School Resource Officer Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 916 To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require a certain percentage of COPS grant funds to be used for the salaries and benefits of school resource officers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2019 Mr. MITCHELL (for himself, Mr. BACON, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. SMUCKER, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. DUNN, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. REED, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, and Mr. COLLINS of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require a certain percentage of COPS grant funds to be used for the salaries and benefits of school resource officers, 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 ‘‘School Resource Offi- 4 cer Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Feb 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H916.IH H916 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 916 IH SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that— 2 (1) a school resource officer program provides 3 a safe learning environment in our Nation’s schools, 4 provides valuable resources to school staff members, 5 and fosters positive relationships between youth and 6 law enforcement; 7 (2) school resource officers are educators, infor- 8 mal counselors and mentors, and law enforcement 9 officers; 10 (3) local agencies need the resources and flexi- 11 bility to establish school resource officer programs 12 that will encourage partnerships between schools and 13 local law enforcement agencies to develop innovative 14 ways to make schools safe; and 15 (4) Federal grants for school resource officer 16 salaries are intended to be a starting point for con- 17 tinued local action and should not divert current 18 designated funding. 19 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR COPS IN SCHOOLS. 20 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 21 1001(a)(11)(A) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 22 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10261(a)(11)(A)) is 23 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol- 24 lowing: ‘‘, and $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 25 through 2023’’. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Feb 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H916.IH H916 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 916 IH (b) REPEAL TERMINATION OF GRANTS FOR HIRING 1 OFFICERS.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1701(i) of the Om- 3 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 4 (34 U.S.C. 10381(i)) is repealed. 5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6 1701(j)(1) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 7 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(j)(1)) is 8 amended by striking ‘‘subsection (i) and’’. 9 (c) SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER FUNDING.—Section 10 1704 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 11 of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10384) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘$75,000’’ and 13 inserting ‘‘$125,000’’; and 14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(d) SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS SET ASIDE.— 16 Not less than 30 percent of the amount made available 17 for hiring and rehiring additional career law enforcement 18 officers shall be made available for the salaries and bene- 19 fits of the school resource officers hired pursuant to a 20 partnership described in section 1701(b)(12).’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Feb 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H916.IH H916 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS