I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5298 
To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and localities 
to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to eviction, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 4, 2019 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. EVANS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States 
and localities to provide the right to counsel in civil 
actions related to eviction, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Eviction Prevention 
Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATES AND UNITS OF GENERAL 
LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE ACCESS 
TO COUNSEL IN CIVIL ACTIONS RELATED TO 
EVICTION. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au-
thorized to make grants to States and units of general 
local government to provide eligible individuals access to 
counsel in civil actions related to eviction. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or unit of general local 
government that receives a grant under this section shall 
use such funds to hire attorneys in positions that are dedi-
cated solely to providing counsel described in subsection 
(a). 
(c) APPLICATION.—A State or unit of general local 
government seeking an application under this section shall 
submit an application to the Attorney General at such 
time, in such manner, and containing such information as 
the Attorney General may reasonably require, including— 
(1) the rate of eviction for that State or unit 
of general local government; 
(2) during the previous year, the number of in-
dividuals subject to eviction in that State or unit of 
general local government who were not represented 
by an attorney in eviction proceedings; 
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(3) a plan for how the State or unit of general 
local government will use amounts from a grant 
under this section to increase access to counsel; and 
(4) the status with respect of the right to coun-
sel in civil actions related to eviction in the State or 
unit of general local government and, if the State or 
unit of general local government does not have in ef-
fect laws providing a right to counsel, such evidence 
as the Attorney General may require that is suffi-
cient to demonstrate that substantial progress has 
been made to enact laws providing such a right. 
(d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—Subject to the availability 
of appropriations, a grant under this section shall be in 
an amount that is not less than $1,000,000, and which 
amount is determined based on— 
(1) the rate of eviction in the applicant State 
or unit of general local government, compared to the 
national average rate of eviction, as determined by 
the rates of eviction included with each application 
under subsection (c); 
(2) the plan submitted by the applicant State or 
unit of general local government in accordance with 
subsection (c)(3); 
(3) the status of right to counsel in applicant 
State or unit of general local government; and 
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(4) during the previous year, the number of in-
dividuals subject to eviction in the applicant State or 
unit of general local government who were not rep-
resented by an attorney in eviction proceedings. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-
nitions shall apply: 
(1) ACCESS TO COUNSEL.—The term ‘‘access to 
counsel’’ means full representation by an attorney. 
(2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 
individual’’ means an individual whose income is less 
than 125 percent of the Federal poverty level. 
(3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 
States of the United States, the District of Colum-
bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com-
monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 
the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 
territory or possession of the United States. 
(4) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.— 
The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means 
any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or 
other general purpose political subdivision of a 
State. 
(5) RATE
OF
EVICTION.—The term ‘‘rate of 
eviction’’ means the number of judgments of eviction 
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entered in that jurisdiction per capita during the 
previous fiscal year. 
(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$125,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR COLLECTION OF EVICTION DATA. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au-
thorized to make grants to States and units of local gov-
ernment to collect and provide to the Attorney General 
eviction data described in subsection (b). 
(b) EVICTION DATA DESCRIBED.—The eviction data 
described in this subsection is the eviction data for the 
applicable jurisdiction during the most recent 3 years, 
which shall include the 3-year eviction filing rate, number 
of eviction filings at a given property, the name of the 
current owner, the name of the lead plaintiff, the race of 
the lead plaintiff and defendant, the type of property (sin-
gle-family residential, two-family residential, or multi-fam-
ily residential), whether the unit’s rent was assisted or 
subsidized, the number of units, the nature of the eviction, 
the reason for eviction (including nonpayment of rent and 
breach of lease), the number of days the tenant is given 
to vacate, the status of representation of the lead plaintiff 
and defendant, the outcome of the eviction (including 
whether the tenant remains in possession, whether an 
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order of eviction is officially placed on the record, whether 
the landlord is ordered to make repairs, and whether the 
landlord or tenant are ordered to pay any amount of 
money to the other), the date of any rescission of such 
eviction, and if an eviction was ordered, how many days 
from such order until termination of the lease. 
(c) PUBLICATION OF DATA.—The Attorney General 
shall make the information reported under subsection (a) 
publicly available online. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fis-
cal years 2021 through 2025. 
SEC. 4. GAO STUDY. 
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
States shall conduct a study and submit a report to Con-
gress on evictions in the United States, including an anal-
ysis of ways in which the legal system fails to provide suf-
ficient protections from eviction for tenants, the rate of 
representation of tenants and landlords, the effect of full 
representation on default rates, case outcomes, and evic-
tion dockets as compared to cases where the tenant lacks 
representation or has pro se assistance, and the potential 
cost savings from providing representation. 
Æ 
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