RE-ENTER Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2931 To establish a process for obtaining a Federal certificate of rehabilitation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. LEE, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. COONS, Ms. ERNST, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish a process for obtaining a Federal certificate of rehabilitation, 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 ‘‘Recognizing Edu- 4 cation, Employment, New skills, and Treatment to Enable 5 Reintegration Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘RE-ENTER Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2931 IS SEC. 2. FEDERAL CERTIFICATE OF REHABILITATION. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 229 of 2 title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 3 end the following: 4 ‘‘§ 3609. Federal certificate of rehabilitation 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE OFFENDER.—The term ‘eligible 7 offender’ means an individual who has been con- 8 victed of a Federal offense. 9 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL CERTIFICATE OF REHABILITA- 10 TION.—The term ‘Federal certificate of rehabilita- 11 tion’ means a certificate acknowledging that the eli- 12 gible offender has demonstrated that the eligible of- 13 fender is committed to a law-abiding future and has 14 successfully reintegrated into society. 15 ‘‘(b) ISSUANCE OF FEDERAL CERTIFICATES OF RE- 16 HABILITATION.— 17 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At sentencing, the 19 court shall advise an eligible offender that the 20 offender may petition a district court of the 21 United States to issue a Federal certificate of 22 rehabilitation for a conviction that was entered 23 by such court. 24 ‘‘(B) NOTICE PRIOR TO RELEASE.—If an 25 eligible offender is sentenced to a term of im- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2931 IS prisonment, the Bureau of Prisons and United 1 States Probation and Pretrial Services shall, 2 not later than 30 days before the date on which 3 the eligible offender is to be released from Fed- 4 eral custody, provide notice to the eligible of- 5 fender that the offender may petition a district 6 court of the United States to issue a Federal 7 certificate of rehabilitation. 8 ‘‘(2) REQUEST FOR CERTIFICATE OF REHABILI- 9 TATION.—An eligible offender may petition a district 10 court of the United States to issue a Federal certifi- 11 cate of rehabilitation for a conviction that was en- 12 tered by such court— 13 ‘‘(A) at sentencing, if the eligible offender 14 is not sentenced to a term of imprisonment or 15 a term of supervised release; 16 ‘‘(B) upon release from Federal custody, if 17 the eligible offender is sentenced to a term of 18 imprisonment and not sentenced to a term of 19 supervised release; and 20 ‘‘(C) after completion of a 1-year period of 21 supervised release, if the eligible offender is 22 sentenced to a term of imprisonment and a 23 term of supervised release, or upon early dis- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2931 IS charge from supervised release before com- 1 pleting the 1-year period. 2 ‘‘(3) ORDER FOR ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon a petition filed 4 with a district court of the United States under 5 paragraph (2), the court may issue a Federal 6 certificate of rehabilitation if the court finds, by 7 clear and convincing evidence, that an eligible 8 offender has— 9 ‘‘(i) demonstrated a commitment to a 10 law-abiding future; and 11 ‘‘(ii) successfully reintegrated into so- 12 ciety. 13 ‘‘(B) FACTORS FOR MAKING DETERMINA- 14 TION.—In determining whether to issue a Fed- 15 eral certificate of rehabilitation under subpara- 16 graph (A), the court may consider, in addition 17 to other factors the court determines relevant— 18 ‘‘(i) the initial crime of conviction of 19 the eligible offender; 20 ‘‘(ii) the nature and duration of any 21 participation in or completion of any job- 22 training or re-entry program by the eligible 23 offender; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2931 IS ‘‘(iii) the nature and duration of any 1 participation in or completion of any edu- 2 cation program by the eligible offender; 3 ‘‘(iv) the nature and duration of any 4 participation in or completion of a sub- 5 stance abuse or mental health program by 6 the eligible offender; 7 ‘‘(v) attempts by the eligible offender 8 to secure employment following the com- 9 pletion of the sentence of the eligible of- 10 fender; 11 ‘‘(vi) attempts by the eligible offender 12 to make restitution for the offense; 13 ‘‘(vii) the current economic and social 14 circumstances of the eligible offender; 15 ‘‘(viii) the conduct of the eligible of- 16 fender while serving, in connection with the 17 instant offense, any term of probation, im- 18 prisonment, and supervised release and fol- 19 lowing any term of supervised release; and 20 ‘‘(ix) the amount of time that has 21 passed since the conviction of the eligible 22 offender. 23 ‘‘(C) DELAYED ISSUANCE.—The court may 24 defer the issuance of a Federal certificate of re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2931 IS habilitation under subparagraph (A), for a pe- 1 riod of time to be determined by the court, to 2 allow the offender to demonstrate successful 3 compliance with the terms of a prior-imposed 4 sentence. 5 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL.—A Federal 6 Public or Community Defender or other counsel 7 qualified to be appointed under section 3006A for 8 the jurisdiction in which an eligible offender was ini- 9 tially convicted or served a term of supervised re- 10 lease may be appointed by the court to assist an eli- 11 gible offender— 12 ‘‘(A) in preparing a petition for a Federal 13 certificate of rehabilitation to be filed under 14 paragraph (2); and 15 ‘‘(B) with any further proceedings relating 16 to the issuance of a Federal certificate of reha- 17 bilitation under this section. 18 ‘‘(5) EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY CHIEF PROBA- 19 TION OFFICER.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In determining wheth- 21 er to issue a Federal certificate of rehabilitation 22 under paragraph (1), the court shall provide the 23 Chief Probation Officer for the judicial district 24 in which the eligible offender was convicted or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2931 IS served a term of supervised release an oppor- 1 tunity to present evidence in support or opposi- 2 tion to the issuance of a Federal certificate of 3 rehabilitation under this section. 4 ‘‘(B) PRESUMPTION.—If the court receives 5 a written recommendation from a Chief Proba- 6 tion Officer under subparagraph (A) in favor of 7 issuing a Federal certificate of rehabilitation for 8 an eligible offender, there shall be a rebuttable 9 presumption that the Federal certificate of re- 10 habilitation should be issued. 11 ‘‘(6) EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY UNITED 12 STATES ATTORNEY.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In determining wheth- 14 er to issue a Federal certificate of rehabilitation 15 under paragraph (1), the court shall provide the 16 appropriate office of the United States Attorney 17 an opportunity to present evidence in support 18 or opposition to the issuance of the Federal cer- 19 tificate of rehabilitation, including any informa- 20 tion from any victim and any State or local 21 prosecutor and law enforcement agency associ- 22 ated with the underlying conviction. 23 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—In presenting evi- 24 dence under subparagraph (A), the office of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2931 IS United States Attorney shall act in compliance 1 with section 3771. 2 ‘‘(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS AS TO THE EFFECT OF 3 FEDERAL CERTIFICATES OF REHABILITATION.—It is the 4 sense of Congress that— 5 ‘‘(1) a Federal certificate of rehabilitation shall 6 act as an expungement of any prior conviction of an 7 eligible offender for the purposes of any employ- 8 ment, licensing, education, housing, or other deter- 9 mination; 10 ‘‘(2) in a judicial or administrative proceeding 11 alleging lack of due care in hiring, retaining, licens- 12 ing, leasing to, admitting to a school or program, or 13 otherwise transacting business or engaging in activ- 14 ity with the individual to whom a Federal certificate 15 of rehabilitation was issued, a person should be pre- 16 sumed to have exercised due care if the person 17 against whom the judicial or administrative pro- 18 ceeding is brought relied on the Federal certificate 19 of rehabilitation at the time of the alleged neg- 20 ligence; 21 ‘‘(3) the President should consider the issuance 22 of a Federal certificate of rehabilitation in deter- 23 mining whether an eligible offender should receive a 24 pardon or other form of clemency; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2931 IS ‘‘(4) that each Federal agency should consider 1 the issuance of a Federal certificate of rehabilitation 2 in the course of evaluating applications for employ- 3 ment at the agency.’’. 4 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 5 The table of sections for subchapter A of chapter 229 of 6 title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 7 the item relation to section 3608 the following: 8 ‘‘3609. Federal certificate of rehabilitation.’’. (c) RELIEF FROM DISABILITIES.— 9 (1) FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING.—Subtitle 10 F of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility 11 Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 13661 et seq.) is amended— 12 (A) in section 576(c) (42 U.S.C. 13661(c)) 13 is amended— 14 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 15 and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), 16 and adjusting the margins accordingly; 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘Except as’’ and in- 18 serting the following: 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as’’; 20 (iii) in subparagraph (B), as so redes- 21 ignated, by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’; and 23 (iv) by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2931 IS ‘‘(2) FEDERAL CERTIFICATE OF REHABILITA- 1 TION.—If an applicant presents a Federal certificate 2 of rehabilitation issued under section 3609 of title 3 18, United States Code, there shall be a presump- 4 tion against denying the applicant admission to the 5 program or to federally assisted housing under this 6 subsection.’’; and 7 (B) in section 577(b) (42 U.S.C. 8 13662(b))— 9 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or’’ 10 at the end; 11 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking the 12 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(4) has been issued a Federal certificate of re- 16 habilitation under section 3609 of title 18, United 17 States Code, in which case there shall be a presump- 18 tion against the termination of tenancy or assist- 19 ance.’’. 20 (2) DENIAL OF FEDERAL BENEFITS.—Section 21 421 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 22 862) is amended— 23 (A) in subsection (a)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2931 IS (i) in paragraph (1)(C), by inserting 1 ‘‘, unless the individual has been issued a 2 Federal certificate of rehabilitation under 3 section 3609 of title 18, United States 4 Code, in which case, at the discretion of 5 the court, the individual may retain eligi- 6 bility for any or all Federal benefits’’ be- 7 fore the period at the end; and 8 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 9 (I) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before 10 ‘‘The benefits’’; and 11 (II) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), any in- 14 dividual who is issued a Federal certificate of reha- 15 bilitation under section 3609 of title 18, United 16 States Code, shall be presumed to be rehabilitated.’’; 17 (B) in subsection (b)(2)— 18 (i) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘The 19 penalties’’; and 20 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), any in- 23 dividual who is issued a Federal certificate of reha- 24 bilitation under section 3609 of title 18, United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2931 IS States Code, shall be presumed to be rehabilitated.’’; 1 and 2 (C) in subsection (c)(B), by inserting 3 ‘‘been issued a Federal certificate of rehabilita- 4 tion under section 3609 of title 18, United 5 States Code, or’’ before ‘‘otherwise’’. 6 (3) JURY SERVICE.—Section 1865 of title 28, 7 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8 end the following: 9 ‘‘(c) For purposes of a determination under sub- 10 section (b)(5), a court shall consider whether an individual 11 who has been issued a Federal certificate of rehabilitation 12 under section 3609 of title 18 is qualified to serve on 13 grand and petit juries in the district court.’’. 14 (4) PERSONS NOT QUALIFIED FOR ENLIST- 15 MENT.—Section 504(a) of title 10, United States 16 Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 17 lowing: ‘‘In the case of a person convicted of a fel- 18 ony who has been issued a Federal certificate of re- 19 habilitation under section 3609 of title 18, the Sec- 20 retary concerned shall consider whether to authorize 21 an exception under the previous sentence.’’. 22 (5) EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY.—Not later than 60 23 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the At- 24 torney General shall amend section 1.6(c) of title 28, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2931.IS S2931 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 2931 IS Cod [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]