II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1808

To reauthorize and improve the drug court grant program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 27, 1999

Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. BIDEN) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To reauthorize and improve the drug court 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.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drug Court Reauthor5 ization and Improvement Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. GRANT AUTHORITY.

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

8 grants to States, State courts, local courts, units of local

9 government, and Indian tribal governments, acting di10 rectly or through agreements with other public or private

11 entities, for programs that involve—
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1 (1) continuing judicial supervision over offend2 ers with substance abuse problems who are not vio3 lent offenders; and

4 (2) the integrated administration of other sanc5 tions and services, which shall include—

6 (A) mandatory periodic testing for the use

7 of controlled substances or other addictive sub8 stances during any period of supervised release

9 or probation for each participant;

10 (B) substance abuse treatment for each

11 participant;

12 (C) diversion, probation, or other super13 vised release involving the possibility of prosecu14 tion, confinement, or incarceration based on

15 noncompliance with program requirements or

16 failure to show satisfactory progress; and

17 (D) programmatic, offender management,

18 and aftercare services such as relapse preven19 tion, health care, education, vocational training,

20 job placement, housing placement, and child

21 care or other family support services for each

22 participant who requires such services.

23 (b) GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—The Attorney

24 General shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, an eq25 uitable geographic distribution of grant awards is made.
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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF PARTICIPATION BY VIOLENT OF2 FENDERS.

3 The Attorney General shall—

4 (1) issue regulations and guidelines to ensure

5 that the programs authorized in this Act do not per6 mit participation by violent offenders; and

7 (2) immediately suspend funding for any grant

8 under this Act, pending compliance, if the Attorney

9 General finds that violent offenders are participating

10 in any program funded under this Act.

11 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

12 In this Act, the term ‘‘violent offender’’ means a per13 son who—

14 (1) is charged with or convicted of an offense,

15 during the course of which offense or conduct—

16 (A) the person carried, possessed, or used

17 a firearm or dangerous weapon;

18 (B) there occurred the death of or serious

19 bodily injury to any person; or

20 (C) there occurred the use of force against

21 the person of another,

22 without regard to whether any of the circumstances

23 described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) is an ele24 ment of the offense or conduct of which or for which

25 the person is charged or convicted; or
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1 (2) has 1 or more prior convictions for a felony

2 crime of violence involving the use or attempted use

3 of force against a person with the intent to cause

4 death or serious bodily harm.

5 SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.

6 (a) CONSULTATION.—The Attorney General shall

7 consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services

8 and any other appropriate officials in carrying out this

9 Act.

10 (b) USE OF COMPONENTS.—The Attorney General

11 may utilize any component or components of the Depart12 ment of Justice in carrying out this Act.

13 (c) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Attorney Gen14 eral may issue regulations and guidelines necessary to

15 carry out this Act.

16 (d) APPLICATIONS.—In addition to any other require17 ments that may be specified by the Attorney General, an

18 application for a grant under this Act shall—

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

20 implementation plan;

21 (2) explain the applicant’s inability to fund the

22 program adequately without Federal assistance;

23 (3) certify that the Federal support provided

24 will be used to supplement, and not supplant, State,
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1 Indian tribal, and local sources of funding that

2 would otherwise be available;

3 (4) identify related governmental or community

4 initiatives which complement or will be coordinated

5 with the proposal;

6 (5) certify that there has been appropriate con7 sultation with all affected agencies and that there

8 will be appropriate coordination with all affected

9 agencies in the implementation of the program;

10 (6) certify that participating offenders will be

11 supervised by 1 or more designated judges with re12 sponsibility for the drug court program;

13 (7) specify plans for obtaining necessary sup14 port and continuing the proposed program following

15 the conclusion of Federal support; and

16 (8) describe the methodology that will be used

17 in evaluating the program.

18 SEC. 6. APPLICATIONS.

19 To request funds under this Act, the chief executive

20 or the chief justice of a State or the chief executive or

21 chief judge of a unit of local government or Indian tribal

22 government shall submit an application to the Attorney

23 General in such form and containing such information as

24 the Attorney General may reasonably require.
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1 SEC. 7. FEDERAL SHARE.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of a grant

3 made under this Act may not exceed 75 percent of the

4 total costs of the program described in the application sub5 mitted under section 6 for the fiscal year for which the

6 program receives assistance under this Act, unless the At7 torney General waives, wholly or in part, the requirement

8 of a matching contribution under this section.

9 (b) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—In-kind contribu10 tions and Federal funds not received pursuant to a grant

11 made under this Act may constitute a portion of the non12 Federal share of a grant.

13 SEC. 8. REPORT.

14 (a) GRANTEE REPORT.—A State, Indian tribal gov15 ernment, or unit of local government that receives funds

16 under this Act during a fiscal year shall submit to the

17 Attorney General a report in March of the following year

18 regarding the effectiveness of this Act.

19 (b) FEDERAL EVALUATION.—The Attorney General

20 shall annually report to the Committees on the Judiciary

21 of the House of Representatives and the Senate data and

22 analysis with respect to—

23 (1) the effectiveness of the drug court programs

24 authorized by this Act and the management of those

25 programs; and
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1 (2) the drug relapse and recidivism rates of of2 fenders in participating in programs authorized by

3 this Act.

4 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRAINING AND EVALUA5 TION.

6 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The

7 Attorney General may provide technical assistance and

8 training in furtherance of the purposes of this Act.

9 (b) EVALUATIONS.—In addition to any evaluation re10 quirements that may be prescribed for grantees, the Attor11 ney General may carry out or make arrangements for eval12 uations of programs that receive support under this Act.

13 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—The technical assistance,

14 training, and evaluations authorized by this section may

15 be carried out directly by the Attorney General, in collabo16 ration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,

17 or through grants, contracts, or other cooperative arrange18 ments with other entities.

19 SEC. 10. CENTER FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT.

20 Section 507 of the Public Health Service Act (42

21 U.S.C. 290bb) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(d) DRUG TREATMENT SERVICES.—There is au24 thorized to be appropriated, $75,000,000 for each of the

25 fiscal years 2000 through 2003, to enable the Secretary,
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1 acting through the Center, to provide drug treatment serv2 ices in conjunction with drug court programs. Amounts

3 provided under this subsection shall be used to supple4 ment, not supplant, State, local or private funds made

5 available for such services.’’.

6 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attor8 ney General for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

9 2003, $200,000,000 to carry out sections 2 through 9 of

10 this Act.

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