I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 232 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

prioritize veterans court treatment programs that ensure equal access 

for racial and ethnic minorities and women, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2023 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to prioritize veterans court treatment programs that ensure equal access for racial and ethnic 

minorities and women, 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 ‘‘Real Justice for Our 

5 Veterans Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EQUAL ACCESS TO VETERANS COURT TREATMENT 

2 PROGRAMS FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC MI3 NORITIES AND WOMEN. 

4 Section 2991(i)(2) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

5 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651(i)(2)) is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 

8 after the date of enactment of this subpara9 graph, the Attorney General shall submit to 

10 Congress a report on the effectiveness of vet11 erans treatment court programs. In preparing 

12 such a report, the Attorney General shall con13 duct a national multi-site evaluation of such 

14 programs, including an assessment of— 

15 ‘‘(i) the population served by such 

16 programs; 

17 ‘‘(ii) whether such programs use evi18 dence-based treatments for substance use 

19 and mental health, including medication 

20 for addiction treatment; 

21 ‘‘(iii) recidivism rates of participants 

22 in such programs; 

23 ‘‘(iv) program completion rates; and 

24 ‘‘(v) whether racial and ethnic minori25 ties and women have equal access to such 

26 programs and an equal opportunity to 


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1 complete such programs, including by col2 lecting and analyzing data related to ad3 mission in such programs and completion 

4 of such programs, to ensure there are not 

5 disparities related to race, ethnicity, or 

6 sex.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. VETERANS PILOT PROGRAM ON PROMISING RETEN8 TION MODELS. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General, acting 

10 through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, 

11 shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to eligible 

12 units of local government to improve retention in veterans 

13 treatment court programs (as such term is defined in sec14 tion 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

15 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)) and drug court programs. 

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible for a grant 

17 under subsection (a), a unit of local government shall op18 erate a veterans treatment court program or a drug court. 

19 (c) APPLICATION.—A unit of local government seek20 ing a grant through the pilot program under subsection 

21 (a) shall submit to the Attorney General an application 

22 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor23 mation as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 

24 including— 


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1 (1) a description of the therapeutic or treat2 ment modality that the unit of local government 

3 plans to implement and data to support the use of 

4 the therapeutic or treatment modality, including in5 formation showing how the therapeutic or treatment 

6 modality will promote retention in and completion of 

7 veterans treatment court programs and drug court 

8 programs; and 

9 (2) detailed plans on how the applicant would 

10 test the efficacy of the therapeutic or treatment mo11 dality. 

12 (d) REPORTING METRICS.—Not later than 180 days 

13 after receiving a grant under subsection (a), a unit of local 

14 government shall submit to the Attorney General a report, 

15 which includes demographic information of participants in 

16 the veterans treatment court program, and completion 

17 rates of such participants. The Attorney General shall de18 velop guidelines for the report required under this sub19 section. 

20 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of fis22 cal years 2023 through 2028 to carry out this section. 

23 SEC. 4. ADMISSION OF VETERANS TO DRUG COURTS. 

24 In the case of a jurisdiction that does not operate 

25 a veterans treatment court program (as such term is deVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232

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1 fined in section 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

2 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)), but that 

3 does operate a drug court under part EE of the Omnibus 

4 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

5 10611 et seq.), a veteran who would be eligible to partici6 pate in a veterans treatment court program may partici7 pate in the drug court, including a veteran who is a violent 

8 offender (as such term is defined in section 2953(a) of 

9 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

10 (34 U.S.C. 10613(a))). 

Æ 


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