I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3544 
To help keep law enforcement officers and communities safer by making 
grants to purchase body worn cameras for use by State, local, and 
tribal law enforcement officers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 
Ms. HAHN (for herself, Mr. FOSTER, and Ms. ESTY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To help keep law enforcement officers and communities safer 
by making grants to purchase body worn cameras for 
use by State, local, and tribal law enforcement officers. 
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 ‘‘Safer Officers and 
Safer Citizens Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) While police body worn cameras are not a 
panacea, they do contribute to keeping both law en-
forcement officers and citizens safer. 
(2) Increasing the use of body worn cameras by 
law enforcement officers has been shown by multiple 
studies to significantly reduce the number of use of 
force incidents and the number of citizen complaints. 
(3) Increased accountability and transparency 
in policing activities will benefit all our citizens, in-
cluding our law enforcement officers. 
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART LL—GRANT PROGRAM FOR BODY WORN 
CAMERAS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS 
‘‘SEC. 3021. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of 
Justice Assistance is authorized to make grants to States, 
units of local government, and Indian tribes to purchase 
body worn cameras for use by State, local, and tribal law 
enforcement officers. 
‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this 
section shall be— 
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‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of 
local government, or Indian tribe; and 
‘‘(2) used for the purchase of— 
‘‘(A) body worn cameras for law enforce-
ment officers; and 
‘‘(B) necessary initial supportive techno-
logical infrastructure for body worn cameras for 
law enforcement officers in the jurisdiction of 
the grantee. 
‘‘(c) PREFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—In awarding 
grants under this part, the Director of the Bureau of Jus-
tice Assistance shall give preferential consideration, if fea-
sible, to an application from a jurisdiction that— 
‘‘(1) has in place a comprehensive policy that 
is— 
‘‘(A) developed in consultation with a 
broad group of criminal justice experts and 
community members, and that contains policies 
and procedures addressing deployment, video 
capture, privacy protections, viewing, use, re-
lease, storage, retention, the effect on commu-
nity-police interactions, and audits and controls; 
‘‘(B) supported by a comprehensive com-
munication and education campaign that in-
volves interested parties in law enforcement, 
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courts, prosecution, the defense bar, civic lead-
ership, labor organizations, victim and juvenile 
advocacy, the media, and the public; and 
‘‘(C) informed by the best practices on 
body worn cameras developed by the Depart-
ment of Justice; 
‘‘(2) has the greatest need for body worn cam-
eras based on the percentage of law enforcement of-
ficers in the department who do not have access to 
a body worn camera; 
‘‘(3) has a violent crime rate at or above the 
national average as determined by the Bureau of 
Justice Statistics; and 
‘‘(4) commits to submitting such metrics on the 
usage of body worn cameras, in such a format and 
at such a time as the Department of Justice shall 
reasonably specify, for the purposes of collecting and 
studying data on the effectiveness of body worn cam-
eras to increase safety for both law enforcement offi-
cers and citizens. 
‘‘(d) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of 
a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may 
not exceed 75 percent. Any funds appropriated by Con-
gress for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal 
government or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing 
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law enforcement functions on any Indian lands may be 
used to provide the non-Federal share of a matching re-
quirement funded under this subsection. 
‘‘SEC. 3022. APPLICATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under this 
part, the chief executive of a State, unit of local govern-
ment, or Indian tribe shall submit an application to the 
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance in such form 
and containing such information as the Director may rea-
sonably require. 
‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this part, the Director of 
the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall promulgate regula-
tions to implement this section, including the information 
that must be included and the requirements that the 
States, units of local government, and Indian tribes must 
meet in submitting the applications required under this 
section. 
‘‘SEC. 3023. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘For purposes of this part— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the same mean-
ing as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina-
tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
450b(e)); 
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‘‘(2) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 
any officer, agent, or employee of a State, unit of 
local government, or Indian tribe authorized by law 
or by a government agency to engage in or supervise 
the prevention, detection, or investigation of any vio-
lation of criminal law, or authorized by law to super-
vise sentenced criminal offenders; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 
of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 
American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana 
Islands; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘unit of local government’ means 
a county, municipality, town, township, village, par-
ish, borough, or other unit of general government 
below the State level. 
‘‘SEC. 3024. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap-
propriated to carry out this part, $100,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2016 through 2021. 
‘‘(b) REMAINING FUNDS.—Any amounts made avail-
able to carry out this part that are unobligated at the end 
of each fiscal year, shall be returned to the general fund 
of the Treasury for debt reduction.’’. 
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SEC. 4. OFFSET. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Office of Personnel Management allows 
for administrative leave as an administratively au-
thorized absence from duty without loss of pay or 
charge to leave, but recognizes that administrative 
leave is not an entitlement, and agencies are not re-
quired to grant it. 
(2) Administrative leave does not include an-
nual leave, maternity leave, sick leave, leave taken in 
accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act 
of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.), or military leave. 
(3) A Government Accountability Office report 
on Federal paid administrative leave detailed data 
from the Office of Personnel Management that 
showed that from fiscal year 2011 through fiscal 
year 2013, about 97 percent of Federal employees 
charged 20 days or less of paid administrative leave, 
although some Federal employees charged between 1 
and 3 years of paid administrative leave. Further, 
Agency officials stated that the most common reason 
for which selected employees charged amounts rel-
atively higher than the agency average was for per-
sonnel matters, such as investigations into alleged 
misconduct. 
(b) REQUIREMENT.— 
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(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 
(A) the term ‘‘administrative leave’’ means 
leave without loss of or reduction in— 
(i) pay; 
(ii) leave to which an employee is oth-
erwise entitled; or 
(iii) credit for time or service; and 
(B) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning 
given the term ‘‘executive agency’’ under sec-
tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 
(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act— 
(A) the Office of Personnel Management 
shall issue regulations limiting administrative 
leave for an employee of any agency to not 
more than 20 days per year, unless approved 
individually by the head of the agency; and 
(B) the Office of Management and Budget 
shall ensure each agency adjusts the number of 
employees (determined on a full-time equivalent 
basis) authorized to be employed by the agency, 
and each component of the agency, to reflect 
lower personnel requirements due to increased 
available work hours per employee. 
Æ 
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