Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act
Bill: H.R.1694 | Sponsor: Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. (D-GA)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act
This bill restricts the Department of Defense (DOD) from transferring certain surplus military property to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies.
Specifically, DOD may not transfer to such agencies specified property such as controlled firearms, ammunition, grenade launchers, explosives, certain vehicles or trucks, armored or weaponized drones, certain controlled aircraft, silencers, or long-range acoustic devices. DOD may waive this limitation and transfer certain vehicles or trucks if DOD determines that the transfer is necessary for disaster or rescue purposes or for another purpose where life and public safety are at risk.
As a condition for a transfer of allowable property, DOD must require the federal or state agency that receives the property to return the property if the agency is investigated by the Department of Justice for civil liberties violations or is otherwise found to have engaged in widespread abuses of civil liberties. DOD must also periodically submit certain transfer-related information and certifications to Congress.
Furthermore, as a condition for transfer, the recipient must receive the approval of its local governing body, provide specified notice to the local community, and submit specified information and certifications to DOD. A federal or state agency that receives controlled property under such a transfer may never take ownership of the property.
The bill also eliminates the requirement for DOD to give preference to transfers of property that will be used in counter-drug, counterterrorism, disaster-related emergency preparedness, or border security activities.

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
    Defense to make certain limitations on the transfer of personal 
    property to Federal and State agencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Under section 2576a of title 10, United States Code, 
        the Department of Defense is authorized to provide excess 
        property to local law enforcement agencies. The Defense 
        Logistics Agency, administers such section by operating the Law 
        Enforcement Support Office program.
            (2) New and used material, including mine-resistant ambush-
        protected vehicles and weapons determined by the Department of 
        Defense to be ``military grade'' are transferred to Federal, 
        Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies through the 
        program.
            (3) As a result local law enforcement agencies, including 
        police and sheriff's departments, are acquiring this material 
        for use in their normal operations.
            (4) As a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
        military equipment purchased for, and used in, those wars has 
        become excess property and has been made available for transfer 
        to local and Federal law enforcement agencies.
            (5) In Fiscal Year 2017, $504,000,000 worth of property was 
        transferred to law enforcement agencies.
            (6) More than $6,800,000,000 worth of weapons and equipment 
        have been transferred to police organizations in all 50 States 
        and four territories through the program.
            (7) In May 2012, the Defense Logistics Agency instituted a 
        moratorium on weapons transfers through the program after 
        reports of missing equipment and inappropriate weapons 
        transfers.
            (8) Though the moratorium was widely publicized, it was 
        lifted in October 2013 without adequate safeguards.
            (9) On January 16, 2015, President Barack Obama issued 
        Executive Order 13688 to better coordinate and regulate the 
        Federal transfer of military weapons and equipment to State, 
        local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies.
            (10) In July, 2017, the Government Accountability Office 
        reported that the program's internal controls were inadequate 
        to prevent fraudulent applicants' access to the program.
            (11) On August 28, 2017, President Donald Trump rescinded 
        Executive Order 13688 despite a July 2017 Government 
        Accountability Office report finding deficiencies with the 
        administration of the 1033 program.
            (12) As a result, Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
        departments across the country are eligible again to acquire 
        free ``military-grade'' weapons and equipment that could be 
        used inappropriately during policing efforts in which people 
        and taxpayers could be harmed.
            (13) The Department of Defense categorizes equipment 
        eligible for transfer under the 1033 program as ``controlled'' 
        and ``un-controlled'' equipment. ``Controlled equipment'' 
        includes weapons, explosives such as flash-bang grenades, mine-
        resistant ambush-protected vehicles, long-range acoustic 
        devices, aircraft capable of being modified to carry armament 
        that are combat coded, and silencers, among other military 
        grade items.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TRANSFER OF PERSONAL 
              PROPERTY TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 2576a of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``counterdrug, 
                counterterrorism, `disaster-related emergency 
                preparedness, and border security activities'' and 
                inserting ``counterterrorism''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``, the Director 
                of National Drug Control Policy,'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period and 
                inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraphs:
            ``(7) the recipient submits to the Department of Defense a 
        description of how the recipient expects to use the property;
            ``(8) the recipient certifies to the Department of Defense 
        that if the recipient determines that the property is surplus 
        to the needs of the recipient, the recipient will return the 
        property to the Department of Defense;
            ``(9) with respect to a recipient that is not a Federal 
        agency, the recipient certifies to the Department of Defense 
        that the recipient notified the local community of the request 
        for personal property under this section by--
                    ``(A) publishing a notice of such request on a 
                publicly accessible Internet website;
                    ``(B) posting such notice at several prominent 
                locations in the jurisdiction of the recipient; and
                    ``(C) ensuring that such notices were available to 
                the local community for a period of not less than 30 
                days; and
            ``(10) the recipient has received the approval of the city 
        council or other local governing body to acquire the personal 
        property sought under this section.'';
            (3) by striking subsections (d) and (e);
            (4) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (o) and (p), respectively; and
            (5) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
        subsections:
    ``(d) Annual Certification Accounting for Transferred Property.--
(1) For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress 
certification in writing that each Federal or State agency to which the 
Secretary has transferred property under this section--
            ``(A) has provided to the Secretary documentation 
        accounting for all controlled property, including arms and 
        ammunition, that the Secretary has transferred to the agency, 
        including any item described in subsection (f) so transferred 
        before the date of the enactment of the Stop Militarizing Law 
        Enforcement Act; and
            ``(B) with respect to a non-Federal agency, carried out 
        each of paragraphs (5) through (8) of subsection (b).
    ``(2) If the Secretary cannot provide a certification under 
paragraph (1) for a Federal or State agency, the Secretary may not 
transfer additional property to that agency under this section.
    ``(e) Annual Report on Excess Property.--Before making any property 
available for transfer under this section, the Secretary shall annually 
submit to Congress a description of the property to be transferred 
together with a certification that the transfer of the property would 
not violate this section or any other provision of law.
    ``(f) Limitations on Transfers.--(1) The Secretary may not transfer 
to Federal, Tribal, State, or local law enforcement agencies the 
following under this section:
            ``(A) Controlled firearms, ammunition, bayonets, grenade 
        launchers, grenades (including stun and flash-bang), and 
        explosives.
            ``(B) Controlled vehicles, highly mobile multi-wheeled 
        vehicles, mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, trucks, 
        truck dump, truck utility, and truck carryall.
            ``(C) Drones that are armored, weaponized, or both.
            ``(D) Controlled aircraft that--
                    ``(i) are combat configured or combat coded; or
                    ``(ii) have no established commercial flight 
                application.
            ``(E) Silencers.
            ``(F) Long-range acoustic devices.
            ``(G) Items in the Federal Supply Class of banned items.
    ``(2) The Secretary may not require, as a condition of a transfer 
under this section, that a Federal or State agency demonstrate the use 
of any small arms or ammunition.
    ``(3) The limitations under this subsection shall also apply with 
respect to the transfer of previously transferred property of the 
Department of Defense from one Federal or State agency to another such 
agency.
    ``(4)(A) The Secretary may waive the applicability of paragraph (1) 
to a vehicle described in subparagraph (B) of such paragraph (other 
than a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle), if the Secretary 
determines that such a waiver is necessary for disaster or rescue 
purposes or for another purpose where life and public safety are at 
risk, as demonstrated by the proposed recipient of the vehicle.
    ``(B) If the Secretary issues a waiver under subparagraph (A), the 
Secretary shall--
            ``(i) submit to Congress notice of the waiver, and post 
        such notice on a public Internet website of the Department, by 
        not later than 30 days after the date on which the waiver is 
        issued; and
            ``(ii) require, as a condition of the waiver, that the 
        recipient of the vehicle for which the waiver is issued 
        provides public notice of the waiver and the transfer, 
        including the type of vehicle and the purpose for which it is 
        transferred, in the jurisdiction where the recipient is located 
        by not later than 30 days after the date on which the waiver is 
        issued.
    ``(5) The Secretary may provide for an exemption to the limitation 
under subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) in the case of parts for 
aircraft described in such subparagraph that are transferred as part of 
regular maintenance of aircraft in an existing fleet.
    ``(6) The Secretary shall require, as a condition of any transfer 
of property under this section, that the Federal or State agency that 
receives the property shall return the property to the Secretary if the 
agency--
            ``(A) is investigated by the Department of Justice for any 
        violation of civil liberties; or
            ``(B) is otherwise found to have engaged in widespread 
        abuses of civil liberties.
    ``(g) Conditions for Extension of Program.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, amounts authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for any fiscal year may not be obligated or 
expended to carry out this section unless the Secretary submits to 
Congress certification that for the preceding fiscal year that--
            ``(1) each Federal or State agency that has received 
        controlled property transferred under this section has--
                    ``(A) demonstrated 100 percent accountability for 
                all such property, in accordance with paragraph (2) or 
                (3), as applicable; or
                    ``(B) been suspended from the program pursuant to 
                paragraph (4);
            ``(2) with respect to each non-Federal agency that has 
        received controlled property under this section, the State 
        coordinator responsible for each such agency has verified that 
        the coordinator or an agent of the coordinator has conducted an 
        in-person inventory of the property transferred to the agency 
        and that 100 percent of such property was accounted for during 
        the inventory or that the agency has been suspended from the 
        program pursuant to paragraph (4);
            ``(3) with respect to each Federal agency that has received 
        controlled property under this section, the Secretary of 
        Defense or an agent of the Secretary has conducted an in-person 
        inventory of the property transferred to the agency and that 
        100 percent of such property was accounted for during the 
        inventory or that the agency has been suspended from the 
        program pursuant to paragraph (4);
            ``(4) the eligibility of any agency that has received 
        controlled property under this section for which 100 percent of 
        the property was not accounted for during an inventory 
        described in paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable, to receive 
        any property transferred under this section has been suspended;
            ``(5) each State coordinator has certified, for each non-
        Federal agency located in the State for which the State 
        coordinator is responsible that--
                    ``(A) the agency has complied with all requirements 
                under this section; or
                    ``(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive 
                property transferred under this section has been 
                suspended; and
            ``(6) the Secretary of Defense has certified, for each 
        Federal agency that has received property under this section 
        that--
                    ``(A) the agency has complied with all requirements 
                under this section; or
                    ``(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive 
                property transferred under this section has been 
                suspended.
    ``(h) Prohibition on Ownership of Controlled Property.--A Federal 
or State agency that receives controlled property under this section 
may never take ownership of the property.
    ``(i) Notice to Congress of Property Downgrades.--Not later than 30 
days before downgrading the classification of any item of personal 
property from controlled or Federal Supply Class, the Secretary shall 
submit to Congress notice of the proposed downgrade.
    ``(j) Notice to Congress of Property Cannibalization.--Before the 
Defense Logistics Agency authorizes the recipient of property 
transferred under this section to cannibalize the property, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress notice of such authorization, 
including the name of the recipient requesting the authorization, the 
purpose of the proposed cannibalization, and the type of property 
proposed to be cannibalized.
    ``(k) Quarterly Reports on Use of Controlled Equipment.--Not later 
than 30 days after the last day of a fiscal quarter, the Secretary 
shall submit to Congress a report on any uses of controlled property 
transferred under this section during that fiscal quarter.
    ``(l) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the last 
day of a fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
on the following for the preceding fiscal year:
            ``(1) The percentage of equipment lost by recipients of 
        property transferred under this section, including specific 
        information about the type of property lost, the monetary value 
        of such property, and the recipient that lost the property.
            ``(2) The transfer of any new (condition code A) property 
        transferred under this section, including specific information 
        about the type of property, the recipient of the property, the 
        monetary value of each item of the property, and the total 
        monetary value of all such property transferred during the 
        fiscal year.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to any transfer of property made after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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