I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4999
To control crime by providing law enforcement block grants.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 2000
Mr. MCCOLLUM (for himself and Mr. FLETCHER) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To control crime by providing law enforcement block grants.
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 ‘‘Local Government Law
Enforcement Block Grants Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) PAYMENT AND USE.—
(1) PAYMENT.—The Director of the Bureau of
Justice Assistance shall pay to each unit of local
government which qualifies for a payment under this
Act an amount equal to the sum of any amounts al-
located to such unit under this Act for each payment
period. The Director shall pay such amount from
amounts appropriated to carry out this Act.
(2) USE.—Amounts paid to a unit of local gov-
ernment under this section shall be used by the unit
for reducing crime and improving public safety, in-
cluding but not limited to, 1 or more of the following
purposes:
(A)(i) Hiring, training, and employing on a
continuing basis new, additional law enforce-
ment officers and necessary support personnel.
(ii) Paying overtime to presently employed
law enforcement officers and necessary support
personnel for the purpose of increasing the
number of hours worked by such personnel.
(iii) Procuring equipment, technology, and
other material directly related to basic law en-
forcement functions.
(B) Enhancing security measures—
(i) in and around schools; and
(ii) in and around any other facility or
location which is considered by the unit of
local government to have a special risk for
incidents of crime.
(C) Establishing crime prevention pro-
grams that may, though not exclusively, involve
(II) substance abuse treatment
for each participant;
(III) probation, or other super-
vised release involving the possibility
of prosecution, confinement, or incar-
ceration based on noncompliance with
program requirements or failure to
show satisfactory progress; and
(IV) 
programmatic, 
offender
management, and aftercare services
such as relapse prevention, vocational
job training, job placement, and hous-
ing placement.
(b) PROHIBITED USES.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of this Act, a unit of local government may not
expend any of the funds provided under this Act to pur-
chase, lease, rent, or otherwise acquire—
(1) tanks or armored personnel carriers;
(2) fixed wing aircraft;
(3) limousines;
(4) real estate;
(5) yachts;
(6) consultants; or
(7) vehicles not primarily used for law enforce-
ment;
unless the Attorney General certifies that extraordinary
and exigent circumstances exist that make the use of
funds for such purposes essential to the maintenance of
public safety and good order in such unit of local govern-
ment.
(c) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Director shall pay
each unit of local government that has submitted an appli-
cation under this Act not later than—
(1) 90 days after the date that the amount is
available, or
(2) the first day of the payment period if the
unit of local government has provided the Director
with the assurances required by section 4(c),
whichever is later.
(d) ADJUSTMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),
the Director shall adjust a payment under this Act
to a unit of local government to the extent that a
prior payment to the unit of local government was
more or less than the amount required to be paid.
(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director may in-
crease or decrease under this subsection a payment
to a unit of local government only if the Director de-
termines the need for the increase or decrease, or if
the unit requests the increase or decrease, not later
than 1 year after the end of the payment period for
which a payment was made.
(e) RESERVATION FOR ADJUSTMENT.—The Director
may reserve a percentage of not more than 2 percent of
the amount under this section for a payment period for
all units of local government in a State if the Director
considers the reserve is necessary to ensure the availability
of sufficient amounts to pay adjustments after the final
allocation of amounts among the units of local government
in the State.
(f) REPAYMENT OF UNEXPENDED AMOUNTS.—
(1) REPAYMENT
REQUIRED.—A unit of local
government shall repay to the Director, by not later
than 27 months after receipt of funds from the Di-
rector, any amount that is—
(A) paid to the unit from amounts appro-
priated under the authority of this section; and
(B) not expended by the unit within 2
years after receipt of such funds from the Di-
rector.
(2) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO REPAY.—If the
amount required to be repaid is not repaid, the Di-
rector shall reduce payment in future payment peri-
ods accordingly.
(3) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS REPAID.—Amounts
received by the Director as repayments under this
subsection shall be deposited in a designated fund
for future payments to units of local government.
Any amounts remaining in such designated fund
after 5 years following the enactment of the Local
Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Act of
2000 shall be applied to the Federal deficit or, if
there is no Federal deficit, to reducing the Federal
debt.
(g) NONSUPPLANTING REQUIREMENT.—Funds made
available under this Act to units of local government shall
not be used to supplant State or local funds, but shall
be used to increase the amount of funds that would, in
the absence of funds made available under this Act, be
made available from State or local sources.
(h) MATCHING FUNDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), the Federal share of a grant received
under this Act may not exceed 90 percent of the
costs of a program or proposal funded under this
Act.
(2) EXCEPTION FOR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.—
The Director may increase the Federal share under
paragraph (1) up to 100 percent for a unit of local
government upon a showing of financial hardship by
such unit.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act—
(1) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;
(2) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;
(3) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2003;
(4) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; and
(5) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
(b) OVERSIGHT ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRA-
TION.—Not more than 3 percent of the amount authorized
to be appropriated under subsection (a) for each of the
fiscal years 2001 through 2005 shall be available to the
Attorney General for studying the overall effectiveness and
efficiency of the provisions of this Act, and assuring com-
pliance with the provisions of this Act and for administra-
tive costs to carry out the purposes of this Act. The Attor-
ney General shall establish and execute an oversight plan
for monitoring the activities of grant recipients. Such
sums are to remain available until expended.
(c) TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney Gen-
eral shall reserve 1 percent in each of fiscal years 2001
through 2003 of the amount authorized to be appropriated
under subsection (a) for use by the National Institute of
Justice in assisting local units to identify, select, develop,
modernize, and purchase new technologies for use by law
enforcement.
(d) AVAILABILITY.—The amounts authorized to be
appropriated under subsection (a) shall remain available
until expended.
SEC. 4. QUALIFICATION FOR PAYMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall issue regula-
tions establishing procedures under which a unit of local
government is required to provide notice to the Director
regarding the proposed use of funds made available under
this Act.
(b) PROGRAM REVIEW.—The Director shall establish
a process for the ongoing evaluation of projects developed
with funds made available under this Act.
(c) GENERAL
REQUIREMENTS
FOR
QUALIFICA-
TION.—A unit of local government qualifies for a payment
under this Act for a payment period only if the unit of
local government submits an application to the Director
and establishes, to the satisfaction of the Director, that—
(1) the unit of local government has established
a local advisory board that—
(A) includes, but is not limited to, a rep-
resentative from—
(i) the local police department or local
sheriff’s department;
(ii) the local prosecutor’s office;
(iii) the local court system;
(iv) the local public school system;
and
(v) a local nonprofit, educational, reli-
gious, or community group active in crime
prevention or drug use prevention or treat-
ment;
(B) has reviewed the application; and
(C) is designated to make nonbinding rec-
ommendations to the unit of local government
for the use of funds received under this Act;
(2) the chief executive officer of the State has
had not less than 20 days to review and comment
on the application prior to submission to the Direc-
tor;
(3)(A) the unit of local government will estab-
lish a trust fund in which the government will de-
posit all payments received under this Act; and
(B) the unit of local government will use
amounts in the trust fund (including interest) dur-
ing a period not to exceed 2 years from the date the
first grant payment is made to the unit of local gov-
ernment;
(4) the unit of local government will expend the
payments received in accordance with the laws and
procedures that are applicable to the expenditure of
revenues of the unit of local government;
(5) the unit of local government will use ac-
counting, audit, and fiscal procedures that conform
to guidelines which shall be prescribed by the Direc-
tor after consultation with the Comptroller General
and as applicable, amounts received under this Act
shall be audited in compliance with the Single Audit
Act of 1984;
(6) after reasonable notice from the Director or
the Comptroller General to the unit of local govern-
ment, the unit of local government will make avail-
able to the Director and the Comptroller General,
with the right to inspect, records that the Director
reasonably requires to review compliance with this
Act or that the Comptroller General reasonably re-
quires to review compliance and operation;
(7) a designated official of the unit of local gov-
ernment shall make reports the Director reasonably
requires, in addition to the annual reports required
under this Act;
(8) the unit of local government will spend the
funds made available under this Act only for the
purposes set forth in section 2(a)(2);
(9) the unit of local government will achieve a
net gain in the number of law enforcement officers
who perform nonadministrative public safety service
if such unit uses funds received under this Act to in-
crease the number of law enforcement officers as de-
scribed under subparagraph (A) of section 2(a)(2);
(10) the unit of local government—
(A) has an adequate process to assess the
impact of any enhancement of a school security
measure that is undertaken under subpara-
graph (B) of section 2(a)(2), or any crime pre-
vention programs that are established under
subparagraphs (C) and (E) of section 2(a)(2),
on the incidence of crime in the geographic area
where the enhancement is undertaken or the
program is established;
(B) will conduct such an assessment with
respect to each such enhancement or program;
and
(C) will submit an annual written assess-
ment report to the Director; and
(11) the unit of local government has estab-
lished procedures to give members of the Armed
Forces who, on or after October 1, 1990, were or
are selected for involuntary separation (as described
in section 1141 of title 10, United States Code), ap-
proved for separation under section 1174a or 1175
of such title, or retired pursuant to the authority
provided under section 4403 of the Defense Conver-
sion, Reinvestment, and Transition Assistance Act of
1992 (division D of Public Law 102–484; 10 U.S.C.
1293 note), a suitable preference in the employment
of persons as additional law enforcement officers or
support personnel using funds made available under
this Act. The nature and extent of such employment
preference shall be jointly established by the Attor-
ney General and the Secretary of Defense. To the
extent practicable, the Director shall endeavor to in-
form members who were separated between October
1, 1990, and the date of the enactment of this sec-
tion of their eligibility for the employment pref-
erence;
(d) SANCTIONS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Director determines
that a unit of local government has not complied
substantially with the requirements or regulations
prescribed under subsections (a) and (c), the Direc-
tor shall notify the unit of local government that if
the unit of local government does not take corrective
action within 60 days of such notice, the Director
will withhold additional payments to the unit of local
government for the current and future payment peri-
ods until the Director is satisfied that the unit of
local government—
(A) has taken the appropriate corrective
action; and
(B) will comply with the requirements and
regulations prescribed under subsections (a)
and (c).
(2) NOTICE.—Before giving notice under para-
graph (1), the Director shall give the chief executive
officer of the unit of local government reasonable no-
tice and an opportunity for comment.
(e) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT REQUIREMENT.—A
unit of local government qualifies for a payment under this
Act for a payment period only if the unit’s expenditures
on law enforcement services (as reported by the Bureau
of the Census) for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year
in which the payment period occurs were not less than
90 percent of the unit’s expenditures on such services for
the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which
the payment period occurs.
SEC. 5. ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.
(a) STATE SET-ASIDE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the total amounts appro-
priated for this Act for each payment period, the Di-
rector shall allocate for units of local government in
each State an amount that bears the same ratio to
such total as the average annual number of part 1
violent crimes reported by such State to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation for the 3 most recent cal-
endar years for which such data is available, bears
to the number of part 1 violent crimes reported by
all States to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
such years.
(2) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.—Each State shall
receive not less than .25 percent of the total
amounts appropriated under section 3 under this
subsection for each payment period.
(3) PROPORTIONAL
REDUCTION.—If amounts
available to carry out paragraph (2) for any pay-
ment period are insufficient to pay in full the total
payment that any State is otherwise eligible to re-
ceive under paragraph (1) for such period, then the
Director shall reduce payments under paragraph (1)
for such payment period to the extent of such insuf-
ficiency. Reductions under the preceding sentence
shall be allocated among the States (other than
States whose payment is determined under para-
graph (2)) in the same proportions as amounts
would be allocated under paragraph (1) without re-
gard to paragraph (2).
(b) LOCAL DISTRIBUTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount reserved
for each State under subsection (a), the Director
shall allocate—
(A) among reporting units of local govern-
ment the reporting units’ share of such reserved
amount, and
(B) among nonreporting units of local gov-
ernment the nonreporting units’ share of the re-
served amount.
(2) AMOUNTS.—
(A) The reporting units’ share of the re-
served amount is the amount equal to the prod-
uct of such reserved amount multiplied by the
percentage which the population living in re-
porting units of local government in the State
bears to the population of all units of local gov-
ernment in the State.
(B) The nonreporting units’ share of the
reserved amount is the reserved amount re-
duced by the reporting units’ share of the re-
served amount.
(3) ALLOCATION TO EACH REPORTING UNIT.—
From the reporting units’ share of the reserved
amount for each State under subsection (a), the Di-
rector shall allocate to each reporting unit of local
government an amount which bears the same ratio
to such share as the average annual number of part
1 violent crimes reported by such unit to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation for the 3 most recent cal-
endar years for which such data is available bears to
the number of part 1 violent crimes reported by all
units of local government in the State in which the
unit is located to the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion for such years.
(4) ALLOCATION
TO
EACH
NONREPORTING
UNIT.—From the nonreporting units’ share of the
reserved amount for each State under subsection
(a), the Director shall allocate to each nonreporting
unit of local government an amount which bears the
same ratio to such share as the average number of
part 1 violent crimes of like governmental units in
the same population class as such unit bears to the
average annual imputed number of part 1 violent
crimes of all nonreporting units in the State for the
3 most recent calendar years.
(5) LIMITATION ON ALLOCATIONS.—A unit of
local government shall not receive an allocation
which exceeds 100 percent of such unit’s expendi-
tures on law enforcement services as reported by the
Bureau of the Census for the most recent fiscal
year. Any amount in excess of 100 percent of such
unit’s expenditures on law enforcement services shall
be distributed proportionally among units of local
government whose allocation does not exceed 100
percent of expenditures on law enforcement services.
(6) 
DEFINITIONS.—For 
purposes 
of 
this
subsection—
(A) The term ‘reporting unit of local gov-
ernment’ means any unit of local government
that reported part 1 violent crimes to the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation for the 3 most re-
cent calendar years for which such data is avail-
able.
(B) The term ‘nonreporting unit of local
government’ means any unit of local govern-
ment which is not a reporting unit of local gov-
ernment.
(C)(i) The term ‘like governmental units’
means any like unit of local government as de-
fined by the Secretary of Commerce for general
statistical purposes, and means—
(I) all counties are treated as like gov-
ernmental units;
(II) all cities are treated as like gov-
ernmental units;
(III) all townships are treated as like
governmental units.
(ii) Similar rules shall apply to other types
of governmental units.
(D) The term ‘same population class’
means a like unit within the same population
category as another like unit with the categories
determined as follows:
(i) 0 through 9,999.
(ii) 10,000 through 49,999.
(iii) 50,000 through 149,999.
(iv) 150,000 through 299,999.
(v) 300,000 or more.
(7) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WITH ALLOCATIONS
OF LESS THAN $10,000.—If under paragraph (3) or
(4) a unit of local government is allotted less than
$10,000 for the payment period, the amount allotted
(i) the attorney general of a State certifies
that a unit of local government under the juris-
diction of the State bears more than 50 percent
of the costs of prosecution or incarceration that
arise with respect to part 1 violent crimes re-
ported by a specified geographically constituent
unit of local government, and
(ii) but for this paragraph, the amount of
funds allocated under this section to—
(I) any one such specified geographi-
cally constituent unit of local government
exceeds 200 percent of the amount allo-
cated to the unit of local government cer-
tified pursuant to clause (i), or
(II) more than one such specified geo-
graphically constituent unit of local gov-
ernment (excluding units of local govern-
ment referred to subclause I and in para-
graph (7)), exceeds 400 percent of the
amount allocated to the unit of local gov-
ernment certified pursuant to clause (i)
and the attorney general of the State de-
termines that such allocation is likely to
threaten the efficient administration of jus-
tice,
then in order to qualify for payment under this Act,
the unit of local government certified pursuant to
clause (i), together with any such specified geo-
graphically constituent units of local government de-
scribed in clause (ii), shall submit to the Director a
joint application for the aggregate of funds allocated
to such units of local government. Such application
shall specify the amount of such funds that are to
be distributed to each of the units of local govern-
ment and the purposes for which such funds are to
be used. The units of local government involved may
establish a joint local advisory board for the pur-
poses of carrying out this paragraph.
(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘‘geographically
constituent unit of local government’’ means a unit
of local government that has jurisdiction over areas
located within the boundaries of an area over which
a unit of local government certified pursuant to
clause (i) has jurisdiction.
(c) UNAVAILABILITY AND INACCURACY OF INFORMA-
TION.—
(1) DATA FOR STATES.—For purposes of this
section, if data regarding part 1 violent crimes in
any State for the 3 most recent calendar years is
unavailable or substantially inaccurate, the Director
shall utilize the best available comparable data re-
garding the number of violent crimes for such years
for such State for the purposes of allocation of any
funds under this Act.
(2) POSSIBLE INACCURACY OF DATA FOR UNITS
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—In addition to the provi-
sions of paragraph (1), if the Director believes that
the reported rate of part 1 violent crimes for a unit
of local government is inaccurate, the Director
shall—
(A) investigate the methodology used by
such unit to determine the accuracy of the sub-
mitted data; and
(B) when necessary, use the best available
comparable data regarding the number of vio-
lent crimes for such years for such unit of local
government.
SEC. 6. UTILIZATION OF PRIVATE SECTOR.
Funds or a portion of funds allocated under this Act
may be utilized to contract with private, nonprofit entities
or community-based organizations to carry out the pur-
poses specified under section 2(a)(2).
SEC. 7. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A unit of local government ex-
pending payments under this Act shall hold not less than
1 public hearing on the proposed use of the payment from
the Director in relation to its entire budget.
(b) VIEWS.—At the hearing, persons shall be given
an opportunity to provide written and oral views to the
unit of local government authority responsible for enacting
the budget and to ask questions about the entire budget
and the relation of the payment from the Director to the
entire budget.
(c) TIME AND PLACE.—The unit of local government
shall hold the hearing at a time and place that allows and
encourages public attendance and participation.
SEC. 8. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.
The administrative provisions of part H of the Omni-
bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, shall
apply to this Act and for purposes of this section any ref-
erence in such provisions to title I of the Omnibus Crime
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 shall be deemed to
be a reference to this Act.
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘unit of local government’’
means—
(A) a county, township, city, or political
subdivision of a county, township, or city, that
is a unit of local government as determined by
the Secretary of Commerce for general statis-
tical purposes; and
(B) the District of Columbia and the rec-
ognized governing body of an Indian tribe or
Alaskan Native village that carries out substan-
tial governmental duties and powers.
(2) The term ‘‘payment period’’ means each 1-
year period beginning on October 1 of any year in
which a grant under this Act is awarded.
(3) The term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Amer-
ican Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, except that American Samoa. Guam, and the
Northern Mariana Islands shall be considered as 1
State and that, for purposes of section 5(a), 33 per-
cent of the amounts allocated shall be allocated to
American Samoa, 50 percent to Guam, and 17 per-
cent to the Northern Mariana Islands.
(4) The term ‘‘juvenile’’ means an individual
who is 17 years of age or younger.
(5) The term ‘‘part 1 violent crimes’’ means
murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible
rape, robbery, and aggravated assault as reported to
the Federal Bureau of Investigation for purposes of
the Uniform Crime Reports.
(6) The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of
the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
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