Real Justice for Our Veterans Act of 2021

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4035 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 28, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary AN ACT 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 29, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4035.RFS H4035 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 4035 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Real Justice for Our 2 Veterans Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. EQUAL ACCESS TO VETERANS COURT TREATMENT 4 PROGRAMS FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC MI- 5 NORITIES AND WOMEN. 6 Section 2991(i)(2) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 7 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651(i)(2)) is 8 amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 10 after the date of enactment of this subpara- 11 graph, the Attorney General shall submit to 12 Congress a report on the effectiveness of vet- 13 erans treatment court programs. In preparing 14 such a report, the Attorney General shall con- 15 duct a national multi-site evaluation of such 16 programs, including an assessment of— 17 ‘‘(i) the population served by such 18 programs; 19 ‘‘(ii) whether such programs use evi- 20 dence-based treatments for substance use 21 and mental health, including medication 22 for addiction treatment; 23 ‘‘(iii) recidivism rates of participants 24 in such programs; 25 ‘‘(iv) program completion rates; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 29, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4035.RFS H4035 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 4035 RFS ‘‘(v) whether racial and ethnic minori- 1 ties and women have equal access to such 2 programs and an equal opportunity to 3 complete such programs, including by col- 4 lecting and analyzing data related to ad- 5 mission in such programs and completion 6 of such programs, to ensure there are not 7 disparities related to race, ethnicity, or 8 sex.’’. 9 SEC. 3. VETERANS PILOT PROGRAM ON PROMISING RETEN- 10 TION MODELS. 11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General, acting 12 through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, 13 shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to eligible 14 units of local government to improve retention in veterans 15 treatment court programs (as such term is defined in sec- 16 tion 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 17 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)) and drug court programs. 18 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible for a grant 19 under subsection (a), a unit of local government shall op- 20 erate a veterans treatment court program or a drug court. 21 (c) APPLICATION.—A unit of local government seek- 22 ing a grant through the pilot program under subsection 23 (a) shall submit to the Attorney General an application 24 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 29, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4035.RFS H4035 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 4035 RFS mation as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 1 including— 2 (1) a description of the therapeutic or treat- 3 ment modality that the unit of local government 4 plans to implement and data to support the use of 5 the therapeutic or treatment modality, including in- 6 formation showing how the therapeutic or treatment 7 modality will promote retention in and completion of 8 veterans treatment court programs and drug court 9 programs; and 10 (2) detailed plans on how the applicant would 11 test the efficacy of the therapeutic or treatment mo- 12 dality. 13 (d) REPORTING METRICS.—Not later than 180 days 14 after receiving a grant under subsection (a), a unit of local 15 government shall submit to the Attorney General a report, 16 which includes demographic information of participants in 17 the veterans treatment court program, and completion 18 rates of such participants. The Attorney General shall de- 19 velop guidelines for the report required under this sub- 20 section. 21 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 22 authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of fis- 23 cal years 2022 through 2027 to carry out this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 29, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4035.RFS H4035 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 4035 RFS SEC. 4. ADMISSION OF VETERANS TO DRUG COURTS. 1 In the case of a jurisdiction that does not operate 2 a veterans treatment court program (as such term is de- 3 fined in section 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 4 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)), but that 5 does operate a drug court under part EE of the Omnibus 6 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 7 10611 et seq.), a veteran who would be eligible to partici- 8 pate in a veterans treatment court program may partici- 9 pate in the drug court, including a veteran who is a violent 10 offender (as such term is defined in section 2953(a) of 11 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 12 (34 U.S.C. 10613(a))). 13 Passed the House of Representatives October 27, 2021. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 29, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4035.RFS H4035 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS