[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3586 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3586

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
   establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train 
      bilingual law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 11, 2024

  Mr. Ossoff introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
   establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train 
      bilingual law enforcement officers, 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 ``Bilingual Public Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. BILINGUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER GRANTS.

    Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``(o) Bilingual Law Enforcement Officer Grants.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Covered training program.--The term `covered 
                training program' means--
                            ``(i) training curricula for law 
                        enforcement officers to enable effective 
                        communication with members of communities with 
                        limited English proficiency; and
                            ``(ii) an education program relating to the 
                        matter described in clause (i), including a 
                        partnership between a law enforcement agency 
                        and a community college or university under 
                        which law enforcement officers of the law 
                        enforcement agency take language classes or 
                        participate in a series of trainings conducted 
                        by the law enforcement agency.
                    ``(B) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' 
                means--
                            ``(i) a State, Tribal, or local law 
                        enforcement agency; and
                            ``(ii) a group of Tribal law enforcement 
                        agencies.
                    ``(C) Grant recipient.--The term `grant recipient' 
                means a recipient of a grant under the Program.
                    ``(D) Law enforcement agency.--The term `law 
                enforcement agency' means a public agency charged with 
                policing functions, including any component bureau of 
                the agency (such as a governmental victim services 
                program or village public safety officer program), 
                including an agency composed of officers or persons 
                referred to in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 2(10) 
                of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 
                2801(10)).
                    ``(E) Program.--The term `Program' means the grant 
                program established under subsection paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Grant program.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act, the 
        Attorney General shall establish a grant program within the 
        Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under which the 
        Attorney General awards grants to eligible entities to aid in 
        recruiting, retaining, or training law enforcement officers for 
        the purpose of serving communities with limited English 
        proficiency.
            ``(3) Applications.--An eligible entity seeking a grant 
        under the Program shall submit to the Attorney General an 
        application at such time, in such manner, and containing or 
        accompanied by--
                    ``(A) such information as the Attorney General may 
                reasonably require;
                    ``(B) a description of each eligible project under 
                paragraph (5) that the grant will fund; and
                    ``(C) a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of 
                the eligible entity in implementing each project 
                described in subparagraph (B).
            ``(4) Selection of grant recipients.--In selecting a 
        recipient of a grant under the Program, the Attorney General 
        shall consider--
                    ``(A) the specific plan and activities proposed by 
                the applicant to improve the ability of the applicant 
                to serve communities with limited English proficiency;
                    ``(B) the size of each community with limited 
                English proficiency that will be directly served by 
                recipient;
                    ``(C) the number of law enforcement officers the 
                grant would support;
                    ``(D) the plan of the recipient described in 
                paragraph (3)(C); and
                    ``(E) the amount of funding from the grant the 
                recipient will dedicate to direct program activities, 
                as opposed to program administration.
            ``(5) Eligible projects.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A grant recipient shall use the 
                grant for activities with the specific objective of 
                improving the ability of the grant recipient to serve 
                communities with limited English proficiency, including 
                by--
                            ``(i) hiring or retaining bilingual or 
                        multilingual officers who, in the course of 
                        their official duties, use their foreign 
                        language skills to communicate with members of 
                        those communities; and
                            ``(ii) providing language education or 
                        training developed, identified, or approved by 
                        the Attorney General under paragraph (6) to 
                        monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual law 
                        enforcement officers to enable those law 
                        enforcement officers to communicate with 
                        members of those communities and in the course 
                        of their official duties.
                    ``(B) Limitations.--
                            ``(i) Compensation and bonuses.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--With respect to 
                                a grant recipient that uses amounts 
                                from a grant under this subsection to 
                                provide compensation or recruitment or 
                                retention bonuses to law enforcement 
                                officers, the grant recipient shall 
                                require the law enforcement officer to 
                                commit to employment by the grant 
                                recipient during the 3-year period 
                                beginning on the date of the provision 
                                of the compensation or recruitment or 
                                retention bonus.
                                    ``(II) Return of funds.--A law 
                                enforcement officer who does not remain 
                                employed by a grant recipient during 
                                the 3-year period described in 
                                subclause (I) after receiving 
                                compensation or a recruitment or 
                                retention bonus pursuant to subclause 
                                (I) shall return a prorated amount of 
                                the compensation or recruitment or 
                                retention bonus based on the period 
                                during which the law enforcement 
                                officer does not remain employed.
                            ``(ii) Prohibition on remote services.--A 
                        grant recipient may not use funds from the 
                        grant for remote, on-demand translation 
                        services, such as entering into a contract with 
                        a translation service that English-speaking law 
                        enforcement officers call during the course of 
                        an encounter to provide translation by phone.
            ``(6) Language education or training.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after 
                the date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety 
                Act, the Attorney General shall develop or identify 
                effective covered training programs for law enforcement 
                officers.
                    ``(B) Approval of proposed programs.--The Attorney 
                General may approve a covered training program 
                identified by an eligible entity in an application 
                submitted under paragraph (3).
                    ``(C) Requirements.--The covered training programs 
                developed, identified, or approved under this paragraph 
                shall include--
                            ``(i) pre-training and post-training tests 
                        to assess relevant knowledge and skills covered 
                        in the covered training program; and
                            ``(ii) follow-up evaluative assessments to 
                        determine the degree to which participants in 
                        the covered training program apply the 
                        knowledge and skills gained in the covered 
                        training program in their jobs.
                    ``(D) Consultation.--The Attorney General shall 
                develop, identify, and approve training curricula under 
                this paragraph in consultation with--
                            ``(i) relevant law enforcement agencies of 
                        States and units of local government;
                            ``(ii) professional law enforcement 
                        agencies;
                            ``(iii) law enforcement labor or 
                        representative associations;
                            ``(iv) racial, ethnic, or cultural affinity 
                        groups;
                            ``(v) associations made up of or that 
                        represent individuals with limited English 
                        proficiency; and
                            ``(vi) civil rights and civil liberties 
                        groups.
                    ``(E) Timing of grant.--Before the date on which 
                the Attorney General awards a grant to a grant 
                recipient under this subsection, the Attorney General 
                shall confirm that the curricula the grant recipient 
                plans to use for language education or training is 
                developed, identified, or approved under this 
                paragraph.
                    ``(F) List.--The Attorney General shall include as 
                a part of grant application materials for the Program 
                on the website of the Department of Justice a list of 
                the covered training programs developed, identified, or 
                approved under this paragraph.
            ``(7) Background check requirement.--An eligible entity 
        that uses amounts from a grant under this subsection to hire a 
        new law enforcement officer shall, before hiring the law 
        enforcement officer, perform a background check on the law 
        enforcement officer that includes--
                    ``(A) if permitted, a psychological evaluation; and
                    ``(B) a search against, if reasonably available--
                            ``(i) the National Decertification Index 
                        established by the International Association of 
                        Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and 
                        Training;
                            ``(ii) the National Law Enforcement 
                        Accountability Database established under 
                        Executive Order 14074 (87 Fed. Reg. 32945; 
                        relating to effective, accountable policing and 
                        criminal justice practices);
                            ``(iii) any system established by the State 
                        of the eligible entity to track the misconduct, 
                        disciplinary history, or decertification of law 
                        enforcement officers; and
                            ``(iv) any system established by the 
                        locality of the eligible entity to track the 
                        items described in clause (iii).
            ``(8) Report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date on which a grant recipient receives a grant under 
                the Program, and annually thereafter until the date 
                described in subparagraph (B), the grant recipient 
                shall submit to the Attorney General a report on the 
                activities carried out using the grant, including, if 
                applicable--
                            ``(i) the number of bilingual or 
                        multilingual law enforcement officers who 
                        received compensation or recruitment or 
                        retention bonuses awarded with amounts from a 
                        grant under this subsection and the amount of 
                        grant funds expended for such compensation or 
                        bonuses of law enforcement officers;
                            ``(ii) with respect to language education 
                        or training provided with a grant under the 
                        Program--
                                    ``(I) the number of law enforcement 
                                officers who received the education or 
                                training;
                                    ``(II) a description of the 
                                education or training; and
                                    ``(III) data on the effectiveness 
                                of the education or training;
                            ``(iii) with respect to encounters of law 
                        enforcement officers with members of 
                        communities with limited English proficiency 
                        during the preceding year, data on--
                                    ``(I) the number of those 
                                encounters; and
                                    ``(II) the portion of those 
                                encounters that involved personnel who 
                                received, using funds from a grant--
                                            ``(aa) compensation or 
                                        recruitment or retention 
                                        bonuses; or
                                            ``(bb) language education 
                                        or training; and
                            ``(iv) any other data the Attorney General 
                        determines appropriate.
                    ``(B) Date described.--The date described in this 
                subparagraph, with respect to a grant recipient, is--
                            ``(i) the date on which the grant recipient 
                        expends all amounts from the grant and 
                        completes each activity conducted with those 
                        amounts; or
                            ``(ii) an appropriate date determined by 
                        the Attorney General that is not later than the 
                        third September 30 occurring after the date 
                        described in clause (i).
            ``(9) Evaluation and report.--
                    ``(A) Evaluation.--Not later than 2 years after the 
                date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act, 
                and every 2 years thereafter, the Director of the 
                National Institute of Justice shall conduct an 
                evaluation of--
                            ``(i) the practices deployed by grant 
                        recipients to serve communities with limited 
                        English proficiency; and
                            ``(ii) the efficacy of the Program in 
                        improving law enforcement communication with 
                        communities with limited English proficiency.
                    ``(B) Publication.--Not later than 2 years after 
                the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
                National Institute of Justice shall submit to Congress 
                and make publicly available a report summarizing the 
                evaluation conducted under subparagraph (A).
            ``(10) Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
        appropriated to the Attorney General $50,000,000 to carry out 
        this subsection for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033.''.
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