II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 540 To require Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to report information related to allegations of misconduct of law enforcement offi- cers to the Attorney General, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 2 (legislative day, MARCH 1), 2021 Mr. KAINE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to report information related to allegations of misconduct of law enforcement officers to the Attorney General, 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 ‘‘Cost of Police Mis- 4 conduct Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 6 (a) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 540 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 1 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 2 General shall identify— 3 (A) the total number of Federal law en- 4 forcement agencies in the Federal Government; 5 and 6 (B) the name of each Federal law enforce- 7 ment agency in the Federal Government. 8 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Attorney General shall 9 make publicly available on the internet website of 10 the Department of Justice the information under 11 paragraph (1), and update such identification infor- 12 mation on an annual basis. 13 (b) FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REQUIRE- 14 MENTS.— 15 (1) DATA COLLECTION.—On and after the date 16 that is 120 days after the date of the enactment of 17 this Act, a Federal law enforcement agency identi- 18 fied under subsection (a)(1) shall collect the infor- 19 mation described in paragraph (3) of this subsection 20 relating to allegations of misconduct by any Federal 21 law enforcement officer employed by the agency and 22 any judgments or settlements with respect to such 23 allegations of misconduct. 24 (2) DATA REPORTING.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 540 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 1 after the last day of each year that begins after 2 the date of the enactment of this Act, a Federal 3 law enforcement agency identified under sub- 4 section (a)(1) shall report to the Attorney Gen- 5 eral, pursuant to guidelines established by the 6 Attorney General, for the preceding year and 7 with respect to the Federal law enforcement 8 agency, the information described in paragraph 9 (3). 10 (B) EXTENSION.—The Attorney General 11 may extend the deadline under subparagraph 12 (A) by 60 days for a Federal law enforcement 13 agency that is making good faith efforts to 14 comply with the requirement under that sub- 15 paragraph. 16 (C) SCOPE OF INITIAL REPORT.—The first 17 report submitted by a Federal law enforcement 18 agency under subparagraph (A) shall include 19 data collected prior to the year covered by the 20 report, if the data collection requirement under 21 paragraph (1) applies to any period prior to 22 that year. 23 (3) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The information 24 described in this paragraph, for a particular year 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 540 IS and with respect to a Federal law enforcement agen- 1 cy, is the following: 2 (A) The total number of allegations of mis- 3 conduct by a Federal law enforcement officer 4 made during the year. 5 (B) The total number of judgments en- 6 tered or settlements entered into during the 7 year with respect to allegations of misconduct 8 by a Federal law enforcement officer. 9 (C) For each allegation of misconduct 10 identified in subparagraph (A) or judgment or 11 settlement with respect to allegations of mis- 12 conduct identified in subparagraph (B): 13 (i) The race, ethnicity, sex, and age of 14 each officer and civilian involved. 15 (ii) The year in which the alleged mis- 16 conduct took place. 17 (iii) The year in which the allegation 18 was reported. 19 (iv) The type of allegation, which may 20 include a body camera violation (whether a 21 failure to wear or record), use of force (in- 22 cluding the type of force), a collision, racial 23 profiling, negligence, property damage, sex- 24 ual harassment or assault, false testimony, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 540 IS wrongful death, failure of a duty to inter- 1 vene, or wrongful imprisonment. 2 (v) Any personnel action taken by the 3 officer involved, which may include res- 4 ignation or retirement. 5 (vi) Any personnel action taken by the 6 Federal law enforcement agency involved, 7 which may include termination, demotion, 8 or relocation of the officer involved. 9 (vii) In the case of a judgment or set- 10 tlement, the total amount paid to satisfy 11 the judgment or settlement (and related 12 court fees), regardless of the source of the 13 payment. 14 (viii) In the case of a judgment or set- 15 tlement, the source of money used to pay 16 the judgment or settlement (and related 17 court fees), including whether the money 18 came from amounts appropriated under 19 section 1304 of title 31, United States 20 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Judgment 21 Fund’’), amounts appropriated to the Fed- 22 eral law enforcement agency, or another 23 source. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 540 IS (D) The total amount paid pursuant to 1 such judgments and settlements (and related 2 court fees) by the Federal law enforcement 3 agency. 4 (c) STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT RE- 5 QUIREMENTS.— 6 (1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 7 ‘‘Byrne JAG program’’ means any grant program 8 under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus 9 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 10 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.). 11 (2) REQUIREMENTS.— 12 (A) DATA COLLECTION.—On and after the 13 date that is 120 days after the date of the en- 14 actment of this Act, a State or unit of local 15 government that receives funds under the 16 Byrne JAG program shall collect information 17 relating to allegations of misconduct by any law 18 enforcement officer employed by a law enforce- 19 ment agency of the State or unit of local gov- 20 ernment, respectively, and any judgments or 21 settlements with respect to such allegations of 22 misconduct that is substantially similar to the 23 information described in subsection (b)(3). 24 (B) DATA REPORTING.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 540 IS (i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 1 days after the last day of each year that 2 begins after the date of the enactment of 3 this Act, a State or unit of local govern- 4 ment that receives funds under the Byrne 5 JAG program shall submit to the Attorney 6 General, pursuant to guidelines established 7 by the Attorney General, for the preceding 8 year and with respect to each law enforce- 9 ment agency of the State or unit of local 10 government, respectively, the information 11 collected under subparagraph (A). 12 (ii) EXTENSION.—The Attorney Gen- 13 eral may extend the deadline under clause 14 (i) by 60 days for a State or local govern- 15 ment that is making good faith efforts to 16 comply with the requirement under that 17 clause. 18 (iii) SOURCE OF MONEY FOR JUDG- 19 MENTS AND SETTLEMENTS.—For purposes 20 of clause (i), in reporting the source of 21 money used to pay a judgment or settle- 22 ment (and related court fees), as described 23 in subsection (b)(3)(C)(viii), a State or 24 unit of local government shall disclose 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 540 IS whether the money came from a general 1 operating budget, State or local law en- 2 forcement agency budget, bonds, liability 3 insurance, a central risk management fund 4 or pool, or other source. 5 (iv) SCOPE OF INITIAL REPORT.—The 6 first report submitted by a State or local 7 government under clause (i) shall include 8 data collected prior to the year covered by 9 the report, if the data collection require- 10 ment under subparagraph (A) applies to 11 any period prior to that year. 12 (3) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State or unit of local 14 government that fails to comply with the re- 15 quirements under paragraph (2) shall be sub- 16 ject to not more than a 10-percent reduction of 17 the funds that would otherwise be allocated to 18 the State or unit of local government under the 19 Byrne JAG program for— 20 (i) the fiscal year in which the failure 21 to comply occurs; or 22 (ii) the subsequent fiscal year. 23 (B) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allo- 24 cated under the Byrne JAG program to a State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 540 IS or unit of local government for failure to fully 1 comply with paragraph (2) shall be reallocated 2 under that program to States or units of local 3 government that have complied with such para- 4 graph. 5 (4) OPEN-SOURCE DATA.—Not later than 30 6 days after each date on which the Attorney General 7 receives information reported under paragraph (2) 8 from a State or unit of local government, the Attor- 9 ney General shall verify such information reported 10 using open-source data, as practicable, including 11 using data from newspaper and court records. 12 (d) STUDY AND REPORTS REQUIRED.— 13 (1) GAO STUDY AND REPORT.— 14 (A) STUDY.—After data has been collected 15 under subsections (b) and (c) for 2 full years, 16 the Comptroller General of the United States 17 shall carry out a study on such data, includ- 18 ing— 19 (i) the number of Federal, State, and 20 local law enforcement agencies reporting 21 such data to the Attorney General; 22 (ii) a determination of the leading 23 cause of judgments and settlements 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 540 IS against Federal, State, and local law en- 1 forcement agencies; 2 (iii) an analysis of any relationship 3 between the number of judgments and set- 4 tlements and the actions taken by Federal, 5 State, or local law enforcement agencies, 6 including the agency’s process of enforcing 7 the law, such agency’s culture, and any 8 new programs established by the agency to 9 enforce the law; 10 (iv) recommendations with respect to 11 how a Federal, State, or local law enforce- 12 ment agency may reduce misconduct lead- 13 ing to judgments or settlements; 14 (v) identification of Federal, State, 15 local law enforcement agencies that have 16 spent the most money with respect to judg- 17 ments and settlements (and related court 18 fees); 19 (vi) the total amount of money spent 20 by Federal, State, and local law enforce- 21 ment agencies on judgments or settlements 22 (and related court fees), disaggregated by 23 State; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 540 IS (vii) the average amount of money 1 spent on judgments or settlements (and re- 2 lated court fees) by— 3 (I) Federal law enforcement 4 agencies; 5 (II) State law enforcement agen- 6 cies; and 7 (III) local law enforcement agen- 8 cies. 9 (B) REPORT AND PRESS RELEASE.—Not 10 later than 120 days after the last day of the 11 third year that begins after the date of the en- 12 actment of this Act, the Comptroller General, in 13 consultation with the Attorney General, shall— 14 (i) prepare and submit to Congress a 15 report that contains the findings of the 16 study under subparagraph (A); 17 (ii) make the report described in 18 clause (i) publicly available through the 19 internet website of the Government Ac- 20 countability Office; and 21 (iii) release a press release with re- 22 spect to the study under paragraph (A). 23 (2) DOJ PRESS RELEASE.—Not later than 180 24 days after the last day of the first year that begins 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 540 IS after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an- 1 nually thereafter, the Attorney General shall issue a 2 press release summarizing the data collected under 3 subsections (b) and (c) for the year prior to the re- 4 lease of such press release. 5 (3) DATABASE.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 8 Attorney General shall create and maintain on- 9 line a public, searchable database containing all 10 data reported under subsections (b) and (c), 11 subject to any otherwise applicable confiden- 12 tiality requirements. Such publication shall not 13 include any personally identifiable information 14 of any law enforcement officer. 15 (B) DATABASE UPDATES.—The Attorney 16 General shall update the database created 17 under subparagraph (A) on an annual basis 18 with data reported under subsections (b) and 19 (c). 20 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 21 tion shall be construed to supersede the requirements or 22 limitations under section 552a of title 5, United States 23 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 1974’’). 24 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S540.IS S540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 540 IS (1) ALLEGATION OF MISCONDUCT.—The term 1 ‘‘allegation of misconduct’’ means an allegation by a 2 member of the community or other individual that a 3 law enforcement officer took illegal, tortious, or oth- 4 erwise inappropriate action in connection with the 5 official duties of the officer. 6 (2) JUDGMENT.—The term ‘‘judgment’’ means 7 the final court order in a civil action that resolves 8 all issues in dispute and settles the parties’ rights 9 with respect to those issues. 10 (3) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 11 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means a [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]