II 

Calendar No. 113 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 442 

[Report No. 110–51] 

To provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and public defenders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2007 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. SMITH, Mr. KERRY, 

Ms. COLLINS, Ms. LANDRIEU, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. COCHRAN, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. KOHL, and Mr. HARKIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

APRIL 10, 2007 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and public 

defenders. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘John R. Justice Pros3 ecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT FOR PROSECUTORS AND DE5 FENDERS. 

6 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

7 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 

8 by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘PART JJ—LOAN REPAYMENT FOR 

10 PROSECUTORS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS 

11 ‘‘SEC. 3111. GRANT AUTHORIZATION. 

12 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en13 courage qualified individuals to enter and continue em14 ployment as prosecutors and public defenders. 

15 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) PROSECUTOR.—The term ‘prosecutor’ 

17 means a full-time employee of a State or local agen18 cy who— 

19 ‘‘(A) is continually licensed to practice law; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) prosecutes criminal or juvenile delin22 quency cases at the State or local level level (in23 cluding supervision, education, or training of 

24 other persons prosecuting such cases). 

25 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC DEFENDER.—The term ‘public de26 fender’ means an attorney who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is continually licensed to practice law; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) is— 

4 ‘‘(i) a full-time employee of a State or 

5 local agency or a nonprofit organization 

6 operating under a contract with a State or 

7 unit of local government, that provides 

8 legal representation to indigent persons in 

9 criminal cases; or 

10 ‘‘(i) a full-time employee of a State or 

11 local agency who provides legal representa12 tion to indigent persons in criminal or ju13 venile delinquency cases (including super14 vision, education, or training of other per15 sons providing such representation); 

16 ‘‘(ii) a full-time employee of a non17 profit organization operating under a con18 tract with a State or unit of local govern19 ment, who devotes substantially all of his or 

20 her full-time employment to providing legal 

21 representation to indigent persons in crimi22 nal or juvenile delinquency cases, (including 

23 supervision, education, or training of other 

24 persons providing such representation); or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) (iii) employed as a full-time Fed2 eral defender attorney in a defender orga3 nization established pursuant to subsection 

4 (g) of section 3006A of title 18, United 

5 States Code, that provides legal represen6 tation to indigent persons in criminal or 

7 juvenile delinquency cases. 

8 ‘‘(3) STUDENT LOAN.—The term ‘student loan’ 

9 means— 

10 ‘‘(A) a loan made, insured, or guaranteed 

11 under part B of title IV of the Higher Edu12 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.); 

13 ‘‘(B) a loan made under part D or E of 

14 title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

15 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq. and 1087aa et seq.); 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(C) a loan made under section 428C or 

18 455(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 1078–3 and 1087e(g)) to the extent 

20 that such loan was used to repay a Federal Di21 rect Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsub22 sidized Stafford Loan, or a loan made under 

23 section 428 or 428H of such Act. 

24 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 

25 shall establish a program by which the Department of JusVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:23 Apr 11, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S442.RS S442

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1 tice shall assume the obligation to repay a student loan, 

2 by direct payments on behalf of a borrower to the holder 

3 of such loan, in accordance with subsection (d), for any 

4 borrower who— 

5 ‘‘(1) is employed as a prosecutor or public de6 fender; and 

7 ‘‘(2) is not in default on a loan for which the 

8 borrower seeks forgiveness. 

9 ‘‘(d) TERMS OF AGREEMENT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive re11 payment benefits under subsection (c), a borrower 

12 shall enter into a written agreement that specifies 

13 that— 

14 ‘‘(A) the borrower will remain employed as 

15 a prosecutor or public defender for a required 

16 period of service of not less than 3 years, unless 

17 involuntarily separated from that employment; 

18 ‘‘(B) if the borrower is involuntarily sepa19 rated from employment on account of mis20 conduct, or voluntarily separates from employ21 ment, before the end of the period specified in 

22 the agreement, the borrower will repay the At23 torney General the amount of any benefits re24 ceived by such employee under this section; 


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1 ‘‘(C) if the borrower is required to repay 

2 an amount to the Attorney General under sub3 paragraph (B) and fails to repay such amount, 

4 a sum equal to that amount shall be recoverable 

5 by the Federal Government from the employee 

6 (or such employee’s estate, if applicable) by 

7 such methods as are provided by law for the re8 covery of amounts owed to the Federal Govern9 ment; 

10 ‘‘(D) the Attorney General may waive, in 

11 whole or in part, a right of recovery under this 

12 subsection if it is shown that recovery would be 

13 against equity and good conscience or against 

14 the public interest; and 

15 ‘‘(E) the Attorney General shall make stu16 dent loan payments under this section for the 

17 period of the agreement, subject to the avail18 ability of appropriations. 

19 ‘‘(2) REPAYMENTS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any amount repaid 

21 by, or recovered from, an individual or the es22 tate of an individual under this subsection shall 

23 be credited to the appropriation account from 

24 which the amount involved was originally paid. 


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1 ‘‘(B) MERGER.—Any amount credited 

2 under subparagraph (A) shall be merged with 

3 other sums in such account and shall be avail4 able for the same purposes and period, and sub5 ject to the same limitations, if any, as the sums 

6 with which the amount was merged. 

7 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT

9 AMOUNT.—Student loan repayments made by 

10 the Attorney General under this section shall be 

11 made subject to such terms, limitations, or con12 ditions as may be mutually agreed upon by the 

13 borrower and the Attorney General in an agree14 ment under paragraph (1), except that the 

15 amount paid by the Attorney General under 

16 this section shall not exceed— 

17 ‘‘(i) $10,000 for any borrower in any 

18 calendar year; or 

19 ‘‘(ii) an aggregate total of $60,000 in 

20 the case of any borrower. 

21 ‘‘(B) BEGINNING OF PAYMENTS.—Nothing 

22 in this section shall authorize the Attorney Gen23 eral to pay any amount to reimburse a borrower 

24 for any repayments made by such borrower 

25 prior to the date on which the Attorney General 


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1 entered into an agreement with the borrower 

2 under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL AGREEMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On completion of the re5 quired period of service under an agreement under 

6 subsection (d), the borrower and the Attorney Gen7 eral may, subject to paragraph (2), enter into an ad8 ditional agreement in accordance with subsection 

9 (d). 

10 ‘‘(2) TERM.—An agreement entered into under 

11 paragraph (1) may require the borrower to remain 

12 employed as a prosecutor or public defender for less 

13 than 3 years. 

14 ‘‘(f) AWARD BASIS; PRIORITY.— 

15 ‘‘(1) AWARD BASIS.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

16 the Attorney General shall provide repayment bene17 fits under this section on a first-come, first-served 

18 basis, and subject to the availability of appropria19 tions. 

20 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General shall 

21 give priority in providing repayment benefits under 

22 this section in any fiscal year to a borrower who— 

23 ‘‘(f) AWARD BASIS; PRIORITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AWARD BASIS.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the Attorney General shall provide repayment benefits 

3 under this section— 

4 ‘‘(A) giving priority to borrowers who have 

5 the least ability to repay their loans, except that 

6 the Attorney General shall determine a fair allo7 cation of repayment benefits among prosecutors 

8 and public defenders, and among employing en9 tities nationwide; and 

10 ‘‘(B) subject to the availability of appro11 priations. 

12 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General shall give 

13 priority in providing repayment benefits under this 

14 section in any fiscal year to a borrower who— 

15 ‘‘(A) received repayment benefits under 

16 this section during the preceding fiscal year; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(B) has completed less than 3 years of 

19 the first required period of service specified for 

20 the borrower in an agreement entered into 

21 under subsection (d). 

22 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General is au23 thorized to issue such regulations as may be necessary to 

24 carry out the provisions of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(h) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

2 enactment of this section, the Government Accountability 

3 Office shall study and report to Congress on the impact of 

4 law school accreditation requirements and other factors on 

5 law school costs and access, including the impact of such 

6 requirements on racial and ethnic minorities. 

7 ‘‘(h)(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 

9 section $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums 

10 as may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year.’’. 


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Calendar No. 113 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 442 

[Report No. 110

–51] 

A BILL 

To provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and 

public defenders. 

APRIL 10, 2007 

Reported with amendments 


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