[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2340 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2340

  To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to provide for more 
   expeditious evictions from public housing, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 1995

 Ms. Molinari introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to provide for more 
   expeditious evictions from public housing, 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 ``Public Housing Safety Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF EVICTIONS FROM GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE.

    Section 6(k) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437d(k)) is amended by striking the first sentence of the matter 
following paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
``A public housing agency shall exclude from its procedure any 
grievance concerning an eviction or termination of tenancy in any 
jurisdiction that requires that, prior to eviction, a tenant be given a 
hearing in court which the Secretary determines provides the basic 
elements of due process. The Secretary shall establish such basic 
elements of due process by rule under section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code.''.

SEC. 3. GROUNDS FOR EVICTION.

    Section 6(l)(5) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437d(l)(5)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``criminal'' the first place it appears; 
        and
            (2) by striking ``on or near such premises''.

SEC. 4. REQUIRED EVICTIONS FOR CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS.

    (a) Requirement.--Section 6(n) of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(n)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(n)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) Each public housing agency administering a public housing 
project shall terminate the tenancy of, and evict, any tenant of the 
project who, at any time during the tenant's tenancy in the project 
that is after the date of the enactment of the Public Housing Safety 
Act of 1995, is convicted of a felony. This paragraph may not be 
construed to require a public housing agency to evict any other persons 
who occupy the same dwelling unit as the person required to be 
evicted.''.
    (b) Lease Provisions.--Section 6(l) of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and'';
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) require the public housing agency to terminate the 
        tenancy of, and evict, any tenant convicted of a felony as 
        provided in subsection (n)(2).''.

SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS FOR SCREENING AND EVICTION.

    Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437d) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(q) Availability of Records.--
            ``(1) Provision of information.--Notwithstanding any other 
        provision of law, except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        National Crime Information Center, a police department, and any 
        other law enforcement agency shall, upon request, provide 
        information to public housing agencies regarding the criminal 
        conviction records of adult applicants for, or residents of, 
        public housing for purposes of applicant screening, lease 
        enforcement, and eviction.
            ``(2) Exception.--No law enforcement agency described in 
        paragraph (1) shall provide information under this paragraph 
        relating to any criminal conviction if the date of such 
        conviction occurred 5 or more years prior to the date on which 
        the request for the information is made.
            ``(3) Opportunity to dispute.--Before an adverse action is 
        taken on the basis of a criminal record, the public housing 
        agency shall provide the resident or applicant with a copy of 
        the criminal record and an opportunity to dispute the accuracy 
        and relevance of the record.
            ``(4) Fee.--A public housing agency may be charged a 
        reasonable fee for information provided under paragraph (1).
            ``(5) Records management.--Each public housing agency shall 
        establish and implement a system of records management that 
        ensures that any criminal record received by the public housing 
        agency is--
                    ``(A) maintained confidentially;
                    ``(B) not misused or improperly disseminated; and
                    ``(C) destroyed, once the purpose for which the 
                record was requested has been accomplished.
            ``(6) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        term `adult' means a person who is 18 years of age or older, or 
        who has been convicted of a crime as an adult under any Federal 
        or State law.''.

SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply notwithstanding any 
consent judgment entered before the date of the enactment of this Act 
relating to actions and procedures subject to the provisions of law 
amended by this Act.
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