[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4244 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4244

  To provide for grants for regional task forces to more effectively 
  investigate and prosecute identity theft and other economic crimes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 2005

  Ms. Hooley introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for grants for regional task forces to more effectively 
  investigate and prosecute identity theft and other economic crimes.

    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 ``Regional ID Theft Task Force Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR REGIONAL ID THEFT TASK FORCES.

    (a) Grants Required.--The Attorney General shall make grants to 
coalitions of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to 
establish regional task forces to more effectively investigate and 
prosecute identify theft and other economic crimes, such as check fraud 
and credit card fraud.
    (b) Use of Grant Amounts.--
            (1) In general.--Grant amounts received under this section 
        may be used for--
                    (A) planning, equipment, training, and costs 
                associated with starting up a regional task force; and
                    (B) personnel costs and operating expenses for the 
                regional task force.
            (2) Limitation.--For any fiscal year, not more than 50 
        percent of amounts received may be used for personnel costs and 
        operating expenses.
            (3) Supplement not supplant.--Grant amounts under this 
        section must supplement rather than supplant other available 
        funding.
            (4) Maximum.--A regional task force may not receive more 
        than $3,000,000 for any fiscal year and may not receive funding 
        for more than four fiscal years.
    (c) Eligible Task Forces Defined.--In this section, the term 
``regional task force'' means a task force that--
            (1) is established by a coalition of Federal, State, and 
        local law enforcement agencies that--
                    (A) collectively serve a region that has a 
                population of at least 1,000,000 people; and
                    (B) have in effect an agreement to cooperate in 
                investigating and prosecuting identity theft and other 
                economic crimes; and
            (2) includes one or more representatives of financial 
        institutions.
    (d) Selection Criteria.--In selecting recipients for, and in 
determining amounts of, grants under this section, the Attorney General 
shall consider--
            (1) the population of the region to be served by the task 
        force;
            (2) the degree of cooperation between the law enforcement 
        agencies and the financial institutions involved in the task 
        force; and
            (3) the region's rate of economic crimes.
    (e) Evaluation and Report to Congress.--After three fiscal years 
for which grants are made under this section, the Attorney General 
shall carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the activities 
carried out under this section, including an evaluation of the 
effectiveness of each task force receiving grant amounts under this 
section and an evaluation of the effectiveness of each distinct 
practice used by the various task forces. After completing the 
evaluation, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report on 
the results of the evaluation, which shall include a description of the 
distinct practices that the Attorney General considers to be the most 
effective and recommends for adoption by other task forces.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each fiscal 
year.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES RECEIVING 
              REPORTS OF ECONOMIC CRIMES.

    (a) Local Agencies to Accept All Reports of Local Victims.--
Whenever a local law enforcement agency receives a report that a person 
residing in the jurisdiction of the agency is the victim of an economic 
crime, the fact that the crime occurred or may have occurred outside 
the jurisdiction of the agency may not be used as a basis to decline to 
accept the report.
    (b) Standard Police Report Form.--The Attorney General, in 
consultation with the Federal Trade Commission, shall develop and make 
available a standard form that may be used by a local law enforcement 
agency in receiving a report that a person is the victim of an economic 
crime.
    (c) Duties of Attorney General.--The Attorney General shall 
prescribe regulations to implement this section.
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