II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3323 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make certain improvements 

to the Veterans Justice Outreach Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2021 

Mr. CRAMER (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make certain 

improvements to the Veterans Justice Outreach Program, 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 ‘‘Veterans Justice Out5 reach Improvement Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO VETERANS JUSTICE OUTREACH 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) OUTREACH REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of 

9 Veterans Affairs shall conduct outreach regarding the Vet10 erans Justice Outreach Program to justice-involved vetVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Dec 08, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3323.IS S3323

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1 erans, military and veterans service organizations, and rel2 evant stakeholders in the criminal justice community, in3 cluding officials from local law enforcement, court, and jail 

4 systems and others as determined appropriate by the Sec5 retary. Such outreach— 

6 (1) shall be designed— 

7 (A) to spread awareness and under8 standing of the Program; 

9 (B) to spread awareness and under10 standing of veteran eligibility for the Program, 

11 including the eligibility of veterans who were 

12 discharged from service in the Armed Forces 

13 under conditions other than honorable; and 

14 (C) to improve the identification of justice15 involved veterans; and 

16 (2) may be conducted in person, virtually, or 

17 through other means, including by the dissemination 

18 of informational materials and contact information. 

19 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.—The Secretary of Veterans 

20 Affairs shall develop a strategic plan for the Veterans Jus21 tice Outreach Program. In developing such plan, the Sec22 retary shall conduct— 

23 (1) an assessment of barriers to working with 

24 justice-involved veterans in rural, remote, and underVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Dec 08, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3323.IS S3323

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1 served areas, including potential steps to address 

2 such barriers; and 

3 (2) a workforce gap analysis for the Program. 

4 (c) INCREASE IN NUMBER OF VJO SPECIALISTS.— 

5 (1) INCREASE.—The Secretary of Veterans Af6 fairs shall increase the number of Veterans Justice 

7 Outreach specialists responsible for supporting jus8 tice-involved veterans in rural, remote, or under9 served areas, including areas located far from De10 partment of Veterans Affairs medical centers, as de11 termined by the Secretary, through— 

12 (A) the hiring of additional Veterans Jus13 tice Outreach specialists; 

14 (B) the reallocation of existing Veterans 

15 Justice Outreach specialists; or 

16 (C) such other means as may be deter17 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 

18 (2) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary shall de19 termine the number of Veterans Justice Outreach 

20 specialists required, and the locations of such spe21 cialists, under paragraph (1) by taking into ac22 count— 

23 (A) such number and locations needed to 

24 achieve the mission and strategic goals of the 

25 Veterans Justice Outreach Program; 


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1 (B) any gaps in the workforce of the Pro2 gram, including such gaps identified pursuant 

3 to subsection (b)(2); and 

4 (C) strategies to address such gaps. 

5 (3) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In carrying out 

6 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider the use 

7 of virtual technology. 

8 (d) PERFORMANCE GOALS AND IMPLEMENTATION

9 PLANS.— 

10 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Vet11 erans Affairs shall establish performance goals and 

12 implementation plans for— 

13 (A) the Veterans Justice Outreach Pro14 gram; 

15 (B) Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists; 

16 and 

17 (C) providing support for research regard18 ing justice-involved veterans. 

19 (2) CONSISTENCY WITH STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

20 The Secretary shall ensure that the performance 

21 goals and implementation plans under paragraph (1) 

22 are consistent with the strategic plan under sub23 section (b) and include— 

24 (A) qualitative and quantitative milestones, 

25 measures, and metrics, and associated timelines 


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1 for completion of the plans under paragraph (1) 

2 and barriers to such completion; 

3 (B) an identification of relevant staff; and 

4 (C) an estimate of resource needs and 

5 sources. 

6 (3) PERFORMANCE DATA.—The Secretary shall 

7 establish a process to regularly collect and analyze 

8 performance data to assess the efficiency and effec9 tiveness of implementing the plans under paragraph 

10 (1). 

11 (e) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall 

12 ensure that all Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists re13 ceive training not less frequently than annually on— 

14 (1) best practices for identifying and con15 ducting outreach to justice-involved veterans and rel16 evant stakeholders in the criminal justice commu17 nity; and 

18 (2) veteran eligibility for the Veterans Justice 

19 Outreach Program, including with respect to consist20 ently communicating changes regarding eligibility 

21 (including through the use of a script or other ref22 erence materials). 

23 (f) REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION.— 

24 (1) FIRST REPORT.—Not later than one year 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:31 Dec 08, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3323.IS S3323

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1 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) An assessment of implementing sub4 section (c), including— 

5 (i) strategies to increase Veterans 

6 Justice Outreach specialists responsible for 

7 supporting justice-involved veterans in 

8 rural, remote, or underserved areas; and 

9 (ii) the progress of the Secretary in 

10 addressing gaps in the workforce of the 

11 Veterans Justice Outreach Program identi12 fied pursuant to paragraph (2) of such 

13 subsection. 

14 (B) The performance goals and implemen15 tation plans established under subsection 

16 (d)(1). 

17 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORT.—Not later than 

18 three years after the date on which the first report 

19 is submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

20 shall submit to Congress a report on the progress of 

21 the Secretary in meeting the performance goals and 

22 carrying out activities under the implementation 

23 plans established under subsection (d)(1). 

24 (g) REPORT ON VETERANS TREATMENT COURTS.— 

25 Not later than one year after the date of the enactment 


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1 of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Attor2 ney General, shall submit to Congress a report on the en3 gagement of the Department of Veterans Affairs with vet4 erans treatment courts, including— 

5 (1) the availability and efficacy of veterans 

6 treatment courts in meeting the needs of justice-in7 volved veterans; 

8 (2) best practices for Department of Veterans 

9 Affairs staff and justice-involved veterans in working 

10 with veterans treatment courts; and 

11 (3) the ability of justice-involved veterans to ac12 cess veterans treatment courts, including any bar13 riers that exist to increasing such access. 

14 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) JUSTICE-INVOLVED VETERAN.—The term 

16 ‘‘justice-involved veteran’’ means a veteran with ac17 tive, ongoing, or recent contact with some compo18 nent of a local criminal justice system. 

19 (2) VETERANS JUSTICE OUTREACH PRO20 GRAM.—The term ‘‘Veterans Justice Outreach Pro21 gram’’ means the program through which the De22 partment of Veterans Affairs identifies justice-in23 volved veterans and provides such veterans with ac24 cess to Department services. 


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1 (3) VETERANS JUSTICE OUTREACH SPE2 CIALIST.—The term ‘‘Veterans Justice Outreach 

3 Specialist’’ means an employee of the Department of 

4 Veterans Affairs who serves as a liaison between the 

5 Department and the local criminal justice system on 

6 behalf of a justice-involved veteran. 

7 (4) VETERANS TREATMENT COURT.—The term 

8 ‘‘veterans treatment court’’ means a State or local 

9 court that is participating in the veterans treatment 

10 court program (as defined in section 2991(i)(1) of 

11 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

12 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3797aa(i)(1))). 

Æ 


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