I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1238
To authorize the Attorney General to carry out a program, known as the 
Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds to northern 
border States to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs 
associated with certain criminal activities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2003
Mr. LARSEN of Washington (for himself, Mr. DICKS, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. POM-
EROY, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. SMITH of 
Washington, and Mr. BAIRD) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To authorize the Attorney General to carry out a program, 
known as the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, 
to provide funds to northern border States to reimburse 
county and municipal governments for costs associated 
with certain criminal activities, 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 ‘‘Northern Border Pros-
ecution Initiative Reimbursement Act’’ .
SEC. 2. NORTHERN BORDER PROSECUTION INITIATIVE. 
(a) INITIATIVE REQUIRED.—From amounts made 
available to carry out this section, the Attorney General, 
acting through the Director of the Bureau of Justice As-
sistance of the Office of Justice Programs, shall carry out 
a program, to be known as the Northern Border Prosecu-
tion Initiative, to provide funds to reimburse eligible 
northern border entities for costs incurred by those enti-
ties for handling case dispositions of criminal cases that 
are federally initiated but federally declined-referred. This 
program shall be modeled after the Southwestern Border 
Prosecution Initiative and shall serve as a partner pro-
gram to that initiative to reimburse local jurisdictions for 
processing Federal cases. 
(b) PROVISION
AND ALLOCATION
OF FUNDS.—
Funds provided under the program shall be provided in 
the form of direct reimbursements and shall be allocated 
in a manner consistent with the manner under which 
funds are allocated under the Southwestern Border Pros-
ecution Initiative. 
(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided to an eligible 
northern border entity may be used by the entity for any 
lawful purpose, including the following purposes: 
(1) Prosecution and related costs. 
(2) Court costs. 
(3) Costs of courtroom technology.
(4) Costs of constructing holding spaces. 
(5) Costs of administrative staff. 
(6) Costs of defense counsel for indigent de-
fendants. 
(7) Detention costs, including pre-trial and 
post-trial detention. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘eligible northern border entity’’ 
means—
(A) any of the following States: Alaska, 
Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, 
New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and 
Wisconsin; or 
(B) any unit of local government within a 
State referred to in subparagraph (A). 
(2) The term ‘‘federally initiated’’ means, with 
respect to a criminal case, that the case results from 
a criminal investigation or an arrest involving Fed-
eral law enforcement authorities for a potential vio-
lation of Federal criminal law, including investiga-
tions resulting from multijurisdictional task forces. 
(3) The term ‘‘federally declined-referred’’ 
means, with respect to a criminal case, that a deci-
sion has been made in that case by a United States
Attorney or a Federal law enforcement agency dur-
ing a Federal investigation to no longer pursue Fed-
eral criminal charges against a defendant and to 
refer of the investigation to a State or local jurisdic-
tion for possible prosecution. The term includes a 
decision made on an individualized case-by-case 
basis as well as a decision made pursuant to a gen-
eral policy or practice or pursuant to prosecutorial 
discretion. 
(4) The term ‘‘case disposition’’, for purposes 
of the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, refers 
to the time between a suspect’s arrest and the reso-
lution of the criminal charges through a county or 
State judicial or prosecutorial process. Disposition 
does not include incarceration time for sentenced of-
fenders, or time spent by prosecutors on judicial ap-
peals. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this section $28,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such 
sums as may be necessary for fiscal years after fiscal year 
2004.
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