II 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1958 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 3, 2005 Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Craig, Mr. Levin, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Baucus, and Mrs. Clinton) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize the Attorney General to establish and 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative Reimbursement Act.

2.

Northern Border Prosecution Initiative

(a)

Initiative required

(1)

In general

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 establish and 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. (2)

Relation with Southwestern Border Prosecution Initiative

The program established in paragraph (1) shall— (A)be modeled after the Southwestern Border Prosecution Initiative; and (B)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 established in subsection (a) shall be— (1)provided in the form of direct reimbursements; and (2)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 under this section may be used by the entity for any lawful purpose, including: (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)

Case disposition

The term case disposition— (A)for purposes of the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, refers to the time between the arrest of a suspect and the resolution of the criminal charges through a county or State judicial or prosecutorial process; and (B)does not include incarceration time for sentenced offenders, or time spent by prosecutors on judicial appeals. (2)

Eligible northern border entity

The term eligible northern border entity means— (A)the States of 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). (3)

Federally declined-referred

The term federally declined-referred— (A)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 such investigation to a State or local jurisdiction for possible prosecution; and (B)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)

Federally initiated

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 multi-jurisdictional task forces.

3.

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act $28,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years thereafter.