[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 812 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 812

To amend the Office of National Drug Control Policy Act Reauthorization 
  Act of 1998 to ensure that adequate funding is provided for certain 
                 high intensity drug trafficking areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 15, 2005

  Mr. Cummings (for himself and Mr. Souder) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in 
 addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Office of National Drug Control Policy Act Reauthorization 
  Act of 1998 to ensure that adequate funding is provided for certain 
                 high intensity drug trafficking areas.

    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 ``Dawson Family Community Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In the early morning hours of October 16, 2002, the 
        home of Carnell and Angela Dawson was firebombed in apparent 
        retaliation for Mrs. Dawson's notification of police about 
        persistent drug distribution activity in their East Baltimore 
        City neighborhood.
            (2) The arson claimed the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Dawson and 
        their 5 young children, aged 9 to 14.
            (3) The horrific murder of the Dawson family is a stark 
        example of domestic narco-terrorism.
            (4) In all phases of counter-narcotics law enforcement--
        from prevention to investigation to prosecution to reentry--the 
        voluntary cooperation of ordinary citizens is a critical 
        component.
            (5) Voluntary cooperation is difficult for law enforcement 
        officials to obtain when citizens feel that cooperation carries 
        the risk of violent retaliation by illegal drug trafficking 
        organizations and their affiliates.
            (6) Public confidence that law enforcement is doing all it 
        can to make communities safe is a prerequisite for voluntary 
        cooperation among people who may be subject to intimidation or 
        reprisal (or both).
            (7) Witness protection programs are insufficient on their 
        own to provide security because many individuals and families 
        who strive everyday to make distressed neighborhoods livable 
        for their children, other relatives, and neighbors will resist 
        or refuse offers of relocation by local, State, and Federal 
        prosecutorial agencies and because, moreover, the continued 
        presence of strong individuals and families is critical to 
        preserving and strengthening the social fabric in such 
        communities.
            (8) Where (as in certain sections of Baltimore City) 
        interstate trafficking of illegal drugs has severe ancillary 
        local consequences within areas designated as High Intensity 
        Drug Trafficking Areas, it is important that supplementary 
        HIDTA Program funds be committed to support initiatives aimed 
        at making the affected communities safe for the residents of 
        those communities and encouraging their cooperation with local, 
        State, and Federal law enforcement efforts to combat illegal 
        drug trafficking.

SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR CERTAIN HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Section 707(d) of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy Act Reauthorization Act of 1998 (21 U.S.C. 1760(d); 
Public Law 105-277; 112 Stat. 2681-670) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Director'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) Limitation.--The Director''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Specific purposes.--The Director shall ensure that, 
        of the amounts appropriated for a fiscal year for the High 
        Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, at least $5,000,000 
        is used in high intensity drug trafficking areas with severe 
        neighborhood safety and illegal drug distribution problems. The 
        funds shall be used--
                    ``(A) to ensure the safety of neighborhoods and the 
                protection of communities, including the prevention of 
                the intimidation of potential witnesses of illegal drug 
                distribution and related activities; and
                    ``(B) to combat illegal drug trafficking through 
                such methods as the Director considers appropriate, 
                such as establishing or operating (or both) a toll-free 
                telephone hotline for use by the public to provide 
                information about illegal drug-related activities.''.
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