II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1893

To establish a law enforcement block grant program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 31, 1998

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. HATCH, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. SPECTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish a law enforcement block grant program.

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; DEFINITIONS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grant Act of

6 1998’’.

7 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

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

9 the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance of

10 the Department of Justice.
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1 (2) JUVENILE.—The term ‘‘juvenile’’ means an

2 individual who is 17 years of age or younger.

3 (3) LAW ENFORCEMENT EXPENDITURES.—The

4 term ‘‘law enforcement expenditures’’ means the

5 current operation expenditures associated with po6 lice, prosecutorial, legal, and judicial services, and

7 corrections as reported to the Bureau of the Census.

8 (4) PART 1 VIOLENT CRIMES.—The term ‘‘part

9 1 violent crimes’’ means murder and nonnegligent

10 manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated

11 assault as reported to the Federal Bureau of Inves12 tigation for purposes of the Uniform Crime Reports.

13 (5) PAYMENT PERIOD.—The term ‘‘payment

14 period’’ means each 1-year period beginning on Oc15 tober 1 of any year in which a grant under this Act

16 is awarded.

17 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any

18 State of the United States, the District of Columbia,

19 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is20 lands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern

21 Mariana Islands, except that American Samoa,

22 Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be

23 considered as 1 State and that, for purposes of sec24 tion 5(a), 33 percent of the amounts allocated shall

25 be allocated to American Samoa, 50 percent to
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1 Guam, and 17 percent to the Northern Mariana Is2 lands.

3 (7) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term

4 ‘‘unit of local government’’ means—

5 (A) a county, township, city, or political

6 subdivision of a county, township, or city, that

7 is a general purpose unit of local government,

8 as determined by the Secretary of Commerce

9 for general statistical purposes, including a par10 ish sheriff in the State of Louisiana;

11 (B) the District of Columbia and the rec12 ognized governing body of an Indian tribe or

13 Alaska Native village that carries out substan14 tial governmental duties and powers; and

15 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in

16 addition to being considered a State, for the

17 purposes set forth in section 2(a)(2).

18 SEC. 2. PAYMENTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

19 (a) PAYMENT AND USE.—

20 (1) PAYMENT.—The Director shall pay to each

21 unit of local government that qualifies for a payment

22 under this Act an amount equal to the sum of any

23 amounts allocated to such unit under this Act for

24 each payment period. The Director shall pay such
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1 amount from amounts appropriated to carry out this

2 Act.

3 (2) USE.—Amounts paid to a unit of local gov4 ernment under this section shall be used by the unit

5 for reducing crime and improving public safety, in6 cluding but not limited to, 1 or more of the following

7 purposes:

8 (A)(i) Hiring, training, and employing on a

9 continuing basis new, additional law enforce10 ment officers and necessary support personnel.

11 (ii) Paying overtime to presently employed

12 law enforcement officers and necessary support

13 personnel for the purpose of increasing the

14 number of hours worked by such personnel.

15 (iii) Procuring equipment, technology, and

16 other material directly related to basic law en17 forcement functions.

18 (B) Enhancing security measures—

19 (i) in and around schools; and

20 (ii) in and around any other facility or

21 location that is considered by the unit of

22 local government to have a special risk for

23 incidents of crime.

24 (C) Establishing crime prevention pro25 grams that may, though not exclusively, involve
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1 law enforcement officials and that are intended

2 to discourage, disrupt, or interfere with the

3 commission of criminal activity, including

4 neighborhood watch and citizen patrol pro5 grams, sexual assault and domestic violence

6 programs, and programs intended to prevent ju7 venile crime.

8 (D) Establishing or supporting drug

9 courts.

10 (E) Establishing early intervention and

11 prevention programs for juveniles to reduce or

12 eliminate crime.

13 (F) Enhancing the adjudication process of

14 cases involving violent offenders, including the

15 adjudication process of cases involving violent

16 juvenile offenders.

17 (G) Enhancing programs under subpart 1

18 of part E of the Omnibus Crime Control and

19 Safe Streets Act of 1968.

20 (H) Establishing cooperative task forces

21 between adjoining units of local government to

22 work cooperatively to prevent and combat crimi23 nal activity, particularly criminal activity that is

24 exacerbated by drug or gang-related involve25 ment.
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1 (I) Establishing a multijurisdictional task

2 force, particularly in rural areas, composed of

3 law enforcement officials representing units of

4 local government, that works with Federal law

5 enforcement officials to prevent and control

6 crime.

7 (J) Establishing or supporting programs

8 designed to collect, record, retain, and dissemi9 nate information useful in the identification,

10 prosecution, and sentencing of offenders, such

11 as criminal history information, fingerprints,

12 DNA tests, and ballistics tests.

13 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection—

14 (A) the term ‘‘violent offender’’ means a

15 person charged with committing a part I violent

16 crime; and

17 (B) the term ‘‘drug courts’’ means a pro18 gram that involves—

19 (i) continuing judicial supervision over

20 offenders with substance abuse problems

21 who are not violent offenders; and

22 (ii) the integrated administration of

23 other sanctions and services, which shall

24 include—
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1 (I) mandatory periodic testing for

2 the use of controlled substances or

3 other addictive substances during any

4 period of supervised release or proba5 tion for each participant;

6 (II) substance abuse treatment

7 for each participant;

8 (III) probation, or other super9 vised release involving the possibility

10 of prosecution, confinement, or incar11 ceration based on noncompliance with

12 program requirements or failure to

13 show satisfactory progress; and

14 (IV) programmatic, offender

15 management, and aftercare services

16 such as relapse prevention, vocational

17 job training, job placement, and hous18 ing placement.

19 (b) PROHIBITED USES.—Notwithstanding any other

20 provision of this Act, a unit of local government may not

21 expend any of the funds provided under this Act to pur22 chase, lease, rent, or otherwise acquire—

23 (1) tanks or armored personnel carriers;

24 (2) fixed wing aircraft;

25 (3) limousines;
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1 (4) real estate;

2 (5) yachts;

3 (6) consultants; or

4 (7) vehicles not primarily used for law enforce5 ment;

6 unless the Attorney General certifies that extraordinary

7 and exigent circumstances exist that make the use of

8 funds for such purposes essential to the maintenance of

9 public safety and good order in such unit of local govern10 ment. With regard to paragraph (2), such circumstances

11 shall be deemed to exist with respect to a unit of local

12 government in a rural State, as defined in section 1501

13 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of

14 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796bb), upon certification by the chief

15 law enforcement officer of the unit of local government

16 that the unit of local government is experiencing an in17 crease in production or cultivation of a controlled sub18 stance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the

19 Controlled Substances Act), and that the fixed wing air20 craft will be used in the detection, disruption, or abate21 ment of such production or cultivation.

22 (c) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Director shall pay

23 each unit of local government that has submitted an appli24 cation under this Act not later than the later of—
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1 (1) 90 days after the date that the amount is

2 available; or

3 (2) the first day of the payment period if the

4 unit of local government has provided the Director

5 with the assurances required by section 4(c).

6 (d) ADJUSTMENTS.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

8 the Director shall adjust a payment under this Act

9 to a unit of local government to the extent that a

10 prior payment to the unit of local government was

11 more or less than the amount required to be paid.

12 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director may in13 crease or decrease under this subsection a payment

14 to a unit of local government only if the Director de15 termines the need for the increase or decrease, or if

16 the unit requests the increase or decrease, not later

17 than 1 year after the end of the payment period for

18 which a payment was made.

19 (e) RESERVATION FOR ADJUSTMENT.—The Director

20 may reserve a percentage of not more than 2 percent of

21 the amount under this section for a payment period for

22 all units of local government in a State if the Director

23 considers the reserve is necessary to ensure the availability

24 of sufficient amounts to pay adjustments after the final
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1 allocation of amounts among the units of local government

2 in the State.

3 (f) REPAYMENT OF UNEXPENDED AMOUNTS.—

4 (1) REPAYMENT REQUIRED.—A unit of local

5 government shall repay to the Director, by not later

6 than 27 months after receipt of funds from the Di7 rector, any amount that is—

8 (A) paid to the unit from amounts appro9 priated under the authority of this section; and

10 (B) not expended by the unit within 2

11 years after receipt of such funds from the Di12 rector.

13 (2) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO REPAY.—If the

14 amount required to be repaid is not repaid, the Di15 rector shall reduce payment in future payment peri16 ods accordingly.

17 (3) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS REPAID.—Amounts

18 received by the Director as repayments under this

19 subsection shall be deposited in a designated fund

20 for future payments to units of local government.

21 Any amounts remaining in such designated fund

22 after 5 years following the date of enactment of this

23 Act shall be applied to the Federal deficit or, if there

24 is no Federal deficit, to reducing the Federal debt.
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1 (g) NONSUPPLANTING REQUIREMENT.—Funds made

2 available under this Act to units of local government shall

3 not be used to supplant State or local funds, but shall

4 be used to increase the amount of funds that would, in

5 the absence of funds made available under this Act, be

6 made available from State or local sources.

7 (h) MATCHING FUNDS.—The Federal share of a

8 grant received under this Act may not exceed 90 percent

9 of the costs of a program or proposal funded under this

10 Act. No funds provided under this Act may be used as

11 matching funds for any other Federal grant program.

12 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

14 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act

15 $750,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2003.

16 (b) OVERSIGHT ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRA17 TION.—Not more than 3 percent of the amount authorized

18 to be appropriated under subsection (a) for each of the

19 fiscal years 1998 through 2003 shall be available to the

20 Attorney General for studying the overall effectiveness and

21 efficiency of the provisions of this Act, and assuring com22 pliance with the provisions of this Act and for administra23 tive costs to carry out the purposes of this Act. From the

24 amount described in the preceding sentence, the Bureau

25 of Justice Assistance shall receive such sums as may be
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1 necessary for the actual costs of administration and mon2 itoring. The Attorney General shall establish and execute

3 an oversight plan for monitoring the activities of grant re4 cipients. Such sums are to remain available until ex5 pended.

6 (c) FUNDING SOURCE.—Appropriations for activities

7 authorized in this Act may be made from the Violent

8 Crime Reduction Trust Fund.

9 (d) TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE.—Of the amount ap10 propriated under subsection (a) for each of fiscal years

11 1998 through 2003, the Attorney General shall reserve—

12 (1) 3 percent for use by the Bureau of Justice

13 Assistance, in coordination with the Bureau of Jus14 tice Statistics, for the State Identification Systems

15 (SIS) Grant Program for information and identifica16 tion technology, including the Integrated Automated

17 Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), DNA,

18 and ballistics systems; and

19 (2) 3 percent for use by the National Institute

20 of Justice in assisting units of local government to

21 identify, select, develop, modernize, and purchase

22 new technologies for use by law enforcement.

23 (e) AVAILABILITY.—The amounts appropriated

24 under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.
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1 SEC. 4. QUALIFICATION FOR PAYMENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall issue regula3 tions establishing procedures under which a unit of local

4 government is required to provide notice to the Director

5 regarding the proposed use of funds made available under

6 this Act.

7 (b) PROGRAM REVIEW.—The Director shall establish

8 a process for the ongoing evaluation of projects developed

9 with funds made available under this Act.

10 (c) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR QUALIFICA11 TION.—A unit of local government qualifies for a payment

12 under this Act for a payment period only if the unit of

13 local government submits an application to the Director

14 and establishes, to the satisfaction of the Director, that—

15 (1) the unit of local government has established

16 a local advisory board that—

17 (A) includes, but is not limited to, a rep18 resentative from—

19 (i) the local police department or local

20 sheriff’s department;

21 (ii) the local prosecutor’s office;

22 (iii) the local court system;

23 (iv) the local public school system;

24 and

25 (v) a local nonprofit, educational, reli26 gious, or community group active in crime
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1 prevention or drug use prevention or treat2 ment;

3 (B) has reviewed the application; and

4 (C) is designated to make nonbinding rec5 ommendations to the unit of local government

6 for the use of funds received under this Act;

7 (2) the chief executive officer of the State has

8 had not less than 20 days to review and comment

9 on the application prior to submission to the Direc10 tor;

11 (3)(A) the unit of local government will estab12 lish a trust fund in which the government will de13 posit all payments received under this Act; and

14 (B) the unit of local government will use

15 amounts in the trust fund (including interest) dur16 ing a period not to exceed 2 years from the date the

17 first grant payment is made to the unit of local gov18 ernment;

19 (4) the unit of local government will expend the

20 payments received in accordance with the laws and

21 procedures that are applicable to the expenditure of

22 revenues of the unit of local government;

23 (5) the unit of local government will use ac24 counting, audit, and fiscal procedures that conform

25 to guidelines, which shall be prescribed by the Direc-
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1 tor after consultation with the Comptroller General

2 of the United States and as applicable, amounts re3 ceived under this Act shall be audited in compliance

4 with the Single Audit Act of 1984;

5 (6) after reasonable notice from the Director or

6 the Comptroller General of the United States to the

7 unit of local government, the unit of local govern8 ment will make available to the Director and the

9 Comptroller General of the United States, with the

10 right to inspect, records that the Director reasonably

11 requires to review compliance with this Act or that

12 the Comptroller General of the United States rea13 sonably requires to review compliance and operation;

14 (7) a designated official of the unit of local gov15 ernment shall make reports the Director reasonably

16 requires, in addition to the annual reports required

17 under this Act;

18 (8) the unit of local government will spend the

19 funds made available under this Act only for the

20 purposes set forth in section 2(a)(2);

21 (9) the unit of local government will achieve a

22 net gain in the number of law enforcement officers

23 who perform nonadministrative public safety service

24 if such unit uses funds received under this Act to in-
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1 crease the number of law enforcement officers as de2 scribed under section 2(a)(2)(A);

3 (10) the unit of local government—

4 (A) has an adequate process to assess the

5 impact of any enhancement of a school security

6 measure that is undertaken under section

7 2(a)(2)(B), or any crime prevention programs

8 that are established under subparagraphs (C)

9 and (E) of section 2(a)(2), on the incidence of

10 crime in the geographic area where the en11 hancement is undertaken or the program is es12 tablished;

13 (B) will conduct such an assessment with

14 respect to each such enhancement or program;

15 and

16 (C) will submit an annual written assess17 ment report to the Director; and

18 (11) the unit of local government has estab19 lished procedures to give members of the Armed

20 Forces who, on or after October 1, 1990, were or

21 are selected for involuntary separation (as described

22 in section 1141 of title 10, United States Code), ap23 proved for separation under section 1174a or 1175

24 of such title, or retired pursuant to the authority

25 provided under section 4403 of the Defense Conver-
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1 sion, Reinvestment, and Transition Assistance Act of

2 1992 (division D of Public Law 102–484; 10 U.S.C.

3 1293 note), a suitable preference in the employment

4 of persons as additional law enforcement officers or

5 support personnel using funds made available under

6 this Act. The nature and extent of such employment

7 preference shall be jointly established by the Attor8 ney General and the Secretary of Defense. To the

9 extent practicable, the Director shall endeavor to in10 form members who were separated between October

11 1, 1990, and the date of enactment of this Act of

12 their eligibility for the employment preference.

13 (d) SANCTIONS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Director determines

15 that a unit of local government has not complied

16 substantially with the requirements or regulations

17 prescribed under subsections (a) and (c), the Direc18 tor shall notify the unit of local government that if

19 the unit of local government does not take corrective

20 action within 60 days of such notice, the Director

21 will withhold additional payments to the unit of local

22 government for the current and future payment peri23 ods until the Director is satisfied that the unit of

24 local government—
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1 (A) has taken the appropriate corrective

2 action; and

3 (B) will comply with the requirements and

4 regulations prescribed under subsections (a)

5 and (c).

6 (2) NOTICE.—Before giving notice under para7 graph (1), the Director shall give the chief executive

8 officer of the unit of local government reasonable no9 tice and an opportunity for comment.

10 (e) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT REQUIREMENT.—A

11 unit of local government qualifies for a payment under this

12 Act for a payment period only if the unit’s expenditures

13 on law enforcement services (as reported by the Bureau

14 of the Census) for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year

15 in which the payment period occurs were not less than

16 90 percent of the unit’s expenditures on such services for

17 the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which

18 the payment period occurs.

19 SEC. 5. ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.

20 (a) STATE SET-ASIDE.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the total amounts appro22 priated for this Act for each payment period, the Di23 rector shall allocate for units of local government in

24 each State an amount that bears the same ratio to

25 such total as the average annual number of part 1
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1 violent crimes reported by such State to the Federal

2 Bureau of Investigation for the 3 most recent cal3 endar years for which such data is available, bears

4 to the number of part 1 violent crimes reported by

5 all States to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for

6 such years.

7 (2) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.—Each State shall

8 receive not less than 0.5 percent of the total

9 amounts appropriated under section 3 under this

10 subsection for each payment period.

11 (3) PROPORTIONAL REDUCTION.—If amounts

12 available to carry out paragraph (2) for any pay13 ment period are insufficient to pay in full the total

14 payment that any State is otherwise eligible to re15 ceive under paragraph (1) for such period, then the

16 Director shall reduce payments under paragraph (1)

17 for such payment period to the extent of such insuf18 ficiency. Reductions under the preceding sentence

19 shall be allocated among the States (other than

20 States whose payment is determined under para21 graph (2)) in the same proportions as amounts

22 would be allocated under paragraph (1) without re23 gard to paragraph (2).

24 (b) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount reserved

2 for each State under subsection (a), the Director

3 shall allocate among units of local government an

4 amount that bears the same ratio to the aggregate

5 amount of such funds as

6 (A) the product of—

7 (i) two-thirds; multiplied by

8 (ii) the ratio of the average annual

9 number of part 1 violent crimes in such

10 unit of local government for the 3 most re11 cent calendar years for which such data is

12 available, to the sum of such violent crime

13 in all units of local government in the

14 State; and

15 (B) the product of—

16 (i) one-third; multiplied by

17 (ii) the ratio of the law enforcement

18 expenditure, for such unit of local govern19 ment for the most recent year for which

20 such data are available, to such expendi21 tures for all units of local government in

22 the State.

23 (2) EXPENDITURES.—The allocation any unit

24 of local government shall receive under paragraph

25 (1) for a payment period shall not exceed 100 per-
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1 cent of law enforcement expenditures of the unit for

2 such payment period.

3 (3) REALLOCATION.—The amount of any unit

4 of local government’s allocation that is not available

5 to such unit by operation of paragraph (2) shall be

6 available to other units of local government that are

7 not affected by such operation in accordance with

8 this subsection.

9 (4) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WITH ALLOCATIONS

10 OF LESS THAN $10,000.—If under paragraph (1) a

11 unit of local government is allotted less than

12 $10,000 for the payment period, the amount allotted

13 shall be transferred to the chief executive officer of

14 the State who shall distribute such funds among

15 State police departments that provide law enforce16 ment services to units of local government and units

17 of local government whose allotment is less than

18 such amount in a manner that reduces crime and

19 improves public safety.

20 (5) SPECIAL RULE.—If a unit of local govern21 ment in the State has been annexed since the date

22 of the collection of the data used by the Director in

23 making allocations pursuant to this section, the Di24 rector shall pay the amount that would have been al-
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1 located to such unit of local government to the unit

2 of local government that annexed it.

3 (c) GRANTS TO INDIAN TRIBES.—Notwithstanding

4 subsections (a) and (b), of the amount appropriated under

5 section 3(a) in each of fiscal years 1998 through 2003,

6 the Attorney General shall reserve 0.3 percent for grants

7 to Indian tribal governments performing law enforcement

8 functions, to be used for the purposes described in section

9 2. To be eligible to receive a grant with amounts set aside

10 under this subsection, an Indian tribal government shall

11 submit to the Attorney General an application in such

12 form and containing such information as the Attorney

13 General may by regulation require.

14 (d) UNAVAILABILITY AND INACCURACY OF INFORMA15 TION.—

16 (1) DATA FOR STATES.—For purposes of this

17 section, if data regarding part 1 violent crimes in

18 any State for the 3 most recent calendar years is

19 unavailable, insufficient, or substantially inaccurate,

20 the Director shall utilize the best available com21 parable data regarding the number of violent crimes

22 for such years for such State for the purposes of al23 location of any funds under this Act.

24 (2) POSSIBLE INACCURACY OF DATA FOR UNITS

25 OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—In addition to the provi-
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1 sions of paragraph (1), if the Director believes that

2 the reported rate of part 1 violent crimes or legal ex3 penditure information for a unit of local government

4 is insufficient or inaccurate, the Director shall—

5 (A) investigate the methodology used by

6 such unit to determine the accuracy of the sub7 mitted data; and

8 (B) when necessary, use the best available

9 comparable data regarding the number of vio10 lent crimes or legal expenditure information for

11 such years for such unit of local government.

12 SEC. 6. UTILIZATION OF PRIVATE SECTOR.

13 Funds or a portion of funds allocated under this Act

14 may be utilized to contract with private, nonprofit entities

15 or community-based organizations to carry out the pur16 poses specified under section 2(a)(2).

17 SEC. 7. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—A unit of local government ex19 pending payments under this Act shall hold not less than

20 1 public hearing on the proposed use of the payment from

21 the Director in relation to its entire budget.

22 (b) VIEWS.—At the hearing, persons shall be given

23 an opportunity to provide written and oral views to the

24 unit of local government authority responsible for enacting

25 the budget.
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1 (c) TIME AND PLACE.—The unit of local government

2 shall hold the hearing at a time and place that allows and

3 encourages public attendance and participation.

4 SEC. 8. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

5 The administrative provisions of part H of the Omni6 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42

7 U.S.C. 3782 et seq.), shall apply to this Act and for pur8 poses of this section any reference in such provisions to

9 title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act

10 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) shall be deemed to be

11 a reference to this Act.

Æ