Title: GREATER Communities Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Grants for Rural Efforts to Address Treatment and Ensure Recovery in Communities Act of 2020 or the GREATER Communities Act
This bill expands efforts to address opioid use in rural areas, including by authorizing the Department of Justice to award grants for pilot programs to provide alternatives to incarceration and reduce opioid overdose deaths.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8386 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8386

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
provide for the eligibility of rural community response pilot programs 
for funding under the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2020

Mr. Lamb (for himself and Mr. Weber of Texas) 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 for the eligibility of rural community response pilot programs 
for funding under the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program, 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 ``Grants for Rural Efforts to Address 
Treatment and Ensure Recovery in Communities Act of 2020'' or as the 
``GREATER Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF RURAL COMMUNITY RESPONSE PILOT PROGRAMS FOR 
              FUNDING UNDER THE COMPREHENSIVE OPIOID ABUSE GRANT 
              PROGRAM.

    Section 3021 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10701) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``and'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(H) a pilot program for rural areas to implement 
                community response programs that focus on presenting 
                alternatives to incarceration and reducing opioid 
                overdose deaths, as described in subsection (f).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Rural Pilot Program.--The pilot program described under this 
subsection shall make grants to rural areas to implement community 
response programs to reduce opioid overdose deaths. Grants issued under 
this subsection shall be jointly operated by local law enforcement and 
public health agencies or public safety, public health, and behavioral 
health collaborations. A community response program under this 
subsection shall identify gaps in community prevention, treatment, and 
recovery services for individuals who encounter the criminal justice 
system and shall establish treatment protocols to address identified 
shortcomings. The Attorney General, through the Office of Justice 
Programs, shall increase the amount provided as a grant under this 
section for a pilot program by no more than five percent for each of 
the two years following certification by the Attorney General of the 
submission of data by the rural area on the prescribing of schedules 
II, III, and IV controlled substances to a prescription drug monitoring 
program, or any other centralized database administered by an 
authorized State agency, which includes tracking the dispensation of 
such substances, and providing for interoperability and data sharing 
with each other such program (including an electronic health records 
system) in each other State, and with any interstate entity that shares 
information between such programs.''.

SEC. 3. PROVISION REGARDING CERTAIN FUNDING LEVEL FOR RURAL 
              COMMUNITIES.

    Section 3024 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10704) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (2)(C) by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) provides that no less than 10 percent of grants 
        issued pursuant to this part shall be awarded to rural 
        areas.''.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

    Section 3025 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10705) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
            ``(9) The term `rural area' have the meanings given such 
        terms in section 343(a)(13)(A) of the Consolidated Farm and 
        Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A)).''.
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