[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2854 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2854

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To reauthorize the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007.

    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 
Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. INVESTIGATION OF UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMES.

    The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 (28 U.S.C. 
509 note) is amended--
            (1) in section 2--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) coordinate the sharing of information between the 
        Federal Bureau of Investigation, the civil rights community, 
        and other entities;
            ``(4) support the full accounting of all victims whose 
        deaths or disappearances were the result of racially motivated 
        crimes;
            ``(5) hold accountable under Federal and State law all 
        individuals who were perpetrators of, or accomplices in, 
        unsolved civil rights murders and such disappearances;
            ``(6) express the condolences of the authority to the 
        communities affected by unsolved civil rights murders, and to 
        the families of the victims of such murders and such 
        disappearances;
            ``(7) keep families regularly informed about the status of 
        the investigations of such murders and such disappearances of 
        their loved ones; and
            ``(8) expeditiously comply with requests for information 
        received pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States 
        Code, (commonly known as the `Freedom of Information Act') and 
        develop a singular, publicly accessible repository of these 
        disclosed documents.'';
            (2) in section 3--
                    (A) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by striking 
                        ``occurred not later than December 31, 1969, 
                        and'';
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 
                        the period at the end the following: ``, and 
                        eligible entities''; and
                            (iii) by adding after paragraph (2) the 
                        following:
            ``(3) Review of closed cases.--The Deputy Chief shall, to 
        the extent practicable, reopen and review any case involving a 
        violation described in paragraph (1) that was closed prior to 
        the date of the enactment of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil 
        Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 without an in-person 
        investigation conducted by an officer or employee of the 
        Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department 
        of Justice or by an agent of the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation.
            ``(4) Task force.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Deputy Chief shall establish 
                a task force that includes representatives from the 
                Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Community 
                Relations Service of the Department of Justice, State 
                and local law enforcement agencies, and eligible 
                entities to assist, as appropriate, with conducting a 
                thorough investigation of, and to make recommendations 
                to the Deputy Chief regarding, the cases involving 
                violations described in paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Authorization of appropriations.--In addition 
                to amounts made available to carry out this Act under 
                section 6, there is authorized to be appropriated to 
                the Attorney General $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2017 
                and each subsequent fiscal year to carry out this 
                paragraph.''; and
                    (B) in subsection (c)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (A), by 
                                striking ``that occurred not later than 
                                December 31, 1969'';
                                    (II) in subparagraph (F), by 
                                striking ``and'' at the end;
                                    (III) in subparagraph (G), by 
                                striking the period at the end and 
                                inserting ``; and''; and
                                    (IV) by inserting after 
                                subparagraph (G) the following:
                    ``(H) the number of cases referred by an eligible 
                entity or a State or local law enforcement agency or 
                prosecutor to the Department within the study period, 
                the number of such cases that resulted in Federal 
                charges being filed, the date the charges were filed, 
                and if the Department declines to prosecute or 
                participate in an investigation of a case so referred, 
                the fact that it did so, and the outreach, 
                collaboration, and support for investigations and 
                prosecutions of violations of criminal civil rights 
                statutes, including murders and including 
                disappearances described in section 2(4), within 
                Federal, State, and local jurisdictions.''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 
                        the period at the end the following: ``and a 
                        description of the activities conducted under 
                        subsection (b)(3)'';
            (3) in section 4(b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``occurred not 
                later than December 31, 1969, and''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before the 
                period at the end the following: ``, and eligible 
                entities'';
            (4) in section 5--
                    (A) in subsection (a), by striking ``occurred not 
                later than December 31, 1969, and''; and
                    (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``each of the 
                fiscal years 2008 through 2017'' and inserting ``fiscal 
                year 2017 and each subsequent fiscal year'';
            (5) in section 6--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) by striking ``each of the fiscal years 
                        2008 through 2017'' and inserting ``fiscal year 
                        2017 and each subsequent fiscal year''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``occurred not later than 
                        December 31, 1969, and''; and
                    (B) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
    ``(b) Community Relations Service of the Department of Justice.--
Using funds appropriated under section 3(b)(4)(B), the Community 
Relations Service of the Department of Justice shall provide technical 
assistance by bringing together law enforcement agencies and 
communities in the investigation of violations described in section 
4(b).'';
            (6) in section 7--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``definition of 
                `criminal civil rights statutes''' and inserting 
                ``definitions'';
                    (B) in paragraph (6), by redesignating 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), 
                respectively, and indenting the clauses accordingly;
                    (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (6) as 
                subparagraphs (A) through (F), respectively, and 
                indenting the subparagraphs accordingly;
                    (D) by striking ``In this Act, the term'' and 
                inserting: ``In this Act:
            ``(1) Criminal civil rights statutes.--The term''; and
                    (E) by inserting at the end the following:
            ``(2) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means an 
        organization whose primary purpose is to promote civil rights, 
        an institution of higher education, or another entity, 
        determined by the Attorney General to be appropriate.''; and
            (7) by striking section 8.

            Passed the Senate July 14, 2016.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
114th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 2854

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

To reauthorize the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007.