[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5811 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5811

 To use Byrne JAG funds for deflection and diversion programs, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2023

  Mr. Ryan (for himself, Mr. Trone, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Mooney) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To use Byrne JAG funds for deflection and diversion programs, 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 ``Public Safety and Community Support 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFLECTION AND PRE-ARREST DIVERSION.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Law enforcement officers and other first responders are 
        at the front line of the opioid epidemic. However, a 
        traditional law enforcement response to substance use often 
        fails to disrupt the cycle of addiction and arrest, or reduce 
        the risk of overdose.
            (2) Law enforcement-assisted deflection and diversion 
        programs have the potential to improve public health, decrease 
        the number of people entering the criminal justice system for 
        low-level offenses, and address racial disparities.
            (3) According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the 
        Department of Justice, ``Five pathways have been most commonly 
        associated with opioid overdose prevention and diversion to 
        treatment.'' The 6 pathways are--
                    (A) ``self-referral'', in which--
                            (i) an individual voluntarily initiates 
                        contact with a first responder, such as a law 
                        enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency 
                        medical services professional, for a treatment 
                        referral (without fear of arrest); and
                            (ii) the first responder personally 
                        introduces the individual to a treatment 
                        provider (commonly known as a ``warm 
                        handoff'');
                    (B) ``active outreach'', in which a law enforcement 
                officer or other first responder--
                            (i) identifies or seeks out individuals in 
                        need of substance use disorder treatment; and
                            (ii) makes a warm handoff of such an 
                        individual to a treatment provider, who engages 
                        the individual in treatment;
                    (C) ``naloxone plus'', in which a law enforcement 
                officer or other first responder engages an individual 
                in treatment as a follow-up to an overdose response;
                    (D) ``officer prevention referral'', in which a law 
                enforcement officer or other first responder initiates 
                treatment engagement with an individual, but no 
                criminal charges are filed against the individual;
                    (E) ``officer intervention referral'', in which--
                            (i) a law enforcement officer or other 
                        first responder initiates treatment engagement 
                        with an individual; and
                            (ii)(I) criminal charges are filed against 
                        the individual and held in abeyance; or
                                    (II) a citation is issued to the 
                                individual; and
                    (F) ``community response'', in which a team 
                comprising community-based behavioral health 
                professionals engages individuals to help de-escalate 
                crises, mediate low-level conflicts, or address quality 
                of life issues by providing a referral to treatment, 
                services or to a case manager.
            (4) As of the date of enactment of this Act, there are no 
        national best practices or guidelines for law enforcement-
        assisted deflection and diversion programs.
    (b) Use of Byrne Jag Funds for Deflection and Diversion Programs.--
Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(E), by inserting before the period 
        at the end the following: ``, including law enforcement-
        assisted deflection programs and law enforcement-assisted pre-
        arrest and pre-booking diversion programs (as those terms are 
        defined in subsection (h))''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Law Enforcement-Assisted Deflection Programs and Law 
Enforcement-Assisted Pre-Arrest and Pre-Booking Diversion Programs.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Covered grant.--The term `covered grant' 
                means a grant for a deflection or diversion program 
                awarded under subsection (a)(1)(E).
                    ``(B) Deflection or diversion program.--The term 
                `deflection or diversion program' means a law 
                enforcement-assisted deflection program or a law 
                enforcement-assisted pre-arrest or pre-booking 
                diversion, including a program under which--
                            ``(i) an individual voluntarily initiates 
                        contact with a first responder for a substance 
                        use disorder or mental health treatment 
                        referral without fear of arrest and receives a 
                        warm handoff to such treatment;
                            ``(ii) a law enforcement officer or other 
                        first responder identifies or seeks out 
                        individuals in need of substance use disorder 
                        or mental health treatment and a warm handoff 
                        is made to a treatment provider, who engages 
                        the individuals in treatment;
                            ``(iii) a law enforcement officer or other 
                        first responder engages an individual in 
                        substance use disorder treatment as part of an 
                        overdose response;
                            ``(iv) a law enforcement officer or other 
                        first responder initiates substance use 
                        disorder or mental health treatment engagement, 
                        but no criminal charges are filed;
                            ``(v) a law enforcement officer or other 
                        first responder initiates substance use 
                        disorder or mental health treatment engagement 
                        with an individual; or
                            ``(vi) charges are filed against an 
                        individual who has committed an offense that is 
                        not a crime against a person, and the primary 
                        cause of which appears to be based on a 
                        substance use disorder or mental health 
                        disorder and held in abeyance or a citation is 
                        issued to such an individual.
                    ``(C) Law enforcement-assisted deflection 
                program.--The term `law enforcement-assisted deflection 
                program' means a program under which a law enforcement 
                officer, when encountering an individual who is not 
                engaged in criminal activity but appears to have a 
                substance use disorder or mental health disorder, 
                instead of taking no action at the time of contact or 
                taking action at a later time, attempts to connect the 
                individual to substance use disorder treatment 
                providers or mental health treatment providers--
                            ``(i) without the use of coercion or fear 
                        of arrest; and
                            ``(ii) using established pathways for 
                        connections to local, community-based 
                        treatment.
                    ``(D) Law enforcement-assisted pre-arrest or pre-
                booking diversion program.--The term `law enforcement-
                assisted pre-arrest or pre-booking diversion program' 
                means a program--
                            ``(i) under which a law enforcement 
                        officer, when encountering an individual who 
                        has committed an offense that is not a crime 
                        against a person, and the primary cause of 
                        which appears to be based on a substance use 
                        disorder or the mental health disorder of the 
                        individual, instead of arresting the 
                        individual, or instead of booking the 
                        individual after having arrested the 
                        individual, attempts to connect the individual 
                        to substance use disorder treatment providers 
                        or mental health treatment providers--
                                    ``(I) without the use of coercion; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) using established pathways 
                                for connections to local, community-
                                based treatment;
                            ``(ii) under which, in the case of pre-
                        arrest diversion, a law enforcement officer 
                        described in clause (i) may decide to--
                                    ``(I) issue a civil citation; or
                                    ``(II) take no action with respect 
                                to the offense for which the officer 
                                would otherwise have arrested the 
                                individual described in clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) that may authorize a law 
                        enforcement officer to refer an individual to 
                        substance use disorder treatment providers or 
                        mental health treatment providers if the 
                        individual appears to have a substance use 
                        disorder or mental health disorder and the 
                        officer suspects the individual of chronic 
                        violations of law but lacks probable cause to 
                        arrest the individual (commonly known as a 
                        `social contact referral').
            ``(2) Sense of congress regarding deflection or diversion 
        programs.--It is the sense of Congress that a deflection or 
        diversion program funded under this subpart should not exclude 
        individuals who are chronically exposed to the criminal justice 
        system.
            ``(3) Reports to attorney general.--Not later than 2 years 
        after the date on which a State or unit of local government is 
        awarded a covered grant, and each year thereafter until the 
        date that is 1 year after the date on which the period of the 
        covered grant ends, the State or unit of local government shall 
        submit a report to the Attorney General that includes 
        information relating to the deflection or diversion program 
        carried out by the State or unit of local government, including 
        information relating to--
                    ``(A) the goals of the deflection or diversion 
                program;
                    ``(B) any evidence-based interventions carried out 
                under the deflection or diversion program;
                    ``(C) outcomes of the deflection or diversion 
                program, which shall--
                            ``(i) be reported in a manner that 
                        distinguishes the outcomes based on the 
                        categories of, with respect to the participants 
                        in the deflection or diversion program--
                                    ``(I) the race of the participants; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) the gender of the 
                                participants; and
                            ``(ii) include information relating to the 
                        rate of reincarceration among participants in 
                        the deflection or diversion program, if 
                        available; and
                    ``(D) expenditures under the deflection or 
                diversion program.''.
    (c) Technical Assistance Grant Program.--
            (1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    (A) the term ``deflection or diversion program'' 
                has the meaning given the term in subsection (h) of 
                section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
                Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152), as added by 
                subsection (b); and
                    (B) the terms ``State'' and ``unit of local 
                government'' have the meanings given those terms in 
                section 901 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
                Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251).
            (2) Grant authorized.--The Attorney General shall award a 
        single grant to an entity with significant experience in 
        working with law enforcement agencies, community-based 
        treatment providers, and other community-based human service 
        providers to develop or administer both deflection and 
        diversion programs that use each of the 6 pathways described in 
        subsection (a)(3), to promote and maximize the effectiveness 
        and racial equity of deflection or diversion programs, in order 
        to--
                    (A) help State and units of local government launch 
                and expand deflection or diversion programs;
                    (B) develop best practices for deflection or 
                diversion teams, which shall include--
                            (i) recommendations on community input and 
                        engagement in order to implement deflection or 
                        diversion programs as rapidly as possible and 
                        with regard to the particular needs of a 
                        community, including regular community meetings 
                        and other mechanisms for engagement with--
                                    (I) law enforcement agencies;
                                    (II) community-based treatment 
                                providers and other community-based 
                                human service providers;
                                    (III) the recovery community; and
                                    (IV) the community at-large; and
                            (ii) the implementation of metrics to 
                        measure community satisfaction concerning the 
                        meaningful participation and interaction of the 
                        community with the deflection or diversion 
                        program and program stakeholders;
                    (C) develop and publish a training and technical 
                assistance tool kit for deflection or diversion for 
                public education purposes;
                    (D) disseminate uniform criteria and standards for 
                the delivery of deflection or diversion program 
                services; and
                    (E) develop outcome measures that can be used to 
                continuously inform and improve social, clinical, 
                financial and racial equity outcomes.
            (3) Term.--The term of the grant awarded under paragraph 
        (2) shall be 5 years.
            (4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Attorney General $30,000,000 for the 
        grant under paragraph (2).
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