I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1531

To ensure safety in public schools by increasing police presence.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 22, 1999

Mr. FROST introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary

A BILL

To ensure safety in public schools by increasing police

presence.

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 ‘‘Safe Schools Act of

5 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. GRANT AUTHORIZATION.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make

8 grants to States, units of local government, Indian tribal

9 governments and other public and private entities and

10 multijurisdiction or regional consortia thereof to increase

11 police presence, to expand and improve cooperative efforts
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1 between law enforcement agencies and members of the

2 community to address crime and disorder problems in and

3 around schools.

4 (b) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding

5 grants under this Act, the Attorney General may give pref6 erential consideration, to the extent practicable, to appli7 cations for hiring and rehiring additional career law en8 forcement officers that involve a non-Federal contribution

9 exceeding the 25 percent minimum under subsection (d).

10 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

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

12 provide technical assistance to States, units of local

13 government, Indian tribal governments, and to other

14 public and private entities, in furtherance of the pur15 poses of this Act.

16 (2) MODEL.—The technical assistance provided

17 by the Attorney General may include the develop18 ment of a flexible model that will define for State

19 and local governments, and other public and private

20 entities, definitions and strategies associated with

21 community and school-based policing and methodolo22 gies for its implementation.

23 (3) TRAINING CENTERS AND FACILITIES.—The

24 technical assistance provided by the Attorney Gen25 eral may include the establishment and operation of
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1 training centers or facilities, either directly or by

2 contracting or cooperative arrangements. The func3 tions of the centers or facilities established under

4 this paragraph may include instruction and seminars

5 for police executives, managers, trainers, supervisors,

6 and such others as the Attorney General considers

7 to be appropriate concerning community and school8 based policing and improvements in police-commu9 nity interaction and cooperation that further the

10 purposes of this Act.

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

12 a program, project, or activity provided by a grant under

13 subsection (a) may not exceed 75 percent, unless the At14 torney General waives, wholly or in part, the requirement

15 under this subsection of a non-Federal contribution to the

16 costs of a program, project, or activity. In relation to a

17 grant for a period exceeding 1 year for hiring or rehiring

18 career law enforcement officers, the Federal share shall

19 decrease from year to year for up to 5 years, looking to20 ward the continuation of the increased hiring level using

21 State or local sources of funding following the conclusion

22 of Federal support, as provided in an approved plan pur23 suant to section 4(c)(8).

24 (e) TERMINATION OF GRANTS FOR HIRING OFFI25 CERS.—The authority under subsection (a) of this section
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1 to make grants for the hiring and rehiring of additional

2 career law enforcement officers shall lapse at the conclu3 sion of 6 years from the date of enactment of this Act.

4 Prior to the expiration of this grant authority, the Attor5 ney General shall submit a report to Congress concerning

6 the experience with and effects of such grants. The report

7 may include any recommendations the Attorney General

8 may have for amendments to this Act and related provi9 sions of law in light of the termination of the authority

10 to make grants for the hiring and rehiring of additional

11 career law enforcement officers.

12 SEC. 3. USES OF FUNDS.

13 Grants made under this Act may be used—

14 (1) to rehire law enforcement officers who have

15 been laid off as a result of State and local budget

16 reductions for deployment in school-based policing;

17 and

18 (2) to hire and train new, additional career law

19 enforcement officers for deployment in school-based

20 policing across the Nation.

21 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—No grant may be made under this

23 Act unless an application has been submitted to, and ap24 proved by, the Attorney General.
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1 (b) APPLICATION.—An application for a grant under

2 this Act shall be submitted in such form, and contain such

3 information, as the Attorney General may prescribe by

4 regulations or guidelines.

5 (c) CONTENTS.—In accordance with the regulations

6 or guidelines established by the Attorney General, each ap7 plication for a grant under this Act shall—

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

9 implementation plan that reflects consultation with

10 community groups and appropriate private and pub11 lic agencies;

12 (2) demonstrate a specific public safety need;

13 (3) explain the applicant’s inability to address

14 the need without Federal assistance;

15 (4) identify related governmental and commu16 nity initiatives which complement or will be coordi17 nated with the proposal;

18 (5) certify that there has been appropriate co19 ordination with all affected agencies;

20 (6) outline the initial and ongoing level of com21 munity support for implementing the proposal in22 cluding financial and in-kind contributions or other

23 tangible commitments;

24 (7) specify plans for obtaining necessary sup25 port and continuing the proposed program, project,
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1 or activity following the conclusion of Federal sup2 port;

3 (8) if the application is for a grant for hiring

4 or rehiring additional career law enforcement offi5 cers, specify plans for the assumption by the appli6 cant of a progressively larger share of the cost in the

7 course of time, looking toward the continuation of

8 the increased hiring level using State or local

9 sources of funding following the conclusion of Fed10 eral support;

11 (9) assess the impact, if any, of the increase in

12 police resources on other components of the criminal

13 justice system;

14 (10) explain how the grant will be utilized to re15 orient the affected law enforcement agency’s mission

16 toward school-based policing or enhance its involve17 ment in or commitment to school-based policing; and

18 (11) provide assurances that the applicant will,

19 to the extent practicable, seek, recruit, and hire

20 members of racial and ethnic minority groups and

21 women in order to increase their ranks within the

22 sworn positions in the law enforcement agency.

23 (d) SPECIAL PROVISION.—Notwithstanding any

24 other provision of this Act, in relation to applications

25 under this Act of units of local government or law enforce-
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1 ment agencies having jurisdiction over areas with popu2 lations of less than 50,000, the Attorney General may

3 waive 1 or more of the requirements of subsection (c) and

4 may otherwise make special provisions to facilitate the ex5 pedited submission, processing, and approval of such ap6 plications.

7 SEC. 5. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.

8 (a) MONITORING COMPONENTS.—Each program,

9 project, or activity funded under this Act shall contain a

10 monitoring component, developed pursuant to guidelines

11 established by the Attorney General. The monitoring re12 quired by this subsection shall include systematic identi13 fication and collection of data about activities, accomplish14 ments, and programs throughout the life of the program,

15 project, or activity and presentation of such data in a usa16 ble form.

17 (b) EVALUATION COMPONENTS.—Selected grant re18 cipients shall be evaluated on the local level or as part

19 of a national evaluation, pursuant to guidelines established

20 by the Attorney General. Such evaluations may include as21 sessments of individual program implementations. In se22 lected jurisdictions that are able to support outcome eval23 uations, the effectiveness of funded programs, projects,

24 and activities may be required. Outcome measures may

25 include crime and victimization indicators, quality of life
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1 measures, community perceptions, and police perceptions

2 of their own work.

3 (c) PERIODIC REVIEW AND REPORTS.—The Attorney

4 General may require a grant recipient to submit to the

5 Attorney General the results of the monitoring and evalua6 tions required under subsections (a) and (b) and such

7 other data and information as the Attorney General deems

8 reasonably necessary.

9 SEC. 6. REVOCATION OR SUSPENSION OF FUNDING.

10 If the Attorney General determines, as a result of the

11 reviews required by section 5, or otherwise, that a grant

12 recipient under this Act is not in substantial compliance

13 with the terms and requirements of an approved grant ap14 plication submitted under section 4, the Attorney General

15 may revoke or suspend funding of that grant, in whole

16 or in part.

17 SEC. 7. GENERAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY.

18 The Attorney General may promulgate regulations

19 and guidelines to carry out this Act.

20 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

21 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

22 this Act $175,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000

23 through 2003.

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