I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 747

To require notification of the interstate relocation of a witness by State

engaging in that relocation, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 13, 1997

Mr. MCCOLLUM (for himself, Mr. DEUTSCH, and Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

A BILL

To require notification of the interstate relocation of a witness by State engaging in that relocation, 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 ‘‘Witness Relocation No5 tification Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF NOTIFICATION FOR STATE AND

2 LOCAL WITNESS RELOCATION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject only to the sanction pro4 vided in section 3, each State or local law enforcement

5 agency that relocates a witness who—

6 (1) has been arrested or convicted of a crime of

7 violence as defined in section 16 of title 18, United

8 States Code; or

9 (2) is otherwise considered by the agency to be

10 a threat to public safety;

11 shall provide notice to the chief law enforcement official

12 in the jurisdiction to which the relocation has been made,

13 in the manner specified by the Attorney General under

14 subsection (b).

15 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR NOTICE.—The Attorney

16 General shall establish guidelines for the notice required

17 by subsection (a). The guidelines shall require that such

18 notice—

19 (1) be made not later than 10 days before the

20 relocation and shall also be updated, not later than

21 10 days after the agency giving such notice learns

22 of information that would have been required in the

23 original notice; and

24 (2) include the criminal history record of the

25 arrest or conviction for each crime of violence and
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1 any other indication, known to the relocating agency,

2 that the witness might pose a threat to public safety.

3 SEC. 3. WITNESS RELOCATION TRAINING PROGRAM.

4 (a) SURVEY.—The Director of the National Institute

5 of Justice, in consultation with the Director of the United

6 States Marshals Service, shall survey State and local wit7 ness protection and relocation programs to determine the

8 extent and nature of such programs and the training

9 needs of those programs. Not later than 180 days after

10 the date of the enactment of this section, the Director

11 shall report the results of this survey to Congress.

12 (b) TRAINING.—Based on the results of such survey,

13 the Attorney General shall make available to State and

14 local law enforcement agencies a training program to as15 sist those law enforcement agencies in developing and

16 managing effective, safe witness protection and relocation

17 programs.

18 (c) LIMIT ON PARTICIPATION.—Any agency that fails

19 to comply with the requirement of section 2 shall not be

20 eligible to participate in the training program established

21 under this subsection.

22 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

23 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sub24 section for fiscal year 1998 not to exceed $500,000.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

2 As used in this section the term ‘‘State’’ includes the

3 District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other territory

4 or possession of the United States.

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