(A) For purposes of paragraph (1), an ad-
judication as a mental defective occurs when a
court, board, commission, or other government
entity determines that a person, as a result of
marked subnormal intelligence, or mental ill-
ness, incompetency, condition, or disease—
(i) is a danger to himself or to others;
or
(ii) lacks the mental capacity to con-
tract or manage his own affairs.
(B) The term ‘‘adjudicated as a mental de-
fective’’ includes—
(i) a finding of insanity by a court in
a criminal case; and
(ii) a finding that a person is incom-
petent to stand trial or is not guilty by
reason of lack of mental responsibility pur-
suant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uni-
form Code of Military Justice (10 U.S.C.
850a, 876b).
(C) EXCEPTIONS.—This paragraph does
not apply to—
(i) a person—
(I) in a mental institution for ob-
servation; or
(II) voluntarily committed to a
mental institution; or
(ii) information protected by doctor-
patient privilege.
(4) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.—For any informa-
tion provided under the national instant criminal
background check system, the Attorney General
shall work with States and local law enforcement
and the mental health community to establish regu-
lations and protocols for protecting the privacy of in-
formation provided to the system. In the event of a
conflict between a provision of this Act and a provi-
sion of State law relating to privacy protection, the
provision of State law shall control.
(5) STATE AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any
other provision of this subsection, a State may des-
ignate that records transmitted under this sub-
section shall be used only to determine eligibility to
purchase or possess a firearm.
(c) ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT.—Not later than
January 31 of each year, the Attorney General shall sub-
mit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
resentatives a report on the progress of States in auto-
mating the databases containing the information described
in subsection (b) and in providing that information pursu-
ant to the requirements of such subsection.
SEC. 103. IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to
carry out this section, the Attorney General shall make
grants to each State, in a manner consistent with the na-
tional criminal history improvement program, which shall
be used by the State, in conjunction with units of local
government and State and local courts, to establish or up-
grade information and identification technologies for fire-
arms eligibility determinations.
(b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Grants under this
section may only be awarded for the following purposes:
(1) Building databases that are directly related
to checks under the national instant criminal
background check system (NICS), including court
disposition and corrections records.
(2) Assisting States in establishing or enhanc-
ing 
their 
own 
capacities 
to 
perform 
NICS
background checks.
(3) Improving final dispositions of criminal
records.
(4) Supplying mental health records to NICS.
(5) Supplying court-ordered domestic restrain-
ing orders and records of domestic violence mis-
demeanors (as defined in section 102 of this Act) for
inclusion in NICS.
(c) CONDITION.—As a condition of receiving a grant
under this section, a State shall specify the projects for
which grant amounts will be used, and shall use such
amounts only as specified. A State that violates this sec-
tion shall be liable to the Attorney General for the full
amount granted.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section
$250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004, 2005, and
2006.
(e) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall not
charge a user fee for background checks pursuant to sec-
tion 922(t) of title 18, United States Code.
TITLE II—FOCUSING FEDERAL
ASSISTANCE 
ON 
THE 
IM-
PROVEMENT 
OF 
RELEVANT
RECORDS
SEC. 201. CONTINUING EVALUATIONS.
(a) EVALUATION REQUIRED.—The Director of the
Bureau of Justice Statistics shall study and evaluate the
operations of the national instant criminal background
check system. Such study and evaluation shall include, but
not be limited to, compilations and analyses of the oper-
ations and record systems of the agencies and organiza-
tions participating in such system.
(b) REPORT ON GRANTS.—Not later than January
31 of each year, the Director shall submit to Congress
a report on the implementation of section 102(b).
(c) REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than
January 31 of each year, the Director shall submit to Con-
gress, and to each State participating in the National
Criminal History Improvement Program, a report of the
practices of the States regarding the collection, mainte-
nance, automation, and transmittal of identifying informa-
tion relating to individuals described in subsection (g) or
(n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code, by the
State or any other agency, or any other records relevant
to the national instant criminal background check system,
that the Director considers to be best practices.
TITLE III—GRANTS TO STATE
COURTS FOR THE IMPROVE-
MENT IN AUTOMATION AND
TRANSMITTAL 
OF 
DISPOSI-
TION RECORDS
SEC. 301. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.
(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to
carry out this section, the Attorney General shall make
grants to each State for use by the chief judicial officer
of the State to improve the handling of proceedings related
to criminal history dispositions and restraining orders.
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts granted under this
section shall be used by the chief judicial officer only as
follows:
(1) For fiscal year 2004, such amounts shall be
used to carry out assessments of the capabilities of
the courts of the State for the automation and
transmission to State and Federal record reposi-
tories the arrest and conviction records of such
courts.
(2) For fiscal years after 2004, such amounts
shall be used to implement policies, systems, and
procedures for the automation and transmission to
State and Federal record repositories the arrest and
conviction records of such courts.
(c) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General
to carry out this section $125,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Passed the House of Representatives October 15,
2002.
Attest:
Clerk.