[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 923 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.923

                       One Hundred Tenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and eight


                                 An Act


 
   To provide for the investigation of certain unsolved civil rights 
                     crimes, 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 ``Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights 
Crime Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
    It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with jurisdiction, 
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other entities within 
the Department of Justice, should--
        (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil rights murders, 
    due to the amount of time that has passed since the murders and the 
    age of potential witnesses; and
        (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure timely and 
    thorough investigations in the cases involved.
SEC. 3. DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE CRIMINAL SECTION OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS 
DIVISION.
    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall designate a Deputy 
Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the 
Department of Justice.
    (b) Responsibility.--
        (1) In general.--The Deputy Chief shall be responsible for 
    coordinating the investigation and prosecution of violations of 
    criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later than 
    December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death.
        (2) Coordination.--In investigating a complaint under paragraph 
    (1), the Deputy Chief may coordinate investigative activities with 
    State and local law enforcement officials.
    (c) Study and Report.--
        (1) Study.--The Attorney General shall annually conduct a study 
    of the cases under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Chief or under 
    the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Special Agent and, in 
    conducting the study, shall determine--
            (A) the number of open investigations within the Department 
        for violations of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred 
        not later than December 31, 1969;
            (B) the number of new cases opened pursuant to this Act 
        since the previous year's study;
            (C) the number of unsealed Federal cases charged within the 
        study period, including the case names, the jurisdiction in 
        which the charges were brought, and the date the charges were 
        filed;
            (D) the number of cases referred by the Department to a 
        State or local law enforcement agency or prosecutor within the 
        study period, the number of such cases that resulted in State 
        charges being filed, the jurisdiction in which such charges 
        were filed, the date the charges were filed, and if a 
        jurisdiction declines to prosecute or participate in an 
        investigation of a case so referred, the fact it did so;
            (E) the number of cases within the study period that were 
        closed without Federal prosecution, the case names of unsealed 
        Federal cases, the dates the cases were closed, and the 
        relevant federal statutes;
            (F) the number of attorneys who worked, in whole or in 
        part, on any case described in subsection (b)(1); and
            (G) the applications submitted for grants under section 5, 
        the award of such grants, and the purposes for which the grant 
        amount were expended.
        (2) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
    enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Attorney 
    General shall prepare and submit to Congress a report containing 
    the results of the study conducted under paragraph (1).
SEC. 4. SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS UNIT OF THE 
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall designate a Supervisory 
Special Agent in the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation of the Department of Justice.
    (b) Responsibility.--
        (1) In general.--The Supervisory Special Agent shall be 
    responsible for investigating violations of criminal civil rights 
    statutes that occurred not later than December 31, 1969, and 
    resulted in a death.
        (2) Coordination.--In investigating a complaint under paragraph 
    (1), the Supervisory Special Agent may coordinate the investigative 
    activities with State and local law enforcement officials.
SEC. 5. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.
    (a) In General.--The Attorney General may award grants to State or 
local law enforcement agencies for expenses associated with the 
investigation and prosecution by them of criminal offenses, involving 
civil rights, that occurred not later than December 31, 1969, and 
resulted in a death.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2017 
to carry out this section.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated, in 
addition to any other amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated 
for this purpose, to the Attorney General $10,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2008 through 2017 for the purpose of investigating and 
prosecuting violations of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred 
not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. These funds 
shall be allocated by the Attorney General to the Deputy Chief of the 
Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division and the Supervisory 
Special Agent of the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation in order to advance the purposes set forth in this Act.
    (b) Community Relations Service of the Department of Justice.--In 
addition to any amounts authorized to be appropriated under title XI of 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000h et seq.), there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Community Relations Service of the 
Department of Justice $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2008 and each 
subsequent fiscal year, to enable the Service (in carrying out the 
functions described in title X of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.)) 
to provide technical assistance by bringing together law enforcement 
agencies and communities in the investigation of violations of criminal 
civil rights statutes, in cases described in section 4(b).
SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF ``CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES''.
    In this Act, the term ``criminal civil rights statutes'' means--
        (1) section 241 of title 18, United States Code (relating to 
    conspiracy against rights);
        (2) section 242 of title 18, United States Code (relating to 
    deprivation of rights under color of law);
        (3) section 245 of title 18, United States Code (relating to 
    federally protected activities);
        (4) sections 1581 and 1584 of title 18, United States Code 
    (relating to involuntary servitude and peonage);
        (5) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3631); and
        (6) any other Federal law that--
            (A) was in effect on or before December 31, 1969; and
            (B) the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of 
        the Department of Justice enforced, before the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
SEC. 8. SUNSET.
    Sections 2 through 6 of this Act shall cease to have effect at the 
end of fiscal year 2017.
SEC. 9. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL.
    Title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 3703. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL.
    ``(a) In General.--An Inspector General appointed under section 3 
or 8G of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may 
authorize staff to assist the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children--
        ``(1) by conducting reviews of inactive case files to develop 
    recommendations for further investigations; and
        ``(2) by engaging in similar activities.
    ``(b) Limitations.--
        ``(1) Priority.--An Inspector General may not permit staff to 
    engage in activities described in subsection (a) if such activities 
    will interfere with the duties of the Inspector General under the 
    Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
        ``(2) Funding.--No additional funds are authorized to be 
    appropriated to carry out this section.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.