I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 863

To establish or expand existing community prosecution programs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Mr. BLAGOJEVICH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish or expand existing community prosecution

programs.

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 ‘‘Community Prosecutor

5 Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. GRANT AUTHORIZATION.

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

8 grants to State attorneys general, prosecutors, units of

9 local government, and Indian tribal prosecutors to estab10 lish or expand existing community prosecution programs,
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1 including hiring and training prosecutors for such pro2 grams.

3 (b) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—The Attorney Gen4 eral should ensure, to the extent possible, that grants

5 awarded under this Act are distributed equitably between

6 urban and rural communities.

7 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant

9 under this Act, State attorneys general, prosecutors, units

10 of local government and Indian tribal prosecutors may

11 apply for an award to establish or continue existing com12 munity-oriented prosecution programs.

13 (b) APPLICATION.—To apply for a grant, an inter14 ested eligible entity shall submit an application to the At15 torney General in such form as the Attorney General shall

16 prescribe by regulations or guidelines.

17 (c) CONTENTS.—Each application shall include the

18 following:

19 (1) The objectives, and need, including public

20 safety, for a grant award.

21 (2) A long-term strategy and detailed imple22 mentation plan.

23 (3) Certification of coordination and specific

24 commitments by the community to be served by the
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1 grant to participate in a program described under

2 paragraph (2).

3 (4) A description of the geographical area to be

4 served.

5 (5) Identification of related initiatives which

6 will complement or be coordinated with a program

7 funded under this Act.

8 (6) An assurance that funds received under this

9 Act will be used to supplement not supplant other

10 Federal funds.

11 SEC. 4. USES OF FUNDS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided under this Act

13 may be used to hire staff, procure equipment, technology,

14 and support systems or pay overtime in the establishment

15 of community-oriented prosecution programs if the eligible

16 entity can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Attorney

17 General that the expenditures would result in a successful

18 reduction in crime.

19 (b) LOCAL MATCH.—The Federal share of a grant

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

21 total costs of the program described in the application sub22 mitted pursuant to section 3(b). The Attorney General

23 may waive, in whole or in part, the requirement of a
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1 matching contribution and may consider in-kind contribu2 tions, fairly valued, in lieu of the local matching require3 ment.

4 SEC. 5. EVALUATIONS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each program or project funded

6 under this Act shall contain a monitoring component de7 veloped pursuant to guidelines established by the Attorney

8 General, including the identification and collection of data

9 regarding the activities and accomplishments of the pro10 gram over the life of the grant award. The Attorney Gen11 eral may require grant recipients to submit written reports

12 which describe the monitoring process and evaluation re13 sults.

14 (b) INFORMATION ACCESS.—The Attorney General

15 shall have access to any pertinent documents or records

16 relating to the program for the purposes of evaluation and

17 audit.

18 (c) REVOCATION OR SUSPENSION.—If the Attorney

19 General determines, as a result of the reviews described

20 in this section, that a grant recipient is not in substantial

21 compliance with the terms and requirements described in

22 this Act, or with the regulations issued by the Attorney

23 General, the Attorney General may revoke or suspend

24 grant funding, in whole or in part after opportunity for

25 a hearing.
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1 SEC. 6. STUDY.

2 Not more than one percent of the funds appropriated

3 to carry out this Act shall be directed to the Attorney Gen4 eral to finance a study evaluating grants made under this

5 Act. At a minimum, this study shall include the following:

6 (1) The number of grant awards made and the

7 amount of each grant.

8 (2) The recipients of grants, including the com9 munities in which they are based.

10 (3) The purposes for which the grants were

11 awarded and used.

12 (4) An evaluation of the achievement of each

13 recipient’s stated goals and objectives.

14 (5) An assessment of the effect the program

15 had in encouraging and supporting coordinated com16 munity action against crime.

17 (6) Specific recommendations for further fund18 ing for each grant recipient.

19 (7) Specific recommendations for future oper20 ations of the grant program and its guidelines.

21 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

23 this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and such sums

24 as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 1999 through

25 2002.

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