I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2931 
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
provide incentives for States to implement policy changes to reduce 
prison populations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 27, 2023 
Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. WATSON 
COLEMAN, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 to provide incentives for States to implement 
policy changes to reduce prison populations, 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 ‘‘Smart Sentencing Ad-
justments Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART PP—STATE PRISON POPULATION 
REDUCTION GRANT PROGRAM. 
‘‘SEC. 3061. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this part: 
‘‘(1) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT.—The term ‘im-
plementation grant’ means a grant awarded to a 
State for the purpose of reducing the prison popu-
lation of the State by not less than 20 percent, 
based on the average total prison population of the 
State for the 3-year period preceding the date on 
which the State applies for the implementation grant 
under section 3062(d). 
‘‘(2) PLANNING
GRANT.—The term ‘planning 
grant’ means a grant awarded to a State for the 
purpose of— 
‘‘(A) analyzing criminal justice trends and 
factors to better understand excessive and un-
necessary prison incarceration; and 
‘‘(B) exploring the feasibility of developing, 
adopting, and implementing policy changes to 
ameliorate criminal justice trends and factors 
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causing excessive and unnecessary prison incar-
ceration. 
‘‘(3) PRISON.—The term ‘prison’ means a pub-
licly or privately operated institution of a State for 
the confinement of an individual convicted of a 
criminal offense with a sentence of not less than 1 
year. 
‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 901. 
‘‘SEC. 3062. GRANT PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of the Smart Sentencing Adjustments 
Act, the Attorney General shall award planning grants 
and implementation grants to States, on a competitive 
basis, in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(b) PLANNING GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.—A State seeking a plan-
ning grant under this section shall submit to the At-
torney General an application at such time and in 
such manner as the Attorney General may require, 
which shall include— 
‘‘(A) a description of the State’s need for 
a planning grant; and 
‘‘(B) a description of the activities the 
State will carry out with the planning grant. 
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‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a 
planning grant under this section shall use the grant 
solely for the purpose of developing plans for the 
policy changes that would be required to carry out 
subsection (c)(3). 
‘‘(3) PLANNING
GRANT
REPORT.—Not later 
than 60 days after the end of the period of the plan-
ning grant of a State, the State shall submit to the 
Attorney General a report that describes— 
‘‘(A) the projects to be undertaken by the 
State using amounts made available under the 
planning grant; and 
‘‘(B) any additional information deter-
mined appropriate by the Attorney General. 
‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible to 
apply for an implementation grant under paragraph 
(2), a State shall apply for, receive, and fully execute 
a planning grant under subsection (b). 
‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—A State seeking an im-
plementation grant under this section shall submit 
to the Attorney General an application at such time 
and in such manner as the Attorney General may re-
quire, which shall include— 
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‘‘(A) the total prison population of the 
State, including racial, ethnic, gender, and so-
cioeconomic information of the population and 
information relating to the income, education, 
and housing status of the population; 
‘‘(B) the rate of prison population growth 
of the State in relative and absolute estimates 
during the 25 year-period preceding the date of 
the application; and 
‘‘(C) a comprehensive and coherent plan 
detailing the proposals of the State to use 
amounts from the implementation grant that— 
‘‘(i) is based upon the activities the 
State performed with a planning grant re-
ceived under this section; and 
‘‘(ii) describes the policy changes 
planned to carry out paragraph (3) to 
achieve the purpose of the implementation 
grant. 
‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives an 
implementation grant under this section shall use 
amounts from the grant to— 
‘‘(A) reduce the prison population of the 
State by— 
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‘‘(i) establishing or supporting pro-
grams that divert individuals from incar-
ceration; 
‘‘(ii) eliminating policies, with a retro-
active effect, that drive excessive and un-
necessarily lengthy terms of imprisonment, 
including by— 
‘‘(I) repealing mandatory min-
imum penalties for certain offenses; 
‘‘(II) repealing sentencing en-
hancements for certain offenses; and 
‘‘(III) downgrading certain crimi-
nal offenses, such as reducing felony 
offenses to misdemeanor offenses; 
‘‘(iii) implementing policies, with a 
retroactive effect, that help promote pro-
portionality and fairness in sentencing, in-
cluding by— 
‘‘(I) capping sentences; and 
‘‘(II) reviewing and modifying 
sentences 
automatically 
after 
years; 
‘‘(iv) implementing policies, with a 
retroactive effect, that increase opportuni-
ties for early release, including by— 
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‘‘(I) expanding opportunities and 
incentives for incarcerated individuals 
to earn time off of their custodial sen-
tence; 
‘‘(II) repealing policies that re-
strict or reduce parole eligibility, such 
as truth in sentencing laws; and 
‘‘(III) eliminating policies that 
delay initial parole eligibility beyond 
10 years; 
‘‘(v) reducing or eliminating the use 
of incarceration as a sanction for non- 
criminal rule violations of community su-
pervision, such as technical parole and pro-
bation violations, including missing drug 
treatment classes; 
‘‘(vi) improving the executive func-
tions of the State that can promote early 
release by— 
‘‘(I) establishing or expanding 
the use of mechanisms providing for 
the early release of incarcerated indi-
viduals based on specific criteria, such 
as advanced age and terminal illness, 
by— 
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‘‘(aa) convening or staffing 
boards of experts to advise offi-
cials of the State with the au-
thority to promulgate sentencing 
policy on the exercise of the 
State’s compassionate, medical, 
and geriatric release power; 
‘‘(bb) broadening eligibility 
criteria for release; 
‘‘(cc) streamlining and clari-
fying application for release re-
view protocols; and 
‘‘(dd) increasing the number 
of compassionate, medical, and 
geriatric releases; and 
‘‘(II) improving clemency proc-
esses, including by— 
‘‘(aa) convening or staffing 
boards of experts to advise offi-
cials of the State with the au-
thority to promulgate sentencing 
policy on the exercise of the 
State’s clemency power; 
‘‘(bb) broadening eligibility 
for clemency; 
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‘‘(cc) streamlining and clari-
fying clemency application review 
protocols; and 
‘‘(dd) increasing the number 
of clemency grants; 
‘‘(vii) improving prosecutorial func-
tions to correct extreme, disproportionate, 
unjust, or wrongful criminal convictions 
and custodial sentences by— 
‘‘(I) establishing or expanding 
conviction integrity units or conviction 
review units within prosecutorial of-
fices that work to prevent, identify, 
and remedy false convictions; or 
‘‘(II) establishing or expanding 
sentencing review units within pros-
ecutorial offices to address over-
crowding, 
racial 
inequities, 
and 
lengthy prison sentences that are con-
sidered extreme or disproportionate; 
and 
‘‘(viii) improving the quality of indi-
gent defense; or 
‘‘(B) reduce the recurrence of recidivism 
after a term of incarceration and reduce the 
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collateral consequences experienced by individ-
uals with criminal records by— 
‘‘(i) expanding programming for in-
carcerated populations within prisons that 
enables those populations to successfully 
transition back into society; 
‘‘(ii) 
improving 
access 
for 
expungement and record sealing processes; 
‘‘(iii) adopting laws prohibiting em-
ployers from asking applicants about their 
criminal history on applications for em-
ployment or prior to tendering an employ-
ment offer; 
‘‘(iv) eliminating fees imposed on a 
defendant by— 
‘‘(I) discharging any fine or fee 
debt for individuals who are incarcer-
ated or exiting prison; or 
‘‘(II) developing policies and pro-
grams to assess fines and fees based 
on an individual’s ability to pay; 
‘‘(v) establishing or supporting wrap- 
around or community-based services for in-
dividuals reentering their communities 
after incarceration, including services relat-
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ing to housing, disability, employment, 
education, healthcare, behavior and mental 
health, substance abuse, and childcare; or 
‘‘(vi) 
supporting 
community-based 
crime prevention programs that work di-
rectly with formerly incarcerated individ-
uals or in communities that have a higher 
prevalence of individuals with criminal 
records, such as— 
‘‘(I) programs involving violence 
prevention; 
‘‘(II) housing and supportive 
housing; 
‘‘(III) jobs and job placement; 
‘‘(IV) substance abuse or mental 
health treatment; and 
‘‘(V) other wrap-around support 
services aiming to build pathways to 
life stabilizing opportunities. 
‘‘(4) IMPLEMENTATION
GRANT
REPORT.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date on which a State re-
ceives an implementation grant under this section, 
and annually thereafter, the State shall submit to 
the Attorney General a report, at such time, in such 
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manner, and containing such information as the At-
torney General may require, that— 
‘‘(A) identifies the programs and policies 
funded with the grant; 
‘‘(B) assesses racial, ethnic, gender, age, 
and socioeconomic impacts of the programs and 
policies funded with the grant with independent 
researchers or a consortium of independent re-
searchers, such as research or academic institu-
tions; and 
‘‘(C) includes an evaluation of increases or 
decreases in a State’s prison population by as-
sessing changes in— 
‘‘(i) pretrial detention; 
‘‘(ii) sentencing; 
‘‘(iii) incarceration; 
‘‘(iv) probation; 
‘‘(v) parole; 
‘‘(vi) clemency; and 
‘‘(vii) compassionate, medical, or geri-
atric release. 
‘‘(5) SUBGRANTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving an 
implementation grant under this section shall 
use not less than 20 percent of the amount of 
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the grant to award subgrants to nonprofit orga-
nizations that meet the criteria described in 
subparagraph (B), which shall assist in the im-
plementation of the policy changes described in 
subsection (c)(2). 
‘‘(B) CRITERIA.—In selecting nonprofit or-
ganizations to receive subgrants under para-
graph (1), a State shall give priority to non-
profit organizations that— 
‘‘(i) have a demonstrated track record 
of providing services to reintegrate individ-
uals released from prison into society with 
a goal of reducing the recurrence of recidi-
vism; 
‘‘(ii) are based in geographic areas 
with a higher prevalence of individuals 
with criminal records; 
‘‘(iii) are led by or employ individuals 
who have been incarcerated or have family 
members who are or have been incarcer-
ated; or 
‘‘(iv) 
primarily 
serve 
individuals 
who— 
‘‘(I) have been arrested or con-
victed of a criminal offense; or 
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‘‘(II) have spent time in jail, 
prison, or on probation or parole. 
‘‘(6) RENEWAL.—A State that receives an im-
plementation grant under this section may apply for 
an additional implementation grant at the end of the 
term of the implementation grant if the State has 
reduced the prison population of the State by not 
less than 20 percent, based on the average total 
prison population of the State during the 3-year pe-
riod preceding the date of the application for the im-
plementation grant under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(d) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) DURATION.— 
‘‘(A) 
PLANNING
GRANT.—A 
planning 
grant under this section shall be awarded for a 
period of 2 fiscal years. 
‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION
GRANT.—An im-
plementation grant under this section shall be 
awarded for a period of 3 fiscal years. 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT.— 
‘‘(A) PLANNING GRANT.—The amount of 
each planning grant awarded under this section 
shall not exceed $700,000 for the duration of 
the grant. 
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‘‘(B) 
IMPLEMENTATION
GRANT.—The 
amount of each implementation grant awarded 
under this section shall not exceed $70,000,000 
for the duration of the grant. 
‘‘(3) NUMBER OF GRANT AWARDS.— 
‘‘(A) PLANNING
GRANTS.—The Attorney 
General may award planning grants under this 
section to not more than 25 States during each 
fiscal year. 
‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—The At-
torney General may award implementation 
grants under this section to no more than 25 
States during each fiscal year. 
‘‘(4) PROHIBITIONS.— 
‘‘(A) INMATE
TRANSFERS.—During any 
grant term under this Act, a State may not 
transfer an individual convicted of a criminal 
offense with a sentence of not less than 1 year 
from a prison of the State to any penitentiary, 
jail, or other institution or facility for the con-
finement of individuals convicted of criminal of-
fenses with sentences of less than 1 year for the 
purpose of carrying out subsection (c)(3). 
‘‘(B) POLICIES.—During the term of any 
grant awarded under this section, a State that 
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