Bilingual Public Safety Act

Bill: 118-s-3586
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA]
Introduced: 2024-01-11
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Latest action: action_date: 2024-01-11
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3586 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 11, 2024 Mr. Ossoff introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train bilingual law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Bilingual Public Safety Act . 2. Bilingual law enforcement officer grants Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 ( 34 U.S.C. 10381 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (o) Bilingual law enforcement officer grants (1) Definitions In this subsection: (A) Covered training program The term covered training program means— (i) training curricula for law enforcement officers to enable effective communication with members of communities with limited English proficiency; and (ii) an education program relating to the matter described in clause (i), including a partnership between a law enforcement agency and a community college or university under which law enforcement officers of the law enforcement agency take language classes or participate in a series of trainings conducted by the law enforcement agency. (B) Eligible entity The term eligible entity means— (i) a State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency; and (ii) a group of Tribal law enforcement agencies. (C) Grant recipient The term grant recipient means a recipient of a grant under the Program. (D) Law enforcement agency The term law enforcement agency means a public agency charged with policing functions, including any component bureau of the agency (such as a governmental victim services program or village public safety officer program), including an agency composed of officers or persons referred to in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 2(10) of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act ( 25 U.S.C. 2801(10) ). (E) Program The term Program means the grant program established under subsection paragraph (2). (2) Grant program Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act , the Attorney General shall establish a grant program within the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under which the Attorney General awards grants to eligible entities to aid in recruiting, retaining, or training law enforcement officers for the purpose of serving communities with limited English proficiency. (3) Applications An eligible entity seeking a grant under the Program shall submit to the Attorney General an application at such time, in such manner, and containing or accompanied by— (A) such information as the Attorney General may reasonably require; (B) a description of each eligible project under paragraph (5) that the grant will fund; and (C) a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the eligible entity in implementing each project described in subparagraph (B). (4) Selection of grant recipients In selecting a recipient of a grant under the Program, the Attorney General shall consider— (A) the specific plan and activities proposed by the applicant to improve the ability of the applicant to serve communities with limited English proficiency; (B) the size of each community with limited English proficiency that will be directly served by recipient; (C) the number of law enforcement officers the grant would support; (D) the plan of the recipient described in paragraph (3)(C); and (E) the amount of funding from the grant the recipient will dedicate to direct program activities, as opposed to program administration. (5) Eligible projects (A) In general A grant recipient shall use the grant for activities with the specific objective of improving the ability of the grant recipient to serve communities with limited English proficiency, including by— (i) hiring or retaining bilingual or multilingual officers who, in the course of their official duties, use their foreign language skills to communicate with members of those communities; and (ii) providing language education or training developed, identified, or approved by the Attorney General under paragraph (6) to monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual law enforcement officers to enable those law enforcement officers to communicate with members of those communities and in the course of their official duties. (B) Limitations (i) Compensation and bonuses (I) In general With respect to a grant recipient that uses amounts from a grant under this subsection to provide compensation or recruitment or retention bonuses to law enforcement officers, the grant recipient shall require the law enforcement officer to commit to employment by the grant recipient during the 3-year period beginning on the date of the provision of the compensation or recruitment or retention bonus. (II) Return of funds A law enforcement officer who does not remain employed by a grant recipient during the 3-year period described in subclause (I) after receiving compensation or a recruitment or retention bonus pursuant to subclause (I) shall return a prorated amount of the compensation or recruitment or retention bonus based on the period during which the law enforcement officer does not remain employed. (ii) Prohibition on remote services A grant recipient may not use funds from the grant for remote, on-demand translation services, such as entering into a contract with a translation service that English-speaking law enforcement officers call during the course of an encounter to provide translation by phone. (6) Language education or training (A) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act , the Attorney General shall develop or identify effective covered training programs for law enforcement officers. (B) Approval of proposed programs The Attorney General may approve a covered training program identified by an eligible entity in an application submitted under paragraph (3). (C) Requirements The covered training programs developed, identified, or approved under this paragraph shall include— (i) pre-training and post-training tests to assess relevant knowledge and skills covered in the covered training program; and (ii) follow-up evaluative assessments to determine the degree to which participants in the covered training program apply the knowledge and skills gained in the covered training program in their jobs. (D) Consultation The Attorney General shall develop, identify, and approve training curricula under this paragraph in consultation with— (i) relevant law enforcement agencies of States and units of local government; (ii) professional law enforcement agencies; (iii) law enforcement labor or representative associations; (iv) racial, ethnic, or cultural affinity groups; (v) associations made up of or that represent individuals with limited English proficiency; and (vi) civil rights and civil liberties groups. (E) Timing of grant Before the date on which the Attorney General awards a grant to a grant recipient under this subsection, the Attorney General shall confirm that the curricula the grant recipient plans to use for language education or training is developed, identified, or approved under this paragraph. (F) List The Attorney General shall include as a part of grant application materials for the Program on the website of the Department of Justice a list of the covered training programs developed, identified, or approved under this paragraph. (7) Background check requirement An eligible entity that uses amounts from a grant under this subsection to hire a new law enforcement officer shall, before hiring the law enforcement officer, perform a background check on the law enforcement officer that includes— (A) if permitted, a psychological evaluation; and (B) a search against, if reasonably available— (i) the National Decertification Index established by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training; (ii) the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database established under Executive Order 14074 (87 Fed. Reg. 32945; relating to effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices); (iii) any system established by the State of the eligible entity to track the misconduct, disciplinary history, or decertification of law enforcement officers; and (iv) any system established by the locality of the eligible entity to track the items described in clause (iii). (8) Report (A) In general Not later than 1 year after the date on which a grant recipient receives a grant under the Program, and annually thereafter until the date described in subparagraph (B), the grant recipient shall submit to the Attorney General a report on the activities carried out using the grant, including, if applicable— (i) the number of bilingual or multilingual law enforcement officers who received compensation or recruitment or retention bonuses awarded with amounts from a grant under this subsection and the amount of grant funds expended for such compensation or bonuses of law enforcement officers; (ii) with respect to language education or training provided with a grant under the Program— (I) the number of law enforcement officers who received the education or training; (II) a description of the education or training; and (III) data on the effectiveness of the education or training; (iii) with respect to encounters of law enforcement officers with members of communities with limited English proficiency during the preceding year, data on— (I) the number of those encounters; and (II) the portion of those encounters that involved personnel who received, using funds from a grant— (aa) compensation or recruitment or retention bonuses; or (bb) language education or training; and (iv) any other data the Attorney General determines appropriate. (B) Date described The date described in this subparagraph, with respect to a grant recipient, is— (i) the date on which the grant recipient expends all amounts from the grant and completes each activity conducted with those amounts; or (ii) an appropriate date determined by the Attorney General that is not later than the third September 30 occurring after the date described in clause (i). (9) Evaluation and report (A) Evaluation Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act , and every 2 years thereafter, the Director of the National Institute of Justice shall conduct an evaluation of— (i) the practices deployed by grant recipients to serve communities with limited English proficiency; and (ii) the efficacy of the Program in improving law enforcement communication with communities with limited English proficiency. (B) Publication Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute of Justice shall submit to Congress and make publicly available a report summarizing the evaluation conducted under subparagraph (A). (10) Appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General $50,000,000 to carry out this subsection for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033. .