Federal

Real Justice for Our Veterans Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 992 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill changes laws about veterans courts, which are special court programs for military veterans. The bill requires the government to study whether these programs treat racial and ethnic minorities and women fairly, and creates a pilot program to test new ways to help veterans stay in and finish these court programs.

Who It Affects

Veterans participating in treatment court programs, local governments that run veterans courts or drug courts, the Attorney General, and Congress.

Key Provisions

• The Attorney General must conduct a national study within three years to evaluate whether veterans treatment court programs give racial and ethnic minorities and women equal access and equal chances to complete the programs. The study must collect and analyze data on who gets admitted to these programs and who completes them. (Sec. 2) • The Attorney General will create a pilot program giving grants to local governments that operate veterans treatment courts or drug courts to test new treatment methods designed to keep veterans in these programs longer and help them finish. (Sec. 3(a)) • Local governments applying for these grants must explain what treatment method they plan to use and provide evidence it will help veterans stay in and complete the programs. (Sec. 3(c)) • Grant recipients must report to the Attorney General within 180 days on participant information and completion rates. (Sec. 3(d)) • In areas without a veterans court, a veteran who qualifies may participate in a drug court instead, even if the veteran has committed a violent crime. (Sec. 4)

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, the federal government will begin studying whether veterans courts provide equal treatment to minorities and women. The government will also give money to local communities to test new ways to help veterans complete court programs successfully.

Important Definitions

None defined in bill text.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 232 To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to prioritize veterans court treatment programs that ensure equal access for racial and ethnic minorities and women, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 10, 2023 Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to prioritize veterans court treatment pro- grams that ensure equal access for racial and ethnic minorities and women, 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 ‘‘Real Justice for Our 4 Veterans Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 232 IH SEC. 2. EQUAL ACCESS TO VETERANS COURT TREATMENT 1 PROGRAMS FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC MI- 2 NORITIES AND WOMEN. 3 Section 2991(i)(2) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 4 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651(i)(2)) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 7 after the date of enactment of this subpara- 8 graph, the Attorney General shall submit to 9 Congress a report on the effectiveness of vet- 10 erans treatment court programs. In preparing 11 such a report, the Attorney General shall con- 12 duct a national multi-site evaluation of such 13 programs, including an assessment of— 14 ‘‘(i) the population served by such 15 programs; 16 ‘‘(ii) whether such programs use evi- 17 dence-based treatments for substance use 18 and mental health, including medication 19 for addiction treatment; 20 ‘‘(iii) recidivism rates of participants 21 in such programs; 22 ‘‘(iv) program completion rates; and 23 ‘‘(v) whether racial and ethnic minori- 24 ties and women have equal access to such 25 programs and an equal opportunity to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 232 IH complete such programs, including by col- 1 lecting and analyzing data related to ad- 2 mission in such programs and completion 3 of such programs, to ensure there are not 4 disparities related to race, ethnicity, or 5 sex.’’. 6 SEC. 3. VETERANS PILOT PROGRAM ON PROMISING RETEN- 7 TION MODELS. 8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General, acting 9 through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, 10 shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to eligible 11 units of local government to improve retention in veterans 12 treatment court programs (as such term is defined in sec- 13 tion 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 14 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)) and drug court programs. 15 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible for a grant 16 under subsection (a), a unit of local government shall op- 17 erate a veterans treatment court program or a drug court. 18 (c) APPLICATION.—A unit of local government seek- 19 ing a grant through the pilot program under subsection 20 (a) shall submit to the Attorney General an application 21 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor- 22 mation as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 23 including— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 232 IH (1) a description of the therapeutic or treat- 1 ment modality that the unit of local government 2 plans to implement and data to support the use of 3 the therapeutic or treatment modality, including in- 4 formation showing how the therapeutic or treatment 5 modality will promote retention in and completion of 6 veterans treatment court programs and drug court 7 programs; and 8 (2) detailed plans on how the applicant would 9 test the efficacy of the therapeutic or treatment mo- 10 dality. 11 (d) REPORTING METRICS.—Not later than 180 days 12 after receiving a grant under subsection (a), a unit of local 13 government shall submit to the Attorney General a report, 14 which includes demographic information of participants in 15 the veterans treatment court program, and completion 16 rates of such participants. The Attorney General shall de- 17 velop guidelines for the report required under this sub- 18 section. 19 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 20 authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of fis- 21 cal years 2023 through 2028 to carry out this section. 22 SEC. 4. ADMISSION OF VETERANS TO DRUG COURTS. 23 In the case of a jurisdiction that does not operate 24 a veterans treatment court program (as such term is de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 232 IH fined in section 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 1 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)), but that 2 does operate a drug court under part EE of the Omnibus 3 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 4 10611 et seq.), a veteran who would be eligible to partici- 5 pate in a veterans treatment court program may partici- 6 pate in the drug court, including a veteran who is a violent 7 offender (as such term is defined in section 2953(a) of 8 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 9 (34 U.S.C. 10613(a))). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H232.IH H232 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

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