I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5478 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Defense 

to make certain limitations on the transfer of personal property to 

Federal and State agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. LABRADOR, Mr. AMASH, Mr. 

MCCLINTOCK, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Defense to make certain limitations on the 

transfer of personal property to Federal and State agencies, 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 ‘‘Stop Militarizing Law 

5 Enforcement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Under section 2576a of title 10, United 

2 States Code, the Department of Defense is author3 ized to provide excess property to local law enforce4 ment agencies. The Defense Logistics Agency, ad5 ministers such section by operating the Law En6 forcement Support Office program. 

7 (2) New and used material, including mine-re8 sistant ambush-protected vehicles and weapons de9 termined by the Department of Defense to be ‘‘mili10 tary grade’’ are transferred to local law enforcement 

11 agencies through the program. 

12 (3) As a result local law enforcement agencies, 

13 including police and sheriff’s departments, are ac14 quiring this material for use in their normal oper15 ations. 

16 (4) The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led 

17 to an increase in the transfer of military equipment 

18 to local law enforcement agencies. 

19 (5) According to public reports, approximately 

20 12,000 police organizations across the country were 

21 able to procure nearly $500,000,000 worth of excess 

22 military merchandise including firearms, computers, 

23 helicopters, clothing, and other products, at no 

24 charge during fiscal year 2011 alone. 


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1 (6) More than $4,000,000,000 worth of weap2 ons and equipment have been transferred to police 

3 organizations in all 50 states and four territories 

4 through the program. 

5 (7) In May 2012, the Defense Logistics Agency 

6 instituted a moratorium on weapons transfers 

7 through the program after reports of missing equip8 ment and inappropriate weapons transfers. 

9 (8) Though the moratorium was widely pub10 licized, it was lifted in October 2013 without ade11 quate safeguards. 

12 (9) As a result, Federal, State, and local law 

13 enforcement departments across the country are eli14 gible again to acquire free ‘‘military-grade’’ weapons 

15 and equipment that could be used inappropriately 

16 during policing efforts in which citizens and tax17 payers could be harmed. 

18 (10) Pursuant to section III(J) of a Defense 

19 Logistics Agency memorandum of understanding, 

20 property obtained through the program must be 

21 placed into use within one year of receipt, possibly 

22 providing an incentive for the unnecessary and po23 tentially dangerous use of ‘‘military grade’’ equip24 ment by local law enforcement. 


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1 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TRANS2 FER OF PERSONAL PROPERTY TO LOCAL LAW 

3 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2576a of title 10, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 

8 ‘‘counter-drug and’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and the 

10 Director of National Drug Control Policy’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

13 the end; 

14 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe15 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraphs: 

18 ‘‘(5) the recipient certifies to the Department of 

19 Defense that it has the personnel and technical ca20 pacity, including training, to operate the property; 

21 ‘‘(6) the recipient submits to the Department of 

22 Defense a description of how the recipient expects to 

23 use the property; 

24 ‘‘(7) the recipient certifies to the Department of 

25 Defense that if the recipient determines that the 

26 property is surplus to the needs of the recipient, the 


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1 recipient will return the property to the Department 

2 of Defense; and 

3 ‘‘(8) with respect to a recipient that is not a 

4 Federal agency, the recipient certifies to the Depart5 ment of Defense that the recipient notified the local 

6 community of the request for personal property 

7 under this section by— 

8 ‘‘(A) publishing a notice of such request on 

9 a publicly accessible Internet website; 

10 ‘‘(B) posting such notice at several promi11 nent locations in the jurisdiction of the recipi12 ent; and 

13 ‘‘(C) ensuring that such notices were avail14 able to the local community for a period of not 

15 less than 30 days.’’; 

16 (3) by striking subsection (d); and 

17 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub18 sections: 

19 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL CERTIFICATION ACCOUNTING FOR

20 TRANSFERRED PROPERTY.—(1) For each fiscal year, the 

21 Secretary shall submit to Congress certification in writing 

22 that each Federal or State agency to which the Secretary 

23 has transferred property under this section— 

24 ‘‘(A) has provided to the Secretary documenta25 tion accounting for all personal property, including 


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1 arms and ammunition, that the Secretary has trans2 ferred to the agency, including any item described in 

3 subsection (f) so transferred before the date of the 

4 enactment of the Stop Militarizing Law Enforce5 ment Act; and 

6 ‘‘(B) with respect to a non-Federal agency, car7 ried out each of paragraphs (5) through (8) of sub8 section (b). 

9 ‘‘(2) If the Secretary cannot provide a certification 

10 under paragraph (1) for a Federal or State agency, the 

11 Secretary may not transfer additional property to that 

12 agency under this section. 

13 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT ON EXCESS PROPERTY.—Be14 fore making any property available for transfer under this 

15 section, the Secretary shall annually submit to Congress 

16 a description of the property to be transferred together 

17 with a certification that the transfer of the property would 

18 not violate this section or any other provision of law. 

19 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON TRANSFERS.—(1) The Sec20 retary may not transfer the following personal property 

21 of the Department of Defense under this section: 

22 ‘‘(A) Automatic weapons not generally recog23 nized as particularly suitable for law enforcement 

24 purposes. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Any weapons that are .50 caliber or great2 er. 

3 ‘‘(C) Tactical vehicles, including highly mobile 

4 multi-wheeled vehicles, armored vehicles, and mine5 resistant ambush-protected vehicles. 

6 ‘‘(D) Drones that are armored, weaponized, or 

7 both. 

8 ‘‘(E) Aircraft that— 

9 ‘‘(i) are combat configured or combat 

10 coded; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) have no established commercial flight 

12 application. 

13 ‘‘(F) Grenades and similar explosives, including 

14 flash-bang grenades and stun grenades, and grenade 

15 launchers. 

16 ‘‘(G) Silencers. 

17 ‘‘(H) Long range acoustic devices. 

18 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not require, as a condition 

19 of a transfer under this section, that a Federal or State 

20 agency demonstrate the use of any small arms or ammuni21 tion. 

22 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall take such steps as may be 

23 necessary to ensure that no item referred to in paragraph 

24 (1) is transferred under this section from one Federal or 

25 State agency to another such agency. 


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1 ‘‘(g) CONDITIONS FOR EXTENSION OF PROGRAM.— 

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, amounts au3 thorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available 

4 for any fiscal year may not be obligated or expended to 

5 carry out this section unless the Secretary submits to Con6 gress certification that for the preceding fiscal year that— 

7 ‘‘(1) each Federal or State agency that has re8 ceived property under this section has— 

9 ‘‘(A) demonstrated 100 percent account10 ability for all such property, in accordance with 

11 paragraph (2) or (3), as applicable; or 

12 ‘‘(B) been suspended from the program 

13 pursuant to paragraph (4); 

14 ‘‘(2) with respect to each non-Federal agency 

15 that has received property under this section, the 

16 State coordinator responsible for each such agency 

17 has verified that the coordinator or an agent of the 

18 coordinator has conducted an in-person inventory of 

19 the property transferred to the agency and that 100 

20 percent of such property was accounted for during 

21 the inventory or that the agency has been suspended 

22 from the program pursuant to paragraph (4); 

23 ‘‘(3) with respect to each Federal agency that 

24 has received property under this section, the Sec25 retary of Defense or an agent of the Secretary has 


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1 conducted an in-person inventory of the property 

2 transferred to the agency and that 100 percent of 

3 such property was accounted for during the inven4 tory or that the agency has been suspended from the 

5 program pursuant to paragraph (4); 

6 ‘‘(4) the eligibility of any agency that has re7 ceived property under this section for which 100 per8 cent of the equipment was not accounted for during 

9 an inventory described in paragraph (2) or (3), as 

10 applicable, to receive property transferred under this 

11 section has been suspended; 

12 ‘‘(5) each State coordinator has certified, for 

13 each non-Federal agency located in the State for 

14 which the State coordinator is responsible that— 

15 ‘‘(A) the agency has complied with all re16 quirements under this section; or 

17 ‘‘(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive 

18 property transferred under this section has been 

19 suspended; and 

20 ‘‘(6) the Secretary of Defense has certified, for 

21 each Federal agency that has received property 

22 under this section that— 

23 ‘‘(A) the agency has complied with all re24 quirements under this section; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive 

2 property transferred under this section has been 

3 suspended. 

4 ‘‘(h) WEBSITE.—The Defense Logistics Agency shall 

5 maintain an Internet website on which the following infor6 mation shall be made publicly available: 

7 ‘‘(1) A description of each transfer made under 

8 this section, including transfers made before and 

9 after the date of the enactment of the Stop Milita10 rizing Law Enforcement Act, broken down by State, 

11 county, and recipient. 

12 ‘‘(2) During the 30-day period preceding the 

13 date on which any property is transferred under this 

14 section, a description of the property to be trans15 ferred and the recipient of the transferred items.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any transfer of 

18 property made after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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