[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 79 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 79

  To establish within the United States Marshals Service a short term 
  State witness protection program to provide assistance to State and 
  local district attorneys to protect their witnesses in homicide and 
   major violent crime cases and to provide Federal grants for such 
                              protection.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 4, 2007

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish within the United States Marshals Service a short term 
  State witness protection program to provide assistance to State and 
  local district attorneys to protect their witnesses in homicide and 
   major violent crime cases and to provide Federal grants for such 
                              protection.

    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 ``Witness Security and Protection Act 
of 2007''.

SEC. 2. SHORT TERM STATE WITNESS PROTECTION SECTION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 37 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 570. Short Term State Witness Protection Section
    ``(a) In General.--There is established in the United States 
Marshals Service a Short Term State Witness Protection Section which 
shall provide protection for witnesses in State and local trials 
involving homicide or other major violent crimes pursuant to 
cooperative agreements with State and local criminal prosecutor's 
offices and the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--The Short Term State Witness Protection Section 
shall give priority in awarding grants and providing services to 
criminal prosecutor's offices in States with an average of not less 
than 100 murders per year during the 5-year period immediately 
preceding an application for protection, as calculated using the latest 
available crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.''.
    (b) Chapter Analysis.--The chapter analysis for chapter 37 of title 
28, United States Code, is amended by striking the items relating to 
sections 570 through 576 and inserting the following:

``570. Short Term State Witness Protection Section.''.

SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``eligible prosecutor's office'' means a State 
        or local criminal prosecutor's office or the United States 
        attorney for the District of Columbia that is located in a 
        State with an average of not less than 100 murders per year 
        during the most recent 5-year period, as calculated using the 
        latest available crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation; and
            (2) the term ``serious violent felony'' has the same 
        meaning as in section 3559(c)(2) of title 18, United States 
        Code.
    (b) Grants Authorized.--
            (1) In general.--The Attorney General is authorized to make 
        grants to eligible prosecutor's offices for the purpose of 
        providing short term protection to witnesses in trials 
        involving homicide or serious violent felony.
            (2) Allocation.--Each eligible prosecutor's office 
        receiving a grant under this section may either--
                    (A) use the grant to provide witness protection; or
                    (B) pursuant to a cooperative agreement with the 
                Short Term State Witness Protection Section of the 
                United States Marshals Service, credit the grant to the 
                Short Term State Witness Protection Section to cover 
                the costs to the section of providing witness 
                protection on behalf of the eligible prosecutor's 
                office.
    (c) Application.--
            (1) In general.--Each eligible prosecutor's office desiring 
        a grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
        Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and accompanied 
        by such information as the Attorney General may reasonably 
        require.
            (2) Contents.--Each application submitted pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall--
                    (A) describe the activities for which assistance 
                under this section is sought; and
                    (B) provide such additional assurances as the 
                Attorney General determines to be essential to ensure 
                compliance with the requirements of this section.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $90,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010.
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