[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5298 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5298

    To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and 
localities to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to 
                   eviction, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 4, 2019

  Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Evans, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
 Payne, Mr. Blumenauer, and Ms. Jackson Lee) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and 
localities to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to 
                   eviction, 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 ``Eviction Prevention Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATES AND UNITS OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO 
              PROVIDE ACCESS TO COUNSEL IN CIVIL ACTIONS RELATED TO 
              EVICTION.

    (a) Authorization.--The Attorney General is authorized to make 
grants to States and units of general local government to provide 
eligible individuals access to counsel in civil actions related to 
eviction.
    (b) Use of Funds.--A State or unit of general local government that 
receives a grant under this section shall use such funds to hire 
attorneys in positions that are dedicated solely to providing counsel 
described in subsection (a).
    (c) Application.--A State or unit of general local government 
seeking an application under this section shall submit an application 
to the Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 
including--
            (1) the rate of eviction for that State or unit of general 
        local government;
            (2) during the previous year, the number of individuals 
        subject to eviction in that State or unit of general local 
        government who were not represented by an attorney in eviction 
        proceedings;
            (3) a plan for how the State or unit of general local 
        government will use amounts from a grant under this section to 
        increase access to counsel; and
            (4) the status with respect of the right to counsel in 
        civil actions related to eviction in the State or unit of 
        general local government and, if the State or unit of general 
        local government does not have in effect laws providing a right 
        to counsel, such evidence as the Attorney General may require 
        that is sufficient to demonstrate that substantial progress has 
        been made to enact laws providing such a right.
    (d) Amount of Grant.--Subject to the availability of 
appropriations, a grant under this section shall be in an amount that 
is not less than $1,000,000, and which amount is determined based on--
            (1) the rate of eviction in the applicant State or unit of 
        general local government, compared to the national average rate 
        of eviction, as determined by the rates of eviction included 
        with each application under subsection (c);
            (2) the plan submitted by the applicant State or unit of 
        general local government in accordance with subsection (c)(3);
            (3) the status of right to counsel in applicant State or 
        unit of general local government; and
            (4) during the previous year, the number of individuals 
        subject to eviction in the applicant State or unit of general 
        local government who were not represented by an attorney in 
        eviction proceedings.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions shall 
apply:
            (1) Access to counsel.--The term ``access to counsel'' 
        means full representation by an attorney.
            (2) Eligible individual.--The term ``eligible individual'' 
        means an individual whose income is less than 125 percent of 
        the Federal poverty level.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' means the States of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 
        territory or possession of the United States.
            (4) Unit of general local government.--The term ``unit of 
        general local government'' means any city, town, township, 
        county, parish, village, or other general purpose political 
        subdivision of a State.
            (5) Rate of eviction.--The term ``rate of eviction'' means 
        the number of judgments of eviction entered in that 
        jurisdiction per capita during the previous fiscal year.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $125,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2021 through 2025.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR COLLECTION OF EVICTION DATA.

    (a) Authorization.--The Attorney General is authorized to make 
grants to States and units of local government to collect and provide 
to the Attorney General eviction data described in subsection (b).
    (b) Eviction Data Described.--The eviction data described in this 
subsection is the eviction data for the applicable jurisdiction during 
the most recent 3 years, which shall include the 3-year eviction filing 
rate, number of eviction filings at a given property, the name of the 
current owner, the name of the lead plaintiff, the race of the lead 
plaintiff and defendant, the type of property (single-family 
residential, two-family residential, or multi-family residential), 
whether the unit's rent was assisted or subsidized, the number of 
units, the nature of the eviction, the reason for eviction (including 
nonpayment of rent and breach of lease), the number of days the tenant 
is given to vacate, the status of representation of the lead plaintiff 
and defendant, the outcome of the eviction (including whether the 
tenant remains in possession, whether an order of eviction is 
officially placed on the record, whether the landlord is ordered to 
make repairs, and whether the landlord or tenant are ordered to pay any 
amount of money to the other), the date of any rescission of such 
eviction, and if an eviction was ordered, how many days from such order 
until termination of the lease.
    (c) Publication of Data.--The Attorney General shall make the 
information reported under subsection (a) publicly available online.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.

SEC. 4. GAO STUDY.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study 
and submit a report to Congress on evictions in the United States, 
including an analysis of ways in which the legal system fails to 
provide sufficient protections from eviction for tenants, the rate of 
representation of tenants and landlords, the effect of full 
representation on default rates, case outcomes, and eviction dockets as 
compared to cases where the tenant lacks representation or has pro se 
assistance, and the potential cost savings from providing 
representation.
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