[Senate Report 117-134]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 451
117th Congress      }                                   {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session         }                                   {      117-134
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     



                         CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE

                   INVESTIGATIONS SUPPORT ACT OF 2022

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 3655

              TO AMEND THE CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS
         COLLECTION ACT OF 2018 TO EXTEND THE TERMINATION DATE
           OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS REVIEW BOARD










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                 July 21, 2022.--Ordered to be printed  
                 
                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
29-010                   WASHINGTON : 2022
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
            Lena C. Chang, Director of Governmental Affairs
         Matthew T. Cornelius, Senior Professional Staff Member
                Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
            Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
       Cara G. Mumford, Minority Director of Governmental Affairs
                    Allen L. Huang, Minority Counsel
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk 

























                                                      Calendar No. 451
117th Congress      }                                   {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session         }                                   {      117-134

======================================================================



 
       CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE INVESTIGATIONS SUPPORT ACT OF 2022

                                _______
                                

                 July 21, 2022.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 3655]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 3655) to amend the 
Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 to extend 
the termination date of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records 
Review Board, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                    Page
  I. Purpose and Summary.............................................. 1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation.......................... 2
III. Legislative History.............................................. 2
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported............. 3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................. 3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 5

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    S. 3655, the Civil Rights Cold Case Investigations Support 
Act of 2022, changes the initial term of the Civil Rights Cold 
Case Records Review Board (Review Board) from four years to 
seven years and allows the Review Board to retain the option of 
extending their term by one more year if the members find they 
are unable to complete their work within the initial time 
allotted. The extension gives the Review Board members 
approximately five years to fulfill their mission, as 
originally envisioned.

              II. Background and the Need for Legislation

    The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, 
signed into law on January 8, 2019, requires cold case files of 
offenses committed during the civil rights era in the 
possession of federal agencies to be transferred to the 
National Archives and Records Administration for public 
disclosure.\1\ Alternatively, the government agency could 
request postponement of a decision to disclose the information 
publicly. The purpose of the law is to make these cold case 
records publicly available without members of the public having 
to go through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or other 
administrative document requests.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Pub. L. No. 115-426 (2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The law also created a five-person Review Board that would 
review agency decisions to postpone public disclosure. The 
Review Board has the power to compel federal government offices 
to provide civil rights cold case records to the Review Board. 
The Review Board also can independently investigate additional 
facts surrounding these records and subpoena private persons to 
compel the production of documents and other records to the 
Review Board. After reviewing this information, the Review 
Board is required to submit a report to the President with a 
recommendation as to whether all or part of a cold case record 
should be disclosed publicly. The President then has the sole 
and nondelegable authority to act on any recommendations.
    Section 5(n) of the law included a termination provision 
that says the Review Board would terminate four years after the 
enactment of the bill into law, with the option of extending 
its work by one more year if the majority of the Review Board 
decided another year was necessary. Accordingly, under current 
law, the Review Board must terminate its work no later than 
January 8, 2024, even if a one-year extension were agreed to by 
the Review Board.
    No members of the Review Board had been nominated until 
President Biden nominated four members to serve on the Review 
Board in 2021. Those four members were subsequently confirmed 
by the Senate on February 17, 2022, meaning that, under 
existing law, they would have approximately two years to 
investigate the cold case crimes committed during the civil 
rights era.
    S. 3655 would extend the term of the Review Board from four 
to seven years with the option to extend for an additional 
year, potentially extending the Review Board's authority to 
January 8, 2027.

                        III. Legislative History

    Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced S. 3655, the Civil 
Rights Cold Case Investigations Support Act of 2022, on 
February 16, 2022, with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs. Senators Thomas Carper (D-DE), Margaret Hassan (D-NH), 
and Gary Peters (D-MI) joined as cosponsors on March 10, 2022.
    The Committee considered S. 3655 at a business meeting on 
March 30, 2022. The bill was ordered reported favorably by 
voice vote en bloc. Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, 
Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and 
Hawley were present.

        IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported

    Section 1. Short title. This section establishes the short 
title as the ``Civil Rights Cold Case Investigations Support 
Act of 2022.''
    Section 2. Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board 
Extension of Tenure. This section amends Section 5(n)(1) of the 
Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 by 
extending the termination date of the Civil Rights Cold Case 
Records Review Board from four years to seven years, from the 
date of the Review Board's enactment.

                   V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, July 14, 2022.
Hon. Gary Peters,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. 
        Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 3655, the Civil 
Rights Cold Case Investigations Support Act of 2022.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew 
Pickford.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

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    S. 3655 would extend the authorization of the Civil Rights 
Cold Case Records Review Board within the National Archives and 
Records Administration (NARA) through 2027. The five-member 
board facilitates investigations of unsolved civil rights cases 
by increasing the volume of documents available to the public. 
Under current law, the board's authority will end in 2024.
    According to the Department of Justice, about 115 civil 
rights cases remain unsolved. Using information from NARA, CBO 
expects that the costs of implementing the bill would be 
similar to the costs for other boards, such as the John F. 
Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board. On that basis, CBO 
estimates that implementing S. 3655 would cost $5million over 
the 2025-2027 period; such spending would be subject to the 
availability of appropriations.
    NARA is authorized to charge fees to cover some or all of 
the costs of processing certain requests; those fees are 
classified as offsetting receipts (or as reductions in direct 
spending) and are available to spend without further 
appropriation. Thus, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would 
have a negligible effect on net direct spending.
    The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall 
within budget function 800 (general government).

                TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION UNDER S. 3655
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
                                                ----------------------------------------------------------------
                                                   2022     2023     2024     2025     2026     2027   2022-2027
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Authorization........................        0        0        0        2        2        1          5
Estimated Outlays..............................        0        0        0        2        2        1          5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.

       VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is 
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

UNITED STATES CODE

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


CHAPTER 21--NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SEC. 2107. ACCEPTANCE OF RECORDS FOR HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT AND POWERS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS 
                    REVIEW BOARD

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    (n) Termination.--
          (1) In General.--The Review Board shall terminate not 
        later than [4 years] 7 years after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, except that the Review Board 
        may, by majority vote, extend its term for an 
        additional 1-year period if the Review Board has not 
        completed its work within that [4-year period] 7-year 
        period.

                                  [all]