I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4026
To provide grants to States to offset costs associated with the Jacob
Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Reg-
istration Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 10, 1998
Mr. BASS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide grants to States to offset costs associated with
the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexu-
ally Violent Offender Registration Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Megan’s Law Imple-
mentation Act’’.
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATES TO OFFSET COSTS ASSOCIATED
WITH 
THE 
JACOB 
WETTERLING 
CRIMES
AGAINST CHILDREN AND SEXUALLY VIOLENT
OFFENDER REGISTRATION ACT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 170101 of the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42
U.S.C. 14071) is amended by—
(1) redesignating the second subsection (g) as
subsection (h); and
(2) adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(i) GRANTS TO STATES TO COMPLY WITH THE
WETTERLING ACT.—
‘‘(1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance shall award a
grant to each eligible State to offset costs di-
rectly associated with complying with the Jacob
Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexu-
ally Violent Offender Registration Act. Such
grant program shall be known as the ‘‘Sex Of-
fender 
Management 
Assistance 
Program
(SOMA)’’.
‘‘(ii) USES
OF
FUNDS.—Grants awarded
under this subsection shall be—
‘‘(I) distributed directly to the State
for distribution to State and local entities;
and
‘‘(II) used for training, salaries,
equipment, materials, and other costs di-
rectly associated with complying with the
Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children
and Sexually Violent Offender Registration
Act.
‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—
‘‘(i) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re-
ceive a grant under this subsection, the chief
executive of a State shall, on an annual basis,
submit an application to the Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance (in such form and
containing such information as the Director
may reasonably require) assuring that—
‘‘(I) the State complies with (or made
a good faith effort to comply with) the
Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children
and Sexually Violent Offender Registration
Act; and
‘‘(II) where applicable, the State has
penalties comparable to or greater than
Federal penalties for crimes listed in such
Act.
The Director of the Bureau of Justice Assist-
ance may waive the requirement of subclause
(II) if a State demonstrates an overriding need
for assistance under this subsection.
‘‘(ii) REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90
days after the date of enactment of this
subsection, the Director shall promulgate
regulations to implement this subsection
(including the information that must be in-
cluded and the requirements that the
States must meet) in submitting the appli-
cations required under this subsection. In
allocating funds under this subsection, the
Director may consider the annual number
of sex offenders registered in each eligible
state’s monitoring and notification pro-
grams.
‘‘(II) 
CERTAIN
TRAINING
PRO-
GRAMS.—Prior to implementing this sub-
section, the Director of the Bureau of Jus-
tice Assistance shall study the feasibility of
incorporating into the SOMA program the
activities of any technical assistance or
training program established as a result of
section 40152 of the Violent Crime Control
and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Public
Law 103–322). In a case in which incor-
porating such activities into the SOMA
program will eliminate duplication of ef-
forts or administrative costs, the Director
shall take administrative actions, as allow-
able, and make recommendations to Con-
gress to incorporate such activities into the
SOMA program prior to implementing the
SOMA program.’’.
(b) STUDY.—The Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance shall conduct a study to assess the efficacy of
the SOMA program and submit recommendations to Con-
gress not later than March 1, 2000.
(c) AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection
(i) of section 170101 of the Violent Crime Control and
Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14211),
$25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999 and 2000.
Æ