I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5913 
To establish a pilot program for law enforcement agencies to use anonymous 
texts from citizens to augment their anonymous tip hotlines. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2010 
Mr. PAULSEN (for himself and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To establish a pilot program for law enforcement agencies 
to use anonymous texts from citizens to augment their 
anonymous tip hotlines. 
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 ‘‘Text a Tip Act of 
2010’’. 
SEC. 2. A PILOT PROGRAM FOR TEXTING CRIME TIPS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 
grants to State or local law enforcement agencies to imple-
ment an anonymous tip program using cell phone text 
messaging that comply with the requirements of this Act. 
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(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or local law enforce-
ment agency that receives a grant under this Act shall 
use amounts provided under the grant to develop, imple-
ment, or expand the anonymous tip system using cell 
phone text messaging which may include payment of the 
following expenses: 
(1) Salaries, personnel, training, technology, 
and other costs directly related to the operation of 
the program, including reward money. 
(2) Promotion of the program including public 
service announcements, printed advertisements, and 
other forms of marketing. 
(c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of a grant 
under this Act shall not exceed 75 percent of the cost of 
the program. 
(d) SUPPLEMENT
AND
NOT
SUPPLANT.—Grant 
amounts received under this Act shall be used to supple-
ment, and not supplant, non-Federal funds that would 
otherwise be available for activities funded under this Act. 
SEC. 3. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. 
A texting tip program of a State or local law enforce-
ment agency eligible for a grant under this Act shall com-
ply with the following requirements: 
(1) The State or local law enforcement agency 
shall administer the program. 
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(2) The incoming text messages shall be 
stripped of any identifying information before it is 
transmitted to the law enforcement agency through 
a verifiable technology or third party. 
(3) The text tip shall not be traceable by any 
means. 
(4) The texting program shall not replace any 
existing 1–800 tip hotlines. 
(5) The law enforcement agency shall train suf-
ficient personnel to intercept and respond to the text 
tips. 
(6) The law enforcement agency shall, to the 
extent possible, make this program compatible with 
most mobile phone providers. 
(7) The texting program should include a un-
identifiable code that can be given to the tipster if 
they want to send follow up information to the law 
enforcement agency, allowing for increased con-
tinuity and more accurate information. 
(8) The texting program shall include a feature 
to abort a tip while it is in the process of being 
given. 
(9) The law enforcement agency shall not im-
pose any additional fees on the tipster’s mobile 
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phone. Only standard messaging rates from the tip-
ster’s mobile phone provider shall apply. 
(10) The law enforcement agency shall, to the 
extent possible, promote the texting program to en-
courage citizens, especially youth, to participate in 
the program. 
SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under this 
Act, a State or local law enforcement agency shall submit 
an application to the Attorney General in such form and 
containing such information as the Attorney General may 
reasonably require. 
(b) CERTIFICATIONS.—Each application for a grant 
under this Act shall contain the certification of the State 
or local law enforcement agency that the program for 
which the grant is requested meets each of the require-
ments of this Act. 
SEC. 5. REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS. 
(a) RECIPIENTS.—For each fiscal year, each recipient 
of a grant under this Act during that fiscal year shall sub-
mit to the Attorney General a report on a date specified 
by the Attorney General— 
(1) regarding the effectiveness of activities car-
ried out using that grant; and 
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(2) including an evaluation in such form and 
containing such information as the Attorney General 
may reasonably require. 
(b) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 
shall submit a yearly report on the effectiveness on the 
activities carried out under this Act to the Committees on 
the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘texting tip program’’ means a 
program that— 
(A) allows citizens to text tips anony-
mously to a law enforcement agency to aid in 
criminal justice; 
(B) strips texts of identifying information; 
and 
(C) is used by a law enforcement agency to 
prevent and solve crimes. 
(2) The term ‘‘texting’’ means sending written 
messages from a mobile phone. Texts is the plural 
form of text messages. 
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SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attor-
ney General to carry out this Act $5,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2011 through 2016. 
Æ 
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