[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 114 (Wednesday, July 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4416-S4417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2177. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mr. Grassley) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 4638, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2025 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1095. INVEST TO PROTECT ACT OF 2024.
(a) Short Title.--
This section may be cited as the ``Invest to Protect Act of
2024''.
(b) Grant Program.--
(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) De-escalation training.--The term ``de-escalation
training'' means training relating to taking action or
communicating verbally or non-verbally during a potential
force encounter in an attempt to stabilize the situation and
reduce the immediacy of the threat so that more time,
options, and resources can be called upon to resolve the
situation without the use of force or with a reduction in the
force necessary.
(B) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Office.
(C) Eligible local government.--The term ``eligible local
government'' means--
(i) a county, municipality, town, township, village,
parish, borough, or other unit of general government below
the State level that employs fewer than 175 law enforcement
officers; and
(ii) a Tribal government that employs fewer than 175 law
enforcement officers.
(D) Law enforcement officer.--The term ``law enforcement
officer'' has the meaning given the term ``career law
enforcement officer'' in section 1709 of title I the Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10389).
(E) Office.--The term ``Office'' means the Office of
Community Oriented Policing Services of the Department of
Justice.
(2) Establishment.--There is established within the Office
a grant program to--
(A) provide training and access to mental health resources
to local law enforcement officers; and
(B) improve the recruitment and retention of local law
enforcement officers.
(3) Authority.--
(A) In general.--As provided in advance in appropriations
Acts, the Director shall award grants to eligible local
governments as a part of the grant program established under
paragraph (2).
(B) Limitation.--Any sums provided in advance in
appropriations Acts to carry out the grant program
established under paragraph (2) shall not exceed $50,000,000
each fiscal year.
(4) Applications.--
(A) Barriers.--The Attorney General shall determine what
barriers exist to establishing a streamlined application
process for grants under this subsection.
(B) Report.--
(i) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the
[[Page S4417]]
Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report that
includes a plan to execute a streamlined application process
for grants under this subsection under which an eligible
local government seeking a grant under this subsection can
reasonably complete the application in not more than 2 hours.
(ii) Contents of plan.--The plan required under clause (i)
may include a plan for--
(I) proactively providing eligible local governments
seeking a grant under this subsection with information on the
data eligible local governments will need to prepare before
beginning the grant application; and
(II) ensuring technical assistance is available for
eligible local governments seeking a grant under this
subsection before and during the grant application process,
including through dedicated liaisons within the Office.
(C) Applications.--In selecting eligible local governments
to receive grants under this subsection, the Director shall
use the streamlined application process described in
subparagraph (B)(i).
(5) Eligible activities.--An eligible local government that
receives a grant under this subsection may use amounts from
the grant only for--
(A) de-escalation training for law enforcement officers;
(B) victim-centered training for law enforcement officers
in handling situations of domestic violence;
(C) evidence-based law enforcement safety training for--
(i) active shooter situations;
(ii) the safe handling of illicit drugs and precursor
chemicals;
(iii) rescue situations;
(iv) recognizing and countering ambush attacks; or
(v) response to calls for service involving--
(I) persons with mental health needs;
(II) persons with substance use disorders;
(III) veterans;
(IV) persons with disabilities;
(V) vulnerable youth;
(VI) persons who are victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, or trafficking; or
(VII) persons experiencing homelessness or living in
poverty;
(D) the offsetting of overtime costs associated with
scheduling issues relating to the participation of a law
enforcement officer in the training described in
subparagraphs (A) through (C), (I), and (J);
(E) a signing bonus for a law enforcement officer in an
amount determined by the eligible local government;
(F) a retention bonus for a law enforcement officer--
(i) in an amount determined by the eligible local
government that does not exceed 20 percent of the salary of
the law enforcement officer; and
(ii) who--
(I) has been employed at the law enforcement agency for not
fewer than 5 years;
(II) has not been found by an internal investigation to
have engaged in serious misconduct; and
(III) commits to remain employed by the law enforcement
agency for not less than 3 years after the date of receipt of
the bonus;
(G) a stipend for the graduate education of law enforcement
officers in the area of mental health, public health, or
social work, which shall not exceed the lesser of--
(i) $10,000; or
(ii) the amount the law enforcement officer pays towards
such graduate education;
(H) providing access to patient-centered behavioral health
services for law enforcement officers, which may include
resources for risk assessments, evidence-based, trauma-
informed care to treat post-traumatic stress disorder or
acute stress disorder, peer support and counselor services
and family supports, and the promotion of improved access to
high quality mental health care through telehealth;
(I) the implementation of evidence-based best practices and
training on the use of lethal and nonlethal force;
(J) the implementation of evidence-based best practices and
training on the duty of care and the duty to intervene; and
(K) data collection for police practices relating to
officer and community safety.
(6) Reporting requirements for grant recipients.--
(A) In general.--The Director shall establish reasonable
reporting requirements specifically relating to a grant
awarded under this subsection for eligible local governments
that receive such a grant in order to assist with the
evaluation by the Office of the program established under
this subsection.
(B) Considerations.--In establishing requirements under
subparagraph (A), the Director shall consider the capacity of
law enforcement agencies with fewer than 175 officers to
collect and report information.
(7) Disclosure of officer recruitment and retention
bonuses.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date on
which an eligible local government that receives a grant
under this subsection awards a signing or retention bonus
described in subparagraph (E) or (F) of paragraph (5), the
eligible local government shall disclose to the Director and
make publicly available on a website of the eligible local
government the amount of the bonus.
(B) Report.--The Attorney General shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees an annual report that
includes each signing or retention bonus disclosed under
subparagraph (A) during the preceding year.
(8) Grant accountability.--
(A) In general.--All grants awarded by the Director under
this subsection shall be subject to the accountability
provisions described in this paragraph.
(B) Audit requirement.--
(i) Definition.--In this subparagraph, the term
``unresolved audit finding'' means a finding in the final
audit report of the Inspector General of the Department of
Justice that the audited grantee has used grant funds for an
unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost that
is not closed or resolved within 12 months from the date when
the final audit report is issued.
(ii) Audits.--Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning
after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and in each
fiscal year thereafter, the Inspector General of the
Department of Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of
grants under this subsection to prevent waste, fraud, and
abuse of funds by grantees. The Inspector General of the
Department of Justice shall determine the appropriate number
of grantees to be audited each year.
(iii) Mandatory exclusion.--A recipient of grant funds
under this subsection that is found to have an unresolved
audit finding shall not be eligible to receive grant funds
under this subsection during the first 3 fiscal years
beginning after the end of the 12-month period described in
clause (i).
(iv) Reimbursement.--If an eligible local government is
awarded grant funds under this subsection during the 3-
fiscal-year period during which the eligible local government
is barred from receiving grants under clause (iii), the
Attorney General shall--
(I) deposit an amount equal to the amount of the grant
funds that were improperly awarded to the grantee into the
General Fund of the Treasury; and
(II) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the fund
from the grant recipient that was erroneously awarded grant
funds.
(C) Annual certification.--Beginning in the fiscal year
during which audits commence under subparagraph (B)(ii), the
Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the
Judiciary and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate
and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives an annual
certification--
(i) indicating whether--
(I) all audits issued by the Office of the Inspector
General of the Department of Justice under subparagraph (B)
have been completed and reviewed by the appropriate Assistant
Attorney General or Director;
(II) all mandatory exclusions required under subparagraph
(B)(iii) have been issued; and
(III) all reimbursements required under subparagraph
(B)(iv) have been made; and
(ii) that includes a list of any grant recipients excluded
under subparagraph (B) from the previous year.
(9) Program evaluation.--Not less frequently than annually,
the Attorney General shall analyze the information provided
by eligible local governments pursuant to the reporting
requirements established under paragraph (6)(A) to evaluate
the efficacy of programs funded by the grant program under
this subsection.
(10) Preventing duplicative grants.--
(A) In general.--Before the Director awards a grant to an
eligible local government under this subsection, the Attorney
General shall compare potential grant awards with other
grants awarded by the Attorney General to determine if grant
awards are or have been awarded for a similar purpose.
(B) Report.--If the Attorney General awards grants to the
same applicant for a similar purpose, whether through the
grant program under this subsection or another grant program
administered by the Department of Justice, the Attorney
General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives a report that includes--
(i) a list of all such grants awarded, including the total
dollar amount of any such grants awarded; and
(ii) the reason the Attorney General awarded multiple
grants to the same applicant for a similar purpose.
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