Use of Force Accountability Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3026 To require States receiving grants under the Byrne grant program and the COPS grant program to have in place laws requiring certain inde- pendent investigations of law enforcement officers’ use of deadly force, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. CROW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require States receiving grants under the Byrne grant program and the COPS grant program to have in place laws requiring certain independent investigations of law enforcement officers’ use of deadly force, 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 ‘‘Use of Force Account- 4 ability Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3026 IH SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF LAW ENFORCE- 1 MENT STATUTES CONDITION FOR RECEIPT 2 OF COPS AND BYRNE GRANT FUNDING. 3 Beginning in the first fiscal year that begins after 4 the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of 5 this Act, in order to be eligible for a grant under the 6 Byrne grant program or the COPS grant program, a State 7 or Indian Tribe shall have in effect— 8 (1) an independent investigation of law enforce- 9 ment statute; and 10 (2) a law or policy that upon the completion of 11 an independent investigation, the findings are re- 12 ferred— 13 (A) to the internal affairs department of 14 the employing law enforcement agency for re- 15 view and possible disciplinary action; or 16 (B) in the case of a law enforcement agen- 17 cy that does not have an internal affairs depart- 18 ment, to the employing law enforcement agency 19 for review and possible disciplinary action. 20 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGA- 21 TION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT STATUTES. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award 23 grants to eligible States and Indian Tribes to assist in im- 24 plementing an independent investigation of law enforce- 25 ment statute. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3026 IH (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a grant under 1 this subsection, a State or Indian Tribe shall have in effect 2 an independent investigation of law enforcement statute. 3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 5 $750,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 through 2025 to carry 6 out this subsection. 7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 8 In this Act: 9 (1) BYRNE GRANT PROGRAM.—The term 10 ‘‘Byrne grant program’’ means any grant program 11 under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus 12 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 13 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.), without regard to whether 14 the funds are characterized as being made available 15 under the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local 16 Law Enforcement Assistance Programs, the Local 17 Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Pro- 18 gram, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assist- 19 ance Grant Program, or otherwise. 20 (2) COPS GRANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘COPS 21 grant program’’ means the grant program author- 22 ized under section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus 23 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 24 U.S.C. 10381). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3026 IH (3) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.—The term 1 ‘‘independent investigation’’ means a criminal inves- 2 tigation or prosecution of a law enforcement officer’s 3 use of deadly force, including one or more of the fol- 4 lowing: 5 (A) Using an agency or civilian review 6 board that investigates and independently re- 7 views all allegations of use of deadly force made 8 against law enforcement officers in the jurisdic- 9 tion. 10 (B) Assigning of the attorney general of 11 the State in which the alleged use of deadly 12 force was committed to conduct the criminal in- 13 vestigation and prosecution. 14 (C) Adopting a procedure under which an 15 independent prosecutor is assigned to inves- 16 tigate and prosecute the case, including a pro- 17 cedure under which an automatic referral is 18 made to an independent prosecutor appointed 19 and overseen by the attorney general of the 20 State in which the alleged use of deadly force 21 was committed. 22 (D) Adopting a procedure under which an 23 independent prosecutor is assigned to inves- 24 tigate and prosecute the case. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3026 IH (E) Having law enforcement agencies 1 agree to and implement memoranda of under- 2 standing with other law enforcement agencies 3 under which the other law enforcement agen- 4 cies— 5 (i) shall conduct the criminal inves- 6 tigation into the alleged use of deadly 7 force; and 8 (ii) upon conclusion of the criminal in- 9 vestigation, shall file a report with the at- 10 torney general of the State containing a 11 determination regarding whether— 12 (I) the use of deadly force was 13 appropriate; and 14 (II) any action should be taken 15 by the attorney general of the State. 16 (F) Any substantially similar procedure to 17 ensure impartiality in the investigation or pros- 18 ecution. 19 (4) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF LAW EN- 20 FORCEMENT STATUTE.—The term ‘‘independent in- 21 vestigation of law enforcement statute’’ means a 22 statute requiring an independent investigation in a 23 criminal matter in which— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3026 IH (A) one or more of the possible defendants 1 is a law enforcement officer; 2 (B) one or more of the alleged offenses in- 3 volves the law enforcement officer’s use of dead- 4 ly force in the course of carrying out that offi- 5 cer’s duty; and 6 (C) the non-Federal law enforcement offi- 7 cer’s use of deadly force resulted in a death or 8 injury. 9 (5) INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR.—The term 10 ‘‘independent prosecutor’’ means, with respect to a 11 criminal investigation or prosecution of a law en- 12 forcement officer’s use of deadly force, a prosecutor 13 who— 14 (A) does not oversee or regularly rely on 15 the law enforcement agency by which the law 16 enforcement officer under investigation is em- 17 ployed; and 18 (B) would not be involved in the prosecu- 19 tion in the ordinary course of that prosecutor’s 20 duties. 21 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 22 ing given such term in section 901 of the Omnibus 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3026 IH Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 1 U.S.C. 10251). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS