I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 747
To require notification of the interstate relocation of a witness by State
engaging in that relocation, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 1997
Mr. MCCOLLUM (for himself, Mr. DEUTSCH, and Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To require notification of the interstate relocation of a wit-
ness by State engaging in that relocation, 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 ‘‘Witness Relocation No-
tification Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF NOTIFICATION FOR STATE AND
LOCAL WITNESS RELOCATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject only to the sanction pro-
vided in section 3, each State or local law enforcement
agency that relocates a witness who—
(1) has been arrested or convicted of a crime of
violence as defined in section 16 of title 18, United
States Code; or
(2) is otherwise considered by the agency to be
a threat to public safety;
shall provide notice to the chief law enforcement official
in the jurisdiction to which the relocation has been made,
in the manner specified by the Attorney General under
subsection (b).
(b) REQUIREMENTS
FOR NOTICE.—The Attorney
General shall establish guidelines for the notice required
by subsection (a). The guidelines shall require that such
notice—
(1) be made not later than 10 days before the
relocation and shall also be updated, not later than
10 days after the agency giving such notice learns
of information that would have been required in the
original notice; and
(2) include the criminal history record of the
arrest or conviction for each crime of violence and
any other indication, known to the relocating agency,
that the witness might pose a threat to public safety.
SEC. 3. WITNESS RELOCATION TRAINING PROGRAM.
(a) SURVEY.—The Director of the National Institute
of Justice, in consultation with the Director of the United
States Marshals Service, shall survey State and local wit-
ness protection and relocation programs to determine the
extent and nature of such programs and the training
needs of those programs. Not later than 180 days after
the date of the enactment of this section, the Director
shall report the results of this survey to Congress.
(b) TRAINING.—Based on the results of such survey,
the Attorney General shall make available to State and
local law enforcement agencies a training program to as-
sist those law enforcement agencies in developing and
managing effective, safe witness protection and relocation
programs.
(c) LIMIT ON PARTICIPATION.—Any agency that fails
to comply with the requirement of section 2 shall not be
eligible to participate in the training program established
under this subsection.
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sub-
section for fiscal year 1998 not to exceed $500,000.
SEC. 4. DEFINITION.
As used in this section the term ‘‘State’’ includes the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other territory
or possession of the United States.
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