[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3147-S3148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Markey, and 
        Mr. Blumenthal):
  S. 1212. A bill to provide family members of an individual who they 
fear is a danger to himself, herself, or others, and law enforcement, 
with new tools to prevent gun violence; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Gun Violence 
Prevention Order Act of 2017: At this time, I would also like to thank 
Senators Blumenthal, Gillibrand, and Markey for cosponsoring this 
legislation. Their support is sincerely appreciated.
  Yesterday marked the 3rd anniversary of the horrific shooting that 
outraged the community of Isla Vista, California and the Nation. During 
this attack, the City of Isla Vista was struck by tragedy when 22-year-
old Elliot Rodger went on a shooting rampage after fatally stabbing his 
two roommates and a friend. Armed with a Glock 34 handgun and two SIG 
Sauer P226 handguns, the assailant drove through the streets of Isla 
Vista, shooting and killing 3 young students and injuring 14 others 
near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus before taking 
his own life. The Isla Vista community was in shock, and we as a nation 
struggled to comprehend how this tragedy could have been prevented.
  As more facts emerged about the assailant, we learned that he had a 
history of mental health concerns and violent behavior. He had been 
prescribed medications used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 
and at age 18 Rodgers had begun to refuse the mental health treatment 
he had been receiving. Local deputies had also encountered him several 
times through conflicts and fights he had with friends and roommates. 
And less than a month before his deadly rampage, a concerned friend had 
called a county mental health staff member, and, after speaking with 
the assailant's mother, law enforcement conducted a welfare check at 
Rodger's apartment. At that point, Rodger's murderous plot was well 
underway, and had the police searched his room, they would have found a 
stockpile of guns and ammunition along with papers detailing his plans 
to kill. This individual should have never been able to obtain a 
firearm--and the bill I am introducing today would enable law 
enforcement and family members to intervene and prevent attackers like 
this assailant from carrying out atrocious acts of gun violence in the 
future.
  Over 30,000 people die each year from gun violence, and on average, 7 
children and teens are killed by guns every day. We know that families 
and friends are in the best position to recognize early signs of 
trouble before tragedy occurs. However, family members and law 
enforcement officials commonly have no legal means of taking preventive 
steps to stop a troubled individual from committing an act of gun 
violence before it occurs. To solve this problem, the State of 
California enacted a law in the aftermath of the Isla Vista attack that 
enables family members or law enforcement officers to ask a court for a 
gun violence prevention order.
  Modeled on California's existing laws on domestic violence, when a 
judge believes there is sufficient evidence that an individual is a 
danger to themselves or others, the gun violence prevention order 
temporarily prohibits an individual from purchasing firearms or 
ammunition. And under a higher burden of proof, a court can also issue 
a warrant to remove any firearms or ammunition already in the 
individual's possession. Based on this California law and other State 
laws, the Gun Violence Prevention Order Act of 2017 would create a new 
law enforcement grant under the Community-Oriented Policing Services 
Program at the Department of Justice and incentivize States to take 
intervening measures to prevent gun violence. Specifically, this 
legislation would ensure that families and others can seek a gun 
violence prevention order from a court to temporarily stop someone 
close to them who poses a threat to themselves or others from 
purchasing a firearm. This legislation also ensures that a court can 
issue a gun violence prevention warrant requiring law enforcement to 
take temporary possession of firearms that have already been purchased 
if the court determines that the individual poses a threat. Because 
criminal background checks are critical to preventing gun crimes, this 
legislation also requires the Department of Justice and comparable 
state law enforcement agencies to keep their background check databases 
up to date and requires courts to notify these agencies when a gun 
violence prevention order is issued.
  Importantly, this legislation also protects due process rights by 
providing written notice and multiple opportunities for the court to 
make independent determinations on the matter.
  Additionally, the Department of Justice and State law enforcement 
agencies would be required to protect the affected individual's 
confidentiality. Finally, I would like to say a few words about the 
victims and survivors of the Isla Vista attack and what this 
legislation means to their community. Many of the victims and survivors 
of this attack were students and young adults. They had their whole 
lives ahead of them. As communities across California and our Nation 
mark the third anniversary of this terrible tragedy, let us remember 
the lives of Weihan Wang, Cheng Yuan Hong, George Chen, Veronika Weiss, 
Katherine Cooper, and Christopher Michaels-Martinez. The

[[Page S3148]]

families of these victims will never be the same again, and I will 
never forget hearing their stories in the aftermath of this attack. As 
a mother and grandmother, I cannot imagine the pain they have gone 
through. As the elected leaders of this body, we must never forget what 
happened in Isla Vista and take steps to keep our communities safe from 
the gun violence that continues to endanger them. We have seen the 
costs of inaction, and the Gun Violence Prevention Order Act of 2017 is 
a step we can take to protect communities across America and ensure 
that other communities do not experience the pain that Isla Vista went 
through. I hope my colleagues will join me in remembering the victims 
of this attack and supporting this legislation.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. KAINE:
  S. 1224. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development to carry out a Community Resilience Grant Program, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
authorize a game-changing scale of investment in making America's 
infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters.
  The BUILD Resilience Act would build on the National Disaster 
Resilience Competition first authorized in the 2013 Hurricane Sandy 
emergency supplemental disaster package. It would authorize $1 billion 
a year over 5 years to jumpstart large-scale investment in community 
resilience--supporting jobs, strengthening infrastructure, and reducing 
risk to communities from disasters like hurricanes and flooding.
  This bill aims to follow the ``ounce of prevention'' principle. 
Cleaning up after a disaster is important, but if we invest in sturdier 
infrastructure before the disaster, there will be less to clean up 
after the disaster. This is borne out in two separate studies. The 
Congressional Budget Office estimates that every $1 invested upfront in 
resilient infrastructure saves $3 on the back end. The Multihazard 
Mitigation Council of the National Institute of Building Sciences 
estimates $4 of benefit.
  The Sandy Competition supported resilience projects in low-lying 
coastal areas of Virginia and Louisiana; in Sandy-affected areas of New 
York and New Jersey, in flood-prone Midwest regions like Iowa and North 
Dakota, and elsewhere. But Virginia's grant illustrates the scale of 
the challenge. This grant is supporting innovative flood-control 
projects but only in two at-risk neighborhoods of Norfolk, which is 
only one part of a broader Hampton Roads region. Neighboring localities 
like Newport News and Chesapeake submitted proposals to address their 
own infrastructure needs, but funding was insufficient. Since there 
will always be risk of another devastating storm, we must learn from 
Sandy and take steps now to protect our communities later. This bill 
tries to do that.
  With a range from 1\1/2\ to 7 feet of sea level rise projected by the 
year 2100, the Hampton Roads region is the second largest population 
center at risk from sea level rise in the Nation, behind only New 
Orleans. Residents are dealing with skyrocketing flood insurance 
premiums and flooding not only after a Sandy or a Matthew but from 
ordinary rainstorms. This is a direct Federal responsibility given the 
presence of the largest concentration of naval power in the world. An 
ODU study estimates that the main Norfolk city road leading into Naval 
Station Norfolk could be inundated by the tides a few hours per day by 
midcentury. That makes this not only an infrastructure issue but a 
national security issue.
  I hope to work with the White House and Congress to advance a 
comprehensive infrastructure package that rises to this challenge.

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