[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1238 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1238

To authorize the Attorney General to carry out a program, known as the 
 Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds to northern 
 border States to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs 
  associated with certain criminal activities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2003

   Mr. Larsen of Washington (for himself, Mr. Dicks, Mr. Stupak, Mr. 
   Pomeroy, Mr. Nethercutt, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Smith of 
  Washington, and Mr. Baird) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Attorney General to carry out a program, known as the 
 Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds to northern 
 border States to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs 
  associated with certain criminal activities, 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 ``Northern Border Prosecution 
Initiative Reimbursement Act'' .

SEC. 2. NORTHERN BORDER PROSECUTION INITIATIVE.

    (a) Initiative Required.--From amounts made available to carry out 
this section, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the 
Bureau of Justice Assistance of the Office of Justice Programs, shall 
carry out a program, to be known as the Northern Border Prosecution 
Initiative, to provide funds to reimburse eligible northern border 
entities for costs incurred by those entities for handling case 
dispositions of criminal cases that are federally initiated but 
federally declined-referred. This program shall be modeled after the 
Southwestern Border Prosecution Initiative and shall serve as a partner 
program to that initiative to reimburse local jurisdictions for 
processing Federal cases.
    (b) Provision and Allocation of Funds.--Funds provided under the 
program shall be provided in the form of direct reimbursements and 
shall be allocated in a manner consistent with the manner under which 
funds are allocated under the Southwestern Border Prosecution 
Initiative.
    (c) Use of Funds.--Funds provided to an eligible northern border 
entity may be used by the entity for any lawful purpose, including the 
following purposes:
            (1) Prosecution and related costs.
            (2) Court costs.
            (3) Costs of courtroom technology.
            (4) Costs of constructing holding spaces.
            (5) Costs of administrative staff.
            (6) Costs of defense counsel for indigent defendants.
            (7) Detention costs, including pre-trial and post-trial 
        detention.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``eligible northern border entity'' means--
                    (A) any of the following States: Alaska, Idaho, 
                Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New 
                York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, 
                Washington, and Wisconsin; or
                    (B) any unit of local government within a State 
                referred to in subparagraph (A).
            (2) The term ``federally initiated'' means, with respect to 
        a criminal case, that the case results from a criminal 
        investigation or an arrest involving Federal law enforcement 
        authorities for a potential violation of Federal criminal law, 
        including investigations resulting from multijurisdictional 
        task forces.
            (3) The term ``federally declined-referred'' means, with 
        respect to a criminal case, that a decision has been made in 
        that case by a United States Attorney or a Federal law 
        enforcement agency during a Federal investigation to no longer 
        pursue Federal criminal charges against a defendant and to 
        refer of the investigation to a State or local jurisdiction for 
        possible prosecution. The term includes a decision made on an 
        individualized case-by-case basis as well as a decision made 
        pursuant to a general policy or practice or pursuant to 
        prosecutorial discretion.
            (4) The term ``case disposition'', for purposes of the 
        Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, refers to the time 
        between a suspect's arrest and the resolution of the criminal 
        charges through a county or State judicial or prosecutorial 
        process. Disposition does not include incarceration time for 
        sentenced offenders, or time spent by prosecutors on judicial 
        appeals.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

     There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$28,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such sums as may be necessary for 
fiscal years after fiscal year 2004.
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