STOP Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 650 To direct the Attorney General to award grants to eligible entities for first responders who handle elder justice-related matters, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 1, 2021 Mr. EMMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To direct the Attorney General to award grants to eligible entities for first responders who handle elder justice- related matters, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior abuse Training 4 and Offense Prevention Act’’ or the ‘‘STOP Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT IN ELDER JUS- 6 TICE MATTERS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, after con- 8 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 9 ices, the Postmaster General, and the Chief Postal Inspec- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H650.IH H650 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 650 IH tor for the United States Postal Inspection Service, shall 1 award grants to eligible entities, on a competitive basis, 2 to provide training, technical assistance, multidisciplinary 3 coordination, policy development, and other types of sup- 4 port to police, sheriffs, detectives, public safety officers, 5 corrections personnel, and other first responders who han- 6 dle elder justice-related matters, to fund specially des- 7 ignated elder justice positions or units designed to support 8 first responders in elder justice matters. 9 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 (1) ELDER.—The term ‘‘elder’’ means an indi- 11 vidual age 60 or older. 12 (2) ELDER JUSTICE.—The term ‘‘elder justice’’ 13 means— 14 (A) efforts to— 15 (i) prevent, detect, threat, intervene 16 in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, and 17 exploitation; and 18 (ii) protect elders with diminished ca- 19 pacity while maximizing their autonomy; 20 and 21 (B) the recognition of an elder’s rights, in- 22 cluding the right to be free of abuse, neglect, 23 and exploitation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H650.IH H650 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 650 IH (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 1 ty’’ means a State or local government agency, In- 2 dian tribe or tribal organization, or any other public 3 or nonprofit private entity that is engaged in and 4 has expertise in issues relating to elder justice or a 5 field necessary to promote elder justice efforts. 6 SEC. 3. EVALUATION; APPLICATIONS. 7 (a) EVALUATION.—In carrying out the grant pro- 8 gram under this Act, the Attorney General shall— 9 (1) require each recipient of a grant to use a 10 portion of the funds made available through the 11 grant to conduct a validated evaluation of the effec- 12 tiveness of the activities carried out through the 13 grant by such recipient; or 14 (2) as the Attorney General considers appro- 15 priate, use a portion of the funds available under 16 this Act for a grant program under this Act to pro- 17 vide assistance to an eligible entity to conduct a vali- 18 dated evaluation of the effectiveness of the activities 19 carried out through such grant program by each of 20 the grant recipients. 21 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 22 (1) SUBMISSION.—To be eligible to receive a 23 grant under this Act, an entity shall submit an ap- 24 plication to the Attorney General at such time, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H650.IH H650 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 650 IH such manner, and containing such information as 1 the Attorney General may require, which shall in- 2 clude— 3 (A) a proposal for the evaluation required 4 in accordance with subsection (a)(1); and 5 (B) the amount of assistance under sub- 6 section (a)(2) the entity is requesting, if any. 7 (2) REVIEW AND ASSISTANCE.— 8 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee of the De- 9 partment of Justice, after consultation with an 10 employee of the Department of Health and 11 Human Services with expertise in evaluation 12 methodology, shall review each application de- 13 scribed in subsection (b) and determine whether 14 the methodology described in the proposal 15 under paragraph (1)(A) is adequate to gather 16 meaningful information. 17 (B) DENIAL.—If the reviewing employee 18 determines the methodology described in such 19 proposal is inadequate, the reviewing employee 20 shall recommend that the Attorney General 21 deny the application for the grant, or make rec- 22 ommendations for how the application should 23 be modified. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H650.IH H650 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 650 IH (C) NOTICE TO APPLICANT.—If the Attor- 1 ney General denies the application on the basis 2 of such proposal, the Attorney General shall in- 3 form the applicant of the reasons the applica- 4 tion was denied, and offer assistance to the ap- 5 plicant in modifying the proposal. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H650.IH H650 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS