[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2647 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2647

To require the Attorney General to make competitive grants to eligible 
State, tribal, and local governments to establish and maintain certain 
              protection and witness assistance programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 26, 2011

  Mr. Cummings (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Rangel, Mr. 
  Stark, Mr. Pierluisi, and Mr. Cohen) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Attorney General to make competitive grants to eligible 
State, tribal, and local governments to establish and maintain certain 
              protection and witness assistance programs.

    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 
Grant Program Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. WITNESS PROTECTION GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (i), the Attorney General 
shall make competitive grants to eligible State, tribal, and local 
governments to establish or maintain programs that provide protection 
or assistance to witnesses in--
            (1) court proceedings involving homicide, or involving a 
        serious violent felony or serious drug offense as defined in 
        section 3559(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code; and
            (2) court proceedings involving gangs or organized crime.
    (b) Criteria.--In making grants under subsection (a), the Attorney 
General shall evaluate applicants based upon the following:
            (1) The extent to which the applicant has a lack of 
        infrastructure to support a witness assistance program.
            (2) The extent to which witness intimidation is present 
        with respect to the applicant.
            (3) The level of cases not prosecuted by the applicant due 
        to witness intimidation.
            (4) The number of homicides per capita committed in the 
        jurisdiction of the applicant.
            (5) The number of serious violent felonies or serious drug 
        offenses, as defined in section 3559(c)(2) of title 18, United 
        States Code, per capita committed in the jurisdiction of the 
        applicant.
            (6) The extent to which organized crime is present in the 
        jurisdiction of the applicant.
            (7) Other appropriate criteria as determined by the 
        Attorney General.
    (c) Technical Assistance.--From amounts made available under 
subsection (i) to carry out this section, the Attorney General, upon 
request of a recipient of a grant under this section, shall direct the 
appropriate offices within the Department of Justice to provide 
technical assistance to such recipient to the extent the Attorney 
General determines such technical assistance is needed to establish or 
maintain a program described in such section.
    (d) Best Practices.--
            (1) Report.--Each recipient of a grant under this section 
        shall submit to the Attorney General a report, in such form and 
        manner and containing such information as specified by the 
        Attorney General, that evaluates each program established or 
        maintained pursuant to such grant, including policies and 
        procedures under the program.
            (2) Development of best practices.--Based on the reports 
        submitted under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall 
        develop best practice models to assist States and other 
        relevant entities in addressing--
                    (A) witness safety;
                    (B) short-term and permanent witness relocation;
                    (C) financial and housing assistance; and
                    (D) any other services related to witness 
                protection or assistance that are determined by the 
                Attorney General to be necessary.
            (3) Dissemination to states.--Not later than 1 year after 
        the development of best practice models under paragraph (2), 
        the Attorney General shall disseminate to States and other 
        relevant entities such models.
            (4) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        States and other relevant entities should use the best practice 
        models developed and disseminated in accordance with this 
        section to evaluate, improve, and develop witness protection or 
        witness assistance as appropriate.
            (5) Clarification.--Nothing in this section requires the 
        dissemination of any information if the Attorney General 
        determines such information is law enforcement sensitive and 
        should only be disclosed within the law enforcement community 
        or that such information poses a threat to national security.
    (e) Federal Share.--
            (1) In general.--The Federal share of the cost of a project 
        carried out using a grant made under this section shall not be 
        more than 75 percent.
            (2) In-kind contributions.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                non-Federal share for a project carried out using a 
                grant made under this section may be made in the form 
                of in-kind contributions that are directly related to 
                the purpose for which the grant was made.
                    (B) Maximum percentage.--Not more than 50 percent 
                of the non-Federal share for a project carried out 
                using a grant made under this section may be in the 
                form of in-kind contributions.
    (f) Administrative Expenses.--Federal administrative costs to carry 
out this section for a fiscal year shall not exceed 5 percent of the 
funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (i) for such fiscal year.
    (g) Geographic Distribution.--The Attorney General shall ensure 
that, to the extent reasonable and practical, grants authorized by this 
section are made to achieve an equitable geographical distribution of 
such programs throughout the United States and that due consideration 
be given to applicants of rural and urban communities.
    (h) Report to Congress.--The Attorney General shall submit a report 
to Congress--
            (1) not later than December 31, 2013, on the implementation 
        of this section and any information on programs funded by 
        grants made pursuant to this section; and
            (2) not later than December 31, 2017, on the programs 
        funded by grants awarded under this section, including on 
        matters specified under subsection (d)(2).
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2012 through 2016.
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