[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1694 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1694
To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of
Defense to make certain limitations on the transfer of personal
property to Federal and State agencies, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 9, 2021
Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Ms. Adams, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Bass,
Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cicilline, Ms.
Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr.
Connolly, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DeGette, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Eshoo, Mr.
Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Foster, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Garcia of Illinois,
Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings,
Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Norton, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Jayapal, Ms.
Kaptur, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Lee of
California, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Matsui, Mr.
McClintock, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr.
Moulton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Payne, Ms. Pingree, Mr.
Pocan, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr.
Raskin, Mr. Rush, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Scott of Virginia,
Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Speier, Ms. Meng, Mr.
Takano, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velazquez,
Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Ms. Bush, Mr. Jones, Mr. Bowman, Mr.
Gomez, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Castor of Florida, and Mr. Carson)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of
Defense to make certain limitations on the transfer of personal
property to Federal and State agencies, 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 ``Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Under section 2576a of title 10, United States Code,
the Department of Defense is authorized to provide excess
property to local law enforcement agencies. The Defense
Logistics Agency, administers such section by operating the Law
Enforcement Support Office program.
(2) New and used material, including mine-resistant ambush-
protected vehicles and weapons determined by the Department of
Defense to be ``military grade'' are transferred to Federal,
Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies through the
program.
(3) As a result local law enforcement agencies, including
police and sheriff's departments, are acquiring this material
for use in their normal operations.
(4) As a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
military equipment purchased for, and used in, those wars has
become excess property and has been made available for transfer
to local and Federal law enforcement agencies.
(5) In Fiscal Year 2017, $504,000,000 worth of property was
transferred to law enforcement agencies.
(6) More than $6,800,000,000 worth of weapons and equipment
have been transferred to police organizations in all 50 States
and four territories through the program.
(7) In May 2012, the Defense Logistics Agency instituted a
moratorium on weapons transfers through the program after
reports of missing equipment and inappropriate weapons
transfers.
(8) Though the moratorium was widely publicized, it was
lifted in October 2013 without adequate safeguards.
(9) On January 16, 2015, President Barack Obama issued
Executive Order 13688 to better coordinate and regulate the
Federal transfer of military weapons and equipment to State,
local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies.
(10) In July, 2017, the Government Accountability Office
reported that the program's internal controls were inadequate
to prevent fraudulent applicants' access to the program.
(11) On August 28, 2017, President Donald Trump rescinded
Executive Order 13688 despite a July 2017 Government
Accountability Office report finding deficiencies with the
administration of the 1033 program.
(12) As a result, Federal, State, and local law enforcement
departments across the country are eligible again to acquire
free ``military-grade'' weapons and equipment that could be
used inappropriately during policing efforts in which people
and taxpayers could be harmed.
(13) The Department of Defense categorizes equipment
eligible for transfer under the 1033 program as ``controlled''
and ``un-controlled'' equipment. ``Controlled equipment''
includes weapons, explosives such as flash-bang grenades, mine-
resistant ambush-protected vehicles, long-range acoustic
devices, aircraft capable of being modified to carry armament
that are combat coded, and silencers, among other military
grade items.
SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TRANSFER OF PERSONAL
PROPERTY TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
(a) In General.--Section 2576a of title 10, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``counterdrug,
counterterrorism, `disaster-related emergency
preparedness, and border security activities'' and
inserting ``counterterrorism''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``, the Director
of National Drug Control Policy,'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period and
inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
``(7) the recipient submits to the Department of Defense a
description of how the recipient expects to use the property;
``(8) the recipient certifies to the Department of Defense
that if the recipient determines that the property is surplus
to the needs of the recipient, the recipient will return the
property to the Department of Defense;
``(9) with respect to a recipient that is not a Federal
agency, the recipient certifies to the Department of Defense
that the recipient notified the local community of the request
for personal property under this section by--
``(A) publishing a notice of such request on a
publicly accessible Internet website;
``(B) posting such notice at several prominent
locations in the jurisdiction of the recipient; and
``(C) ensuring that such notices were available to
the local community for a period of not less than 30
days; and
``(10) the recipient has received the approval of the city
council or other local governing body to acquire the personal
property sought under this section.'';
(3) by striking subsections (d) and (e);
(4) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections
(o) and (p), respectively; and
(5) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
subsections:
``(d) Annual Certification Accounting for Transferred Property.--
(1) For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress
certification in writing that each Federal or State agency to which the
Secretary has transferred property under this section--
``(A) has provided to the Secretary documentation
accounting for all controlled property, including arms and
ammunition, that the Secretary has transferred to the agency,
including any item described in subsection (f) so transferred
before the date of the enactment of the Stop Militarizing Law
Enforcement Act; and
``(B) with respect to a non-Federal agency, carried out
each of paragraphs (5) through (8) of subsection (b).
``(2) If the Secretary cannot provide a certification under
paragraph (1) for a Federal or State agency, the Secretary may not
transfer additional property to that agency under this section.
``(e) Annual Report on Excess Property.--Before making any property
available for transfer under this section, the Secretary shall annually
submit to Congress a description of the property to be transferred
together with a certification that the transfer of the property would
not violate this section or any other provision of law.
``(f) Limitations on Transfers.--(1) The Secretary may not transfer
to Federal, Tribal, State, or local law enforcement agencies the
following under this section:
``(A) Controlled firearms, ammunition, bayonets, grenade
launchers, grenades (including stun and flash-bang), and
explosives.
``(B) Controlled vehicles, highly mobile multi-wheeled
vehicles, mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, trucks,
truck dump, truck utility, and truck carryall.
``(C) Drones that are armored, weaponized, or both.
``(D) Controlled aircraft that--
``(i) are combat configured or combat coded; or
``(ii) have no established commercial flight
application.
``(E) Silencers.
``(F) Long-range acoustic devices.
``(G) Items in the Federal Supply Class of banned items.
``(2) The Secretary may not require, as a condition of a transfer
under this section, that a Federal or State agency demonstrate the use
of any small arms or ammunition.
``(3) The limitations under this subsection shall also apply with
respect to the transfer of previously transferred property of the
Department of Defense from one Federal or State agency to another such
agency.
``(4)(A) The Secretary may waive the applicability of paragraph (1)
to a vehicle described in subparagraph (B) of such paragraph (other
than a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle), if the Secretary
determines that such a waiver is necessary for disaster or rescue
purposes or for another purpose where life and public safety are at
risk, as demonstrated by the proposed recipient of the vehicle.
``(B) If the Secretary issues a waiver under subparagraph (A), the
Secretary shall--
``(i) submit to Congress notice of the waiver, and post
such notice on a public Internet website of the Department, by
not later than 30 days after the date on which the waiver is
issued; and
``(ii) require, as a condition of the waiver, that the
recipient of the vehicle for which the waiver is issued
provides public notice of the waiver and the transfer,
including the type of vehicle and the purpose for which it is
transferred, in the jurisdiction where the recipient is located
by not later than 30 days after the date on which the waiver is
issued.
``(5) The Secretary may provide for an exemption to the limitation
under subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1) in the case of parts for
aircraft described in such subparagraph that are transferred as part of
regular maintenance of aircraft in an existing fleet.
``(6) The Secretary shall require, as a condition of any transfer
of property under this section, that the Federal or State agency that
receives the property shall return the property to the Secretary if the
agency--
``(A) is investigated by the Department of Justice for any
violation of civil liberties; or
``(B) is otherwise found to have engaged in widespread
abuses of civil liberties.
``(g) Conditions for Extension of Program.--Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, amounts authorized to be appropriated or
otherwise made available for any fiscal year may not be obligated or
expended to carry out this section unless the Secretary submits to
Congress certification that for the preceding fiscal year that--
``(1) each Federal or State agency that has received
controlled property transferred under this section has--
``(A) demonstrated 100 percent accountability for
all such property, in accordance with paragraph (2) or
(3), as applicable; or
``(B) been suspended from the program pursuant to
paragraph (4);
``(2) with respect to each non-Federal agency that has
received controlled property under this section, the State
coordinator responsible for each such agency has verified that
the coordinator or an agent of the coordinator has conducted an
in-person inventory of the property transferred to the agency
and that 100 percent of such property was accounted for during
the inventory or that the agency has been suspended from the
program pursuant to paragraph (4);
``(3) with respect to each Federal agency that has received
controlled property under this section, the Secretary of
Defense or an agent of the Secretary has conducted an in-person
inventory of the property transferred to the agency and that
100 percent of such property was accounted for during the
inventory or that the agency has been suspended from the
program pursuant to paragraph (4);
``(4) the eligibility of any agency that has received
controlled property under this section for which 100 percent of
the property was not accounted for during an inventory
described in paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable, to receive
any property transferred under this section has been suspended;
``(5) each State coordinator has certified, for each non-
Federal agency located in the State for which the State
coordinator is responsible that--
``(A) the agency has complied with all requirements
under this section; or
``(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive
property transferred under this section has been
suspended; and
``(6) the Secretary of Defense has certified, for each
Federal agency that has received property under this section
that--
``(A) the agency has complied with all requirements
under this section; or
``(B) the eligibility of the agency to receive
property transferred under this section has been
suspended.
``(h) Prohibition on Ownership of Controlled Property.--A Federal
or State agency that receives controlled property under this section
may never take ownership of the property.
``(i) Notice to Congress of Property Downgrades.--Not later than 30
days before downgrading the classification of any item of personal
property from controlled or Federal Supply Class, the Secretary shall
submit to Congress notice of the proposed downgrade.
``(j) Notice to Congress of Property Cannibalization.--Before the
Defense Logistics Agency authorizes the recipient of property
transferred under this section to cannibalize the property, the
Secretary shall submit to Congress notice of such authorization,
including the name of the recipient requesting the authorization, the
purpose of the proposed cannibalization, and the type of property
proposed to be cannibalized.
``(k) Quarterly Reports on Use of Controlled Equipment.--Not later
than 30 days after the last day of a fiscal quarter, the Secretary
shall submit to Congress a report on any uses of controlled property
transferred under this section during that fiscal quarter.
``(l) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the last
day of a fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
on the following for the preceding fiscal year:
``(1) The percentage of equipment lost by recipients of
property transferred under this section, including specific
information about the type of property lost, the monetary value
of such property, and the recipient that lost the property.
``(2) The transfer of any new (condition code A) property
transferred under this section, including specific information
about the type of property, the recipient of the property, the
monetary value of each item of the property, and the total
monetary value of all such property transferred during the
fiscal year.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to any transfer of property made after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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