘‘public safety crisis in Indian

18 country’’.

19 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to save lives

20 of law enforcement officers by helping State, local, and trib21 al law enforcement agencies provide officers with armor

22 vests.
3

•S 1605 EAH

1 SEC. 3. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCE2 MENT ARMOR VESTS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime Con4 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.)

5 is amended—

6 (1) by redesignating part Y as part Z;

7 (2) by redesignating section 2501 as section

8 2601; and

9 (3) by inserting after part X the following new

10 part:

11 ‘‘PART Y—MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR LAW

12 ENFORCEMENT ARMOR VESTS

13 ‘‘SEC. 2501. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of Jus15 tice Assistance is authorized to make grants to States, units

16 of local government, and Indian tribes to purchase armor

17 vests for use by State, local, and tribal law enforcement offi18 cers.

19 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this

20 section shall be—

21 ‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of

22 local government, or Indian tribe; and

23 ‘‘(2) used for the purchase of armor vests for law

24 enforcement officers in the jurisdiction of the grantee.

25 ‘‘(c) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding

26 grants under this part, the Director of the Bureau of Justice
4

•S 1605 EAH

1 Assistance may give preferential consideration, if feasible,

2 to an application from a jurisdiction that—

3 ‘‘(1) has the greatest need for armor vests based

4 on the percentage of law enforcement officers in the

5 department who do not have access to a vest;

6 ‘‘(2) has, or will institute, a mandatory wear

7 policy that requires on-duty law enforcement officers

8 to wear armor vests whenever feasible; and

9 ‘‘(3) has a violent crime rate at or above the na10 tional average as determined by the Federal Bureau

11 of Investigation; or

12 ‘‘(4) has not received a block grant under the

13 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program de14 scribed under the heading ‘Violent Crime Reduction

15 Programs, State and Local Law Enforcement Assist16 ance’ of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and

17 State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appro18 priations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–119).

19 ‘‘(d) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Unless all eligible applica20 tions submitted by any State or unit of local government

21 within such State for a grant under this section have been

22 funded, such State, together with grantees within the State

23 (other than Indian tribes), shall be allocated in each fiscal

24 year under this section not less than 0.50 percent of the

25 total amount appropriated in the fiscal year for grants pur-
5

•S 1605 EAH

1 suant to this section, except that the United States Virgin

2 Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mari3 ana Islands shall be each be allocated .25 percent.

4 ‘‘(e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A qualifying State, unit of

5 local government, or Indian tribe may not receive more

6 than 5 percent of the total amount appropriated in each

7 fiscal year for grants under this section, except that a State,

8 together with the grantees within the State may not receive

9 more than 20 percent of the total amount appropriated in

10 each fiscal year for grants under this section.

11 ‘‘(f) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of

12 a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may

13 not exceed 50 percent. Any funds appropriated by Congress

14 for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal govern15 ment or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing law en16 forcement functions on any Indian lands may be used to

17 provide the non-Federal share of a matching requirement

18 funded under this subsection.

19 ‘‘(g) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—At least half of the

20 funds available under this part shall be awarded to units

21 of local government with fewer than 100,000 residents.

22 ‘‘SEC. 2502. APPLICATIONS.

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

24 part, the chief executive of a State, unit of local government,

25 or Indian tribe shall submit an application to the Director
6

•S 1605 EAH

1 of the Bureau of Justice Assistance in such form and con2 taining such information as the Director may reasonably

3 require.

4 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the

5 date of the enactment of this part, the Director of the Bu6 reau of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regulations to

7 implement this section (including the information that

8 must be included and the requirements that the States,

9 units of local government, and Indian tribes must meet)

10 in submitting the applications required under this section.

11 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—A unit of local government that re12 ceives funding under the Local Law Enforcement Block

13 Grant program (described under the heading ‘Violent Crime

14 Reduction Programs, State and Local Law Enforcement

15 Assistance’ of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and

16 State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations

17 Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–119)) during a fiscal year in

18 which it submits an application under this part shall not

19 be eligible for a grant under this part unless the chief execu20 tive officer of such unit of local government certifies and

21 provides an explanation to the Director that the unit of

22 local government considered or will consider using funding

23 received under the block grant program for any or all of

24 the costs relating to the purchase of armor vests, but did

25 not, or does not expect to use such funds for such purpose.
7

•S 1605 EAH

1 ‘‘SEC. 2503. DEFINITIONS.

2 ‘‘For purposes of this part—

3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘armor vest’ means body armor, no

4 less than Type I, which has been tested through the

5 voluntary compliance testing program operated by the

6 National Law Enforcement and Corrections Tech7 nology Center of the National Institute of Justice

8 (NIJ), and found to meet or exceed the requirements

9 of NIJ Standard 0101.03, or any subsequent revision

10 of such standard;

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘body armor’ means any product

12 sold or offered for sale as personal protective body

13 covering intended to protect against gunfire, stabbing,

14 or other physical harm;

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States,

16 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puer17 to Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, American

18 Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands;

19 ‘‘(4) the term ‘unit of local government’ means a

20 county, municipality, town, township, village, parish,

21 borough, or other unit of general government below

22 the State level;

23 ‘‘(5) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the same mean24 ing as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina25 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.

26 450b(e)); and
8

•S 1605 EAH

1 ‘‘(6) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means

2 any officer, agent, or employee of a State, unit of

3 local government, or Indian tribe authorized by law

4 or by a government agency to engage in or supervise

5 the prevention, detection, or investigation of any vio6 lation of criminal law, or authorized by law to super7 vise sentenced criminal offenders.’’.

8 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

9 1001(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act

10 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3793(a)) is amended by adding at the

11 end the following new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(23) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry

13 out part Y, $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999

14 through 2001.’’.

15 SEC. 4 SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

16 In the case of any equipment or products that may

17 be authorized to be purchased with financial assistance pro18 vided using funds appropriated or otherwise made available

19 by this Act, it is the sense of the Congress that entities re20 ceiving the assistance should, in expending the assistance,

21 purchase only American-made equipment and products.
9

•S 1605 EAH

Amend the title so as to read ‘‘An Act to establish

a matching grant program to help State and local jurisdictions purchase armor vests for use by law enforcement

departments.’’.

Attest:

Clerk.