I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2302 

To require that States receiving Byrne JAG funds to require sensitivity 

training for law enforcement officers of that State and to incentivize 

States to enact laws requiring the independent investigation and prosecution of the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 13, 2015 

Mr. COHEN (for himself and Mr. CLAY) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require that States receiving Byrne JAG funds to require 

sensitivity training for law enforcement officers of that 

State and to incentivize States to enact laws requiring 

the independent investigation and prosecution of the use 

of deadly force by law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Police Training and 

5 Independent Review Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TRAINING ON DIVERSITY AND SENSITIVITY FOR 

2 LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

3 (a) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year 

4 after the expiration of the period specified in subsection 

5 (b) in which a State receives funds for a program referred 

6 to in subsection (c)(2), the State shall require that all indi7 viduals enrolled in an academy of a law enforcement agen8 cy of the State and all law enforcement officers of the 

9 State fulfill a training session on sensitivity each fiscal 

10 year, including training on ethnic and racial bias, cultural 

11 diversity, and police interaction with the disabled, men12 tally ill, and new immigrants. In the case of individuals 

13 attending an academy, such training session shall be for 

14 8 hours, and in the case of all other law enforcement offi15 cers, the training session shall be for 4 hours. The State 

16 shall certify to the Attorney General of the United States 

17 that such training sessions have been completed. 

18 (b) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 

19 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 

20 not more than 120 days, beginning on the date of 

21 enactment of this Act, to comply with subsection (a), 

22 except that— 

23 (A) the Attorney General may grant an ad24 ditional 120 days to a State that is making 

25 good faith efforts to comply with such sub26 section; and 


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1 (B) the Attorney General shall waive the 

2 requirements of subsection (a) if compliance 

3 with such subsection by a State would be un4 constitutional under the constitution of such 

5 State. 

6 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any fiscal 

7 year after the expiration of the period specified in 

8 paragraph (1), a State that fails to comply with sub9 section (a), shall, at the discretion of the Attorney 

10 General, be subject to not more than a 20-percent 

11 reduction of the funds that would otherwise be allo12 cated for that fiscal year to the State under subpart 

13 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

14 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et 

15 seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne 

16 Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assist17 ance Programs, the Local Government Law Enforce18 ment Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me19 morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or other20 wise. 

21 (c) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 

22 program referred to in subsection (b)(2) to a State for 

23 failure to fully comply with subsection (a) shall be reallo24 cated under that program to States that have not failed 

25 to comply with such subsection. 


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1 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT USE 

2 OF DEADLY FORCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a State or unit of 

4 local government that received a grant award under sub5 part 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

6 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), 

7 if that State or unit of local government fails by the end 

8 of a fiscal year to enact or have in effect an independent 

9 prosecution of law enforcement law, the Attorney General 

10 shall reduce the amount that would otherwise be awarded 

11 to that State or unit of local government under such grant 

12 program in the following fiscal year by 20 percent. 

13 (b) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 

14 program referred to in subsection (a) to a State for failure 

15 to be in compliance with this section shall be reallocated 

16 under that program to States that are in compliance with 

17 this section. 

18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘deadly force’’ means that force 

21 which a reasonable person would consider likely to 

22 cause death or serious bodily harm. 

23 (2) The term ‘‘independent prosecution of law 

24 enforcement law’’ means a statute requiring the ap25 pointment of an independent prosecutor to conduct 


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1 any criminal investigation and prosecution in 

2 which— 

3 (A) one or more of the possible defendants 

4 is a law enforcement officer; 

5 (B) one or more of the alleged offenses in6 volves the law enforcement officer’s use deadly 

7 force in the course of carrying out that officer’s 

8 duty; and 

9 (C) the law enforcement officer’s use of 

10 deadly force resulted in a death or injury. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘independent prosecutor’’ means 

12 with respect to a criminal investigation or prosecu13 tion, a prosecutor who— 

14 (A) does not live or work in the same 

15 county as the county in which the alleged crime 

16 was committed; and 

17 (B) who would not be involved in the pros18 ecution in the ordinary course of that prosecu19 tor’s duties. 

Æ 


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