I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2816
To establish a grant program to assist State and local law enforcement
in deterring, investigating, and prosecuting computer crimes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 8, 1999
Mr. SALMON (for himself, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, and Mr. GILMAN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a grant program to assist State and local law
enforcement in deterring, investigating, and prosecuting
computer crimes.
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 ‘‘Computer Crime En-
forcement Act’’.
SEC. 2. STATE GRANT PROGRAM FOR TRAINING AND PROS-
ECUTION OF COMPUTER CRIMES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of
amounts provided in advance in appropriations Acts, the
Office of Justice Programs shall make a grant to each
State, which shall be used by the State, in conjunction
with units of local government, State and local courts,
other States, or combinations thereof in accordance with
subsection (b).
(b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Grants under this
section may be used to establish and develop programs
to—
(1) assist State and local law enforcement agen-
cies in enforcing State and local criminal laws relat-
ing to computer crime;
(2) assist State and local law enforcement agen-
cies in educating the public to prevent and identify
computer crime;
(3) educate and train State and local law en-
forcement officers and prosecutors to conduct inves-
tigations and forensic analyses of evidence and pros-
ecutions of computer crime;
(4) assist State and local law enforcement offi-
cers and prosecutors in acquiring computer and
other equipment to conduct investigations and foren-
sic analysis of evidence of computer crimes; and
(5) facilitate and promote the sharing of Fed-
eral law enforcement expertise and information
about the investigation, analysis, and prosecution of
computer crimes with State and local law enforce-
ment officers and prosecutors, including the use of
multijurisdictional task forces.
(c) ASSURANCES.—To be eligible to receive a grant
under this section, a State shall provide assurances to the
Attorney General that the State—
(1) has in effect laws that penalize computer
crime, such as criminal laws prohibiting—
(A) fraudulent schemes executed by means
of a computer system or network;
(B) the unlawful damaging, destroying, al-
tering, deleting, removing of computer software,
or data contained in a computer, computer sys-
tem, computer program, or computer network;
or
(C) the unlawful interference with the op-
eration of or denial of access to a computer,
computer program, computer system, or com-
puter network;
(2) an assessment of the State and local re-
source needs, including criminal justice resources
being devoted to the investigation and enforcement
of computer crime laws; and
(3) a plan for coordinating the programs fund-
ed under this section with other federally funded
technical assistant and training programs, including
directly funded local programs such as the Local
Law Enforcement Block Grant program (described
under the heading ‘‘Violent Crime Reduction Pro-
grams, State and Local Law Enforcement Assist-
ance’’ of the Departments of Commerce, Justice,
and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Ap-
propriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–119)).
(d) MATCHING FUNDS.—The Federal share of a
grant received under this section may not exceed 90 per-
cent of the costs of a program or proposal funded under
this section unless the Attorney General waives, wholly or
in part, the requirements of this subsection.
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000
for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2003.
(2) LIMITATIONS.—Of the amount made avail-
able to carry out this section in any fiscal year not
more than 3 percent may be used by the Attorney
General for salaries and administrative expenses.
(3) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Unless all eligible ap-
plications submitted by any State or unit of local
government within such State for a grant under this
section have been funded, such State, together with
grantees within the State (other than Indian tribes),
shall be allocated in each fiscal year under this sec-
tion not less than 0.75 percent of the total amount
appropriated in the fiscal year for grants pursuant
to this section, except that the United States Virgin
Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern
Mariana Islands each shall be allocated 0.25 per-
cent.
(f) GRANTS TO INDIAN TRIBES.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of this section, the Attorney General
may use amounts made available under this section to
make grants to Indian tribes for use in accordance with
this section.
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