Title: Justice Reinvestment Initiative Act of 2019
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Justice Reinvestment Initiative Act of 2019
This bill provides statutory authority for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant program within the Department of Justice. The program provides grants to states, local governments, Indian tribes, and entities and institutions of higher education with national law enforcement and corrections expertise to analyze criminal justice trends and increase public safety by allocating resources to efforts that reduce crime and recidivism.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3081 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3081

To authorize the Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant program, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 4, 2019

Mr. Armstrong introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Justice Reinvestment Initiative 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 ``Justice Reinvestment Initiative Act 
of 2019''.

SEC. 2. JUSTICE REINVESTMENT INITIATIVE.

    (a) Authorization.--The Attorney General is authorized to make 
grants to States, units of local government, Indian tribes, entities 
with national law enforcement and corrections expertise, and 
institutions of higher education with national law enforcement and 
corrections expertise for the purposes described in subsection (b).
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of the grant program under this section 
are to--
            (1) identify drivers of criminal justice resource 
        consumption;
            (2) improve jurisdictions' capacity to prevent and respond 
        to violent crime, including by reducing the risk for recidivism 
        (as measured by arrests for new crimes, convictions for new 
        crimes, incarcerations for new crimes, and revocations based on 
        technical violations);
            (3) identify offenders' risks for general and violent 
        recidivism, and related substance use and mental health needs, 
        and mitigate their risk for engaging in violent behavior or 
        being the victims of violent crime; and
            (4) improve public safety through a re-allocation of 
        resources in high performing crime- and recidivism-reduction 
        efforts.
    (c) Application.--An applicant seeking a grant under this section 
shall submit to the Attorney General an application at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as the Attorney General 
may reasonably require.
    (d) Uses of Funds.--A recipient of a grant under this section shall 
use the grant funds for programs designed to--
            (1) analyze criminal justice trends to understand factors 
        driving jail and prison population growth;
            (2) develop and implement policy options to generate 
        savings and increase public safety;
            (3) quantify savings and reinvest in select, high-risk 
        communities and other prevention-oriented strategies; and
            (4) measure the impact of policy changes and reinvestment 
        resources and enhance the accountability of criminal justice 
        system actors and policies.
    (e) Contracts and Subawards.--A State, unit of local government, or 
Indian tribe may, in using a grant under this part for program 
described in subsection (d), use all or a portion of that grant to 
contract with, or make one or more subawards to, one or more--
            (1) local or regional organizations that are private and 
        nonprofit, including faith-based organizations;
            (2) units of local government; or
            (3) tribal organizations.
    (f) Program Assessment Component; Waiver.--
            (1) Program assessment component.--Each program funded 
        under this part shall contain a program assessment component, 
        developed pursuant to guidelines established by the Attorney 
        General, in coordination with the National Institute of 
        Justice.
            (2) Waiver.--The Attorney General may waive the requirement 
        of paragraph (1) with respect to a program if, in the opinion 
        of the Attorney General, the program is not of sufficient size 
        to justify a full program assessment.
    (g) Administrative Costs.--Not more than 10 percent of a grant made 
under this part may be used for costs incurred to administer such 
grant.
    (h) Equitable Distribution of Funds.--In awarding grants under this 
section, the Attorney General shall distribute funds in a manner that 
equitably addresses the needs of underserved populations, including 
rural and tribal communities.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $40,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2021 through 2025.

SEC. 3. AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF GRANTEES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``covered grant program'' means the awarding 
        of grants under section 2;
            (2) the term ``covered grantee'' means a recipient of a 
        grant from the covered grant program;
            (3) the term ``nonprofit'', when used with respect to an 
        organization, means an organization that is described in 
        section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and is 
        exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code; and
            (4) the term ``unresolved audit finding'' means an audit 
        report finding in a final audit report of the Inspector General 
        of the Department of Justice that a covered grantee has used 
        grant funds awarded to that grantee under the covered grant 
        program for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise 
        unallowable cost that is not closed or resolved during a 12-
        month period prior to the date on which the final audit report 
        is issued.
    (b) Audit Requirement.--Beginning in fiscal year 2020, and annually 
thereafter, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall 
conduct audits of covered grantees to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse 
of funds awarded under covered grant programs. The Inspector General 
shall determine the appropriate number of covered grantees to be 
audited each year.
    (c) Mandatory Exclusion.--A grantee that is found to have an 
unresolved audit finding under an audit conducted under subsection (b) 
may not receive grant funds under the covered grant program in the 
fiscal year following the fiscal year to which the finding relates.
    (d) Reimbursement.--If a covered grantee is awarded funds under the 
covered grant program from which it received a grant award during the 
1-fiscal-year period during which the covered grantee is ineligible for 
an allocation of grant funds under subsection (c), the Attorney General 
shall--
            (1) deposit into the General Fund of the Treasury an amount 
        that is equal to the amount of the grant funds that were 
        improperly awarded to the covered grantee; and
            (2) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the Fund 
        from the covered grantee that was improperly awarded the grant 
        funds.
    (e) Priority of Grant Awards.--The Attorney General, in awarding 
grants under the covered grant program shall give priority to eligible 
entities that during the 2-year period preceding the application for a 
grant have not been found to have an unresolved audit finding.
    (f) Nonprofit Requirements.--
            (1) Prohibition.--A nonprofit organization that holds money 
        in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding the tax 
        described in section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1986, shall not be eligible to receive, directly or indirectly, 
        any funds from the covered grant program.
            (2) Disclosure.--Each nonprofit organization that is a 
        covered grantee shall disclose in its application for such a 
        grant, as a condition of receipt of such a grant, the 
        compensation of its officers, directors, and trustees. Such 
        disclosure shall include a description of the criteria relied 
        on to determine such compensation.
    (g) Prohibition on Lobbying Activity.--
            (1) In general.--Amounts made available under the covered 
        grant program may not be used by any covered grantee to--
                    (A) lobby any representative of the Department of 
                Justice regarding the award of grant funding; or
                    (B) lobby any representative of the Federal 
                Government or a State, local, or tribal government 
                regarding the award of grant funding.
            (2) Penalty.--If the Attorney General determines that a 
        covered grantee has violated paragraph (1), the Attorney 
        General shall--
                    (A) require the covered grantee to repay the grant 
                in full; and
                    (B) prohibit the covered grantee from receiving a 
                grant under the covered grant program from which it 
                received a grant award during at least the 5-year 
                period beginning on the date of such violation.
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