IB 
Union Calendar No. 88 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 916 
[Report No. 110–148] 
To provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and public defenders. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2007 
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia (for himself, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. LEWIS 
of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. BISHOP 
of Georgia, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MCCOTTER, Ms. LEE, Ms. 
DELAURO, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. BERMAN, 
Ms. SOLIS, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. WASSERMAN 
SCHULTZ, Mr. NADLER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. ELLISON, and Mr. CON-
YERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
MAY 14, 2007 
Additional sponsors: Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. COOPER, Mr. 
CHANDLER, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ- 
BALART of Florida, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 
ISRAEL, Mr. HULSHOF, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. FER-
GUSON, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, 
Mr. BACHUS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. KIND, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. 
MEEK of Florida, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. WAMP, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. YOUNG 
of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. 
EMANUEL, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. BOREN, Mr. WATT, Mr. POE, Mr. 
BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. BECERRA, and Mr. 
COHEN 
MAY 14, 2007 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 8, 2007] 
A BILL 
To provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and public 
defenders. 
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 ‘‘John R. Justice Prosecu-
tors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT FOR PROSECUTORS AND DE-
FENDERS. 
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘PART JJ—LOAN REPAYMENT FOR 
PROSECUTORS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS 
‘‘SEC. 3111. GRANT AUTHORIZATION. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en-
courage qualified individuals to enter and continue employ-
ment as prosecutors and public defenders. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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‘‘(1) 
PROSECUTOR.—The 
term 
‘prosecutor’ 
means a full-time employee of a State or local agency 
who— 
‘‘(A) is continually licensed to practice law; 
and 
‘‘(B) prosecutes criminal or juvenile delin-
quency cases (or both) at the State or local level, 
including an employee who supervises, educates, 
or trains other persons prosecuting such cases. 
‘‘(2) PUBLIC DEFENDER.—The term ‘public de-
fender’ means an attorney who— 
‘‘(A) is continually licensed to practice law; 
and 
‘‘(B) is— 
‘‘(i) a full-time employee of a State or 
local agency who provides legal representa-
tion to indigent persons in criminal or ju-
venile delinquency cases (or both), including 
an attorney who supervises, educates, or 
trains other persons providing such rep-
resentation; 
‘‘(ii) a full-time employee of a non-
profit organization operating under a con-
tract with a State or unit of local govern-
ment, who devotes substantially all of such 
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full-time employment to providing legal 
representation to indigent persons in crimi-
nal or juvenile delinquency cases (or both), 
including an attorney who supervises, edu-
cates, or trains other persons providing such 
representation; or 
‘‘(iii) employed as a full-time Federal 
defender attorney in a defender organiza-
tion established pursuant to subsection (g) 
of section 3006A of title 18, United States 
Code, that provides legal representation to 
indigent persons in criminal or juvenile de-
linquency cases (or both). 
‘‘(3) STUDENT LOAN.—The term ‘student loan’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) a loan made, insured, or guaranteed 
under part B of title IV of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.); 
‘‘(B) a loan made under part D or E of 
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1087a et seq. and 1087aa et seq.); and 
‘‘(C) a loan made under section 428C or 
455(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1078–3 and 1087e(g)) to the extent that 
such loan was used to repay a Federal Direct 
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Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized 
Stafford Loan, or a loan made under section 428 
or 428H of such Act. 
‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 
shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, establish 
a program by which the Department of Justice shall assume 
the obligation to repay a student loan, by direct payments 
on behalf of a borrower to the holder of such loan, in accord-
ance with subsection (d), for any borrower who— 
‘‘(1) is employed as a prosecutor or public de-
fender; and 
‘‘(2) is not in default on a loan for which the 
borrower seeks forgiveness. 
‘‘(d) TERMS OF LOAN REPAYMENT.— 
‘‘(1) BORROWER AGREEMENT.—To be eligible to 
receive repayment benefits under subsection (c), a bor-
rower shall enter into a written agreement with the 
Attorney General that specifies that— 
‘‘(A) the borrower will remain employed as 
a prosecutor or public defender for a required pe-
riod of service of not less than 3 years, unless in-
voluntarily separated from that employment; 
‘‘(B) if the borrower is involuntarily sepa-
rated from employment on account of mis-
conduct, or voluntarily separates from employ-
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ment, before the end of the period specified in the 
agreement, the borrower will repay the Attorney 
General the amount of any benefits received by 
such employee under this section; and 
‘‘(C) if the borrower is required to repay an 
amount to the Attorney General under subpara-
graph (B) and fails to repay such amount, a 
sum equal to that amount shall be recoverable by 
the Federal Government from the employee (or 
such employee’s estate, if applicable) by such 
methods as are provided by law for the recovery 
of amounts owed to the Federal Government. 
‘‘(2) REPAYMENT BY BORROWER.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any amount repaid by, 
or recovered from, an individual or the estate of 
an individual under this subsection shall be 
credited to the appropriation account from 
which the amount involved was originally paid. 
‘‘(B) 
MERGER.—Any 
amount 
credited 
under subparagraph (A) shall be merged with 
other sums in such account and shall be avail-
able for the same purposes and period, and sub-
ject to the same limitations, if any, as the sums 
with which the amount was merged. 
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‘‘(C) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may 
waive, in whole or in part, a right of recovery 
under this subsection if it is shown that recovery 
would be against equity and good conscience or 
against the public interest. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT AMOUNT.— 
Student loan repayments made by the Attorney 
General under this section shall be made subject 
to the availability of appropriations, and subject 
to such terms, limitations, or conditions as may 
be mutually agreed upon by the borrower and 
the Attorney General in an agreement under 
paragraph (1), except that the amount paid by 
the Attorney General under this section shall not 
exceed— 
‘‘(i) $10,000 for any borrower in any 
calendar year; or 
‘‘(ii) an aggregate total of $60,000 in 
the case of any borrower. 
‘‘(B) BEGINNING
OF
PAYMENTS.—Nothing 
in this section shall authorize the Attorney Gen-
eral to pay any amount to reimburse a borrower 
for any repayments made by such borrower prior 
to the date on which the Attorney General en-
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tered into an agreement with the borrower under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL AGREEMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—On completion of the re-
quired period of service under an agreement under 
subsection (d), the borrower and the Attorney General 
may, subject to paragraph (2), enter into an addi-
tional agreement in accordance with subsection (d). 
‘‘(2) TERM.—An agreement entered into under 
paragraph (1) may require the borrower to remain 
employed as a prosecutor or public defender for less 
than 3 years. 
‘‘(f) AWARD BASIS; PRIORITY.— 
‘‘(1) AWARD BASIS.—The Attorney General shall 
provide repayment benefits under this section— 
‘‘(A) subject to the availability of appro-
priations; and 
‘‘(B) in accordance with paragraph (2), ex-
cept that the Attorney General shall determine a 
fair allocation of repayment benefits among 
prosecutors and defenders, and among employing 
entities nationwide. 
‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In providing repayment bene-
fits under this section in any fiscal year, the Attorney 
General shall give priority to borrowers— 
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