I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4434 
To enforce current law regarding the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 16, 2017 
Mr. CUELLAR (for himself, Mr. CULBERSON, Ms. ESTY of Connecticut, Mr. 
COSTELLO of Pennsylvania, and Mr. AGUILAR) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To enforce current law regarding the National Instant 
Criminal Background Check System. 
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 ‘‘Fix NICS Act of 
2017’’. 
SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS 
AND AGENCIES. 
Section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Preven-
tion Act (34 U.S.C. 40901) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (e)(1), by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(F) SEMIANNUAL
CERTIFICATION
AND 
REPORTING.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The head of each 
Federal department or agency shall submit 
a semiannual written certification to the 
Attorney General indicating whether the 
department or agency is in compliance 
with the record submission requirements 
under subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(ii) SUBMISSION DATES.—The head 
of a Federal department or agency shall 
submit a certification to the Attorney Gen-
eral under clause (i)— 
‘‘(I) not later than July 31 of 
each year, which shall address all rel-
evant records, including those that 
have not been transmitted to the At-
torney General, in possession of the 
department or agency during the pe-
riod beginning on January 1 of the 
year and ending on June 30 of the 
year; and 
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‘‘(II) not later than January 31 
of each year, which shall address all 
relevant records, including those that 
have not been transmitted to the At-
torney General, in possession of the 
department or agency during the pe-
riod beginning on July 1 of the pre-
vious year and ending on December 
31 of the previous year. 
‘‘(iii) CONTENTS.—A certification re-
quired under clause (i) shall state, for the 
applicable period— 
‘‘(I) the total number of records 
of the Federal department or agency 
demonstrating that a person falls 
within one of the categories described 
in subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 
of title 18, United States Code; 
‘‘(II) for each category of records 
described in subclause (I), the total 
number of records of the Federal de-
partment or agency that have been 
provided to the Attorney General; and 
‘‘(III) the efforts of the Federal 
department or agency to ensure com-
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plete and accurate reporting of rel-
evant records, including efforts to 
monitor compliance and correct any 
reporting failures or inaccuracies. 
‘‘(G) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 
year after the date of enactment of this 
subparagraph, the head of each Federal 
department or agency, in coordination with 
the Attorney General, shall establish a plan 
to ensure maximum coordination and auto-
mated reporting or making available of 
records to the Attorney General as re-
quired under subparagraph (C), and the 
verification of the accuracy of those 
records, including the pre-validation of 
those records, where appropriate, during a 
4-year period specified in the plan. The 
records shall be limited to those of an indi-
vidual described in subsection (g) or (n) of 
section 922 of title 18, United States 
Code. 
‘‘(ii) BENCHMARK REQUIREMENTS.— 
Each plan established under clause (i) 
shall include annual benchmarks to enable 
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the Attorney General to assess implemen-
tation of the plan, including— 
‘‘(I) qualitative goals and quan-
titative measures; 
‘‘(II) measures to monitor inter-
nal compliance, including any report-
ing failures and inaccuracies; 
‘‘(III) a needs assessment, in-
cluding estimated compliance costs; 
and 
‘‘(IV) an estimated date by which 
the Federal department or agency will 
fully comply with record submission 
requirements under subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(iii) 
COMPLIANCE
DETERMINA-
TION.—Not later than the end of each fis-
cal year beginning after the date of the es-
tablishment of a plan under clause (i), the 
Attorney General shall determine whether 
the applicable Federal department or agen-
cy has achieved substantial compliance 
with the benchmarks included in the plan. 
‘‘(H) 
ACCOUNTABILITY.—The 
Attorney 
General shall publish, including on the website 
of the Department of Justice, and submit to the 
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‘‘(ii) achieves substantial compliance 
with an implementation plan established 
under subparagraph (G). 
‘‘(J) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attor-
ney General may use funds made available for 
the national instant criminal background check 
system established under subsection (b) to pro-
vide technical assistance to a Federal depart-
ment or agency, at the request of the depart-
ment or agency, in order to help the depart-
ment or agency comply with the record submis-
sion requirements under subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(K) 
APPLICATION
TO
FEDERAL 
COURTS.—For purposes of this paragraph— 
‘‘(i) the terms ‘department or agency 
of the United States’ and ‘Federal depart-
ment or agency’ include a Federal court; 
and 
‘‘(ii) the Director of the Administra-
tive Office of the United States Courts 
shall perform, for a Federal court, the 
functions assigned to the head of a depart-
ment or agency.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘For purposes of the preceding sentence, 
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not later than 60 days after the date on which the 
Attorney General receives such information, the At-
torney General shall determine whether or not the 
prospective transferee is the subject of an erroneous 
record and remove any records that are determined 
to be erroneous. In addition to any funds made 
available under subsection (k), the Attorney General 
may use such sums as are necessary and otherwise 
available for the salaries and expenses of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation to comply with this sub-
section.’’. 
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF NICS ACT RECORD IM-
PROVEMENT PROGRAM. 
(a) REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN WAIVER.—Section 
102 of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 
(34 U.S.C. 40912) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), in the first sentence— 
(A) by striking ‘‘the Crime Identification 
Technology Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 14601)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘section 102 of the Crime Identi-
fication Technology Act of 1998 (34 U.S.C. 
40301)’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘is in compliance with an 
implementation plan established under sub-
section (b) or’’ before ‘‘provides at least 90 per-
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cent of the information described in subsection 
(c)’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘or 
has established an implementation plan under sec-
tion 107’’ after ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 
(b) IMPLEMENTATION ASSISTANCE
TO STATES.— 
Section 103 of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act 
of 2007 (34 U.S.C. 40913) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting before the 
semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, including 
through increased efforts to pre-validate the contents 
of those records to expedite eligibility determina-
tions’’; 
(2) in subsection (e)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘and’’; and 
(ii) by inserting before the period at 
the end the following: ‘‘, and $125,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2018 through 
2022’’; and 
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert-
ing the following— 
‘‘(2) DOMESTIC ABUSE AND VIOLENCE PREVEN-
TION INITIATIVE.— 
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‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—For each of fiscal 
years 2018 through 2022, the Attorney General 
shall create a priority area under the NICS Act 
Record 
Improvement 
Program 
(commonly 
known as ‘NARIP’) for a Domestic Abuse and 
Violence Prevention Initiative that emphasizes 
the need for grantees to identify and upload all 
felony conviction records and domestic violence 
records. 
‘‘(B) FUNDING.—The Attorney General— 
‘‘(i) may use not more than 50 per-
cent of the amounts made available under 
this subsection for each of fiscal years 
2018 through 2022 to carry out the initia-
tive described in subparagraph (A); and 
‘‘(ii) shall give a funding preference 
under NARIP to States that— 
‘‘(I) have established an imple-
mentation plan under section 107; 
and 
‘‘(II) will use amounts made 
available under this subparagraph to 
improve efforts to identify and upload 
all felony conviction records and do-
mestic violence records described in 
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clauses (i), (v), and (vi) of section 
102(b)(1)(C) by not later than Sep-
tember 30, 2022.’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney Gen-
eral shall direct the Office of Justice Programs, the Bu-
reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to— 
‘‘(1) assist States that are not currently eligible 
for grants under this section to achieve compliance 
with all eligibility requirements; and 
‘‘(2) provide technical assistance and training 
services to grantees under this section.’’. 
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL 
HISTORY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 
(a) STATE GRANT PROGRAM FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE 
IDENTIFICATION, 
INFORMATION, 
AND
COMMUNICA-
TION.—Section 102 of the Crime Identification Tech-
nology Act of 1998 (34 U.S.C. 40301) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(3)— 
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), 
(D), and (E) as subparagraphs (D), (E), and 
(F), respectively; and 
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 
the following: 
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