Technology in Criminal Justice Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5227 To establish the Office of Digital Law Enforcement within the Office of Justice Programs, and to establish grant programs to improve the digital evidence capacity of law enforcement personnel, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mrs. DEMINGS (for herself, Mr. LAMB, Mr. RUTHERFORD, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To establish the Office of Digital Law Enforcement within the Office of Justice Programs, and to establish grant programs to improve the digital evidence capacity of law enforcement personnel, 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 ‘‘Technology in Criminal 4 Justice Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5227 IH SEC. 2. OFFICE OF DIGITAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. 1 Part A of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 2 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is 3 amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 110. OFFICE OF DIGITAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. 5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 6 the Office an Office of Digital Law Enforcement, which 7 shall headed by a Director appointed by the Attorney Gen- 8 eral. In carrying out the functions of the Office of Digital 9 Law Enforcement, the Director shall be subject to the au- 10 thority, direction, and control of the Attorney General. 11 Such authority, direction, and control may be delegated 12 only to the Assistant Attorney General. 13 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Office of Digital 14 Law Enforcement shall be to support Federal, State, and 15 local law enforcement in training, preparing, and sup- 16 porting criminal justice personnel in the conduct of crimi- 17 nal justice activities utilizing digital evidence. 18 ‘‘(c) GRANTS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the purpose 20 described under subsection (b), the Director may 21 make grants to eligible recipients. 22 ‘‘(2) USES.—Grants awarded under this sub- 23 section shall be used to support the provision of 24 training, education, and technical assistance to 25 criminal justice personnel for the purpose of improv- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5227 IH ing the digital evidence capacity (as such term is de- 1 fined in section 7 of the Technology in Criminal Jus- 2 tice Act of 2019) of law enforcement personnel (as 3 such term is defined in section 7 of the Technology 4 in Criminal Justice Act of 2019). 5 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION.—In making grants under 6 this subsection, the Director shall ensure that, to the 7 extent practicable, distribution of such grants en- 8 sures equitable access to relevant training, edu- 9 cation, and technical assistance across geographic 10 areas and across urban and rural areas of varying 11 population and area. 12 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The Director 13 may award grants under this subsection to the fol- 14 lowing eligible recipients: 15 ‘‘(A) The National Domestic Communica- 16 tions Assistance Center (NDCAC). 17 ‘‘(B) The National Computer Forensics In- 18 stitute (NCFI). 19 ‘‘(C) The Law Enforcement Cyber Center. 20 ‘‘(D) The National White Collar Crime 21 Center (NW3C). 22 ‘‘(E) The National Cyber-Forensics and 23 Training Alliance (NCFTA). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5227 IH ‘‘(F) Regional Computer Forensics Lab- 1 oratories. 2 ‘‘(G) Such other entities as the Director 3 deems appropriate. 4 ‘‘(d) STANDARDIZATION OF TRAINING CURRICULA.— 5 The Director shall— 6 ‘‘(1) on an ongoing basis, review curricula used 7 for training and education programs supported by 8 grants under subsection (c); 9 ‘‘(2) identify opportunities for standardization 10 of such curricula; and 11 ‘‘(3) in awarding grants under subsection (c), 12 establish requirements or processes, as appropriate, 13 to promote standardization of such curricula. 14 ‘‘(e) BEST PRACTICES.—The Director shall— 15 ‘‘(1) identify best practices relevant to digital 16 evidence capacity; and 17 ‘‘(2) develop mechanisms to inform Federal, 18 State, and local criminal justice personnel of such 19 best practices and promote their adoption. 20 ‘‘(f) DATA ON LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCESS TO DIG- 21 ITAL EVIDENCE.—The Director shall— 22 ‘‘(1) maintain data relevant to digital evidence 23 capacity, including challenges to accessing and uti- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5227 IH lizing digital evidence and digital forensic laboratory 1 backlogs; and 2 ‘‘(2) no later than January 31 of each calendar 3 year, submit to Congress a report summarizing data 4 collected under paragraph (f)(1) of this section dur- 5 ing the preceding calendar year and identifying key 6 trends, gaps, and challenges associated with the 7 data. The report shall be submitted in unclassified 8 format.’’. 9 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR DIGITAL LAW 10 ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE. 11 (a) REVIEW REQUIRED.—The Attorney General and 12 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly conduct 13 a review of existing United States Government programs 14 that provide training, education, and technical assistance 15 to criminal justice personnel for the purpose of improving 16 digital evidence capacity. 17 (b) ELEMENTS OF REVIEW.—The review required 18 under subsection (a) shall examine the following matters: 19 (1) Identification of existing programs that pro- 20 vide training, education, and technical assistance to 21 criminal justice personnel, and the sources and 22 amounts of U.S. Government funding supporting 23 such programs, for the purpose of improving the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5227 IH digital evidence capacity of law enforcement per- 1 sonnel. 2 (2) Examination of the purposes, organizational 3 models, target audiences, and effectiveness of these 4 programs. 5 (3) Identification of gaps in these programs, 6 and assessment of whether these programs are suffi- 7 cient to meet the needs of Federal, State, and local 8 criminal justice personnel. 9 (4) Recommendations for opportunities, if any, 10 to improve these programs in order to achieve great- 11 er efficiency, coherence, or effectiveness in the deliv- 12 ery of such training, education, and technical assist- 13 ance, including through expansion, consolidation, or 14 reorganization. 15 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Upon completion of the 16 review required in subsection (a), and not later than 360 17 days after the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 18 and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to 19 Congress a joint report summarizing the conclusions of 20 the review and providing any recommendations to Con- 21 gress for legislative action. 22 SEC. 4. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR DIGITAL FORENSICS. 23 (a) DESIGNATION.—Not later than 360 days after 24 the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5227 IH sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 1 designate an entity of the Federal Government as the Cen- 2 ter of Excellence for Digital Forensics (hereafter, the 3 ‘‘Center’’). 4 (b) MISSION.—The Center shall be a clearinghouse 5 for training, technical expertise, and legal assistance relat- 6 ing to accessing digital evidence in support of criminal in- 7 vestigations, including by— 8 (1) serving as a central repository of knowledge 9 and expertise regarding common types of data rel- 10 evant to law enforcement investigations, common 11 technical systems for storing and transmitting such 12 data, formulation of lawful requests for such data, 13 and procedures for submitting such requests; 14 (2) building and maintaining a library of ana- 15 lytic and forensic tools, along with technical exper- 16 tise on the use of such tools, to be available to sup- 17 port Federal, State, and local law enforcement inves- 18 tigations; 19 (3) developing and maintaining technical sup- 20 port tools to facilitate, standardize, and authenticate 21 law enforcement requests for digital evidence; 22 (4) providing training to Federal, State, and 23 local law enforcement organizations on procedures 24 and techniques for the acquisition, exploitation, pres- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5227 IH ervation, and utilization of digital evidence, as well 1 as the protection of privacy and civil liberties in the 2 course of investigations and prosecutions involving 3 digital evidence; 4 (5) producing and maintaining up-to-date train- 5 ing materials and curricula to support training of 6 Federal, State, and local law enforcement organiza- 7 tions relating to digital evidence capacity by other 8 training providers; 9 (6) coordinating with international, Federal, 10 and State training programs, as well as relevant 11 non-governmental stakeholders, to leverage and co- 12 ordinate existing resources for training, technical as- 13 sistance tools, and informative materials on proce- 14 dures and techniques relating to digital evidence ca- 15 pacity; and 16 (7) providing a hotline available for law enforce- 17 ment officials seeking advice about or assistance re- 18 lating to digital evidence capacity. 19 (c) COORDINATION WITH EXISTING TRAINING PRO- 20 VIDERS.—The designation required by subsection (a) shall 21 be informed by the results of the review conducted under 22 section 3. 23 (d) TERMINATION OR MODIFICATION OF DESIGNA- 24 TION.—The Attorney General may terminate or modify 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5227 IH the designation under subsection (a) if the Attorney Gen- 1 eral, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 2 rity, determines that the Center is no longer capable of 3 achieving the missions specified in subsection (b) and des- 4 ignates a separate entity of the Federal Government to 5 serve as the Center. Not later than 60 days before the 6 effective date of such a termination, the Secretary shall 7 provide written notice to Congress, including the rationale 8 for such termination. 9 SEC. 5. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LAW ENFORCEMENT TECH- 10 NOLOGY SUPPORT TO STATE AND LOCAL 11 LAW ENFORCEMENT. 12 (a) PROGRAM.—The Attorney General and the Sec- 13 retary of Homeland Security shall jointly establish a Law 14 Enforcement Technology Support to State and Local Law 15 Enforcement program under the direction of the Director 16 of the Office of Digital Law Enforcement. 17 (b) DEVELOPMENT.—Under the program established 18 in subsection (a), the Attorney General and the Secretary 19 shall jointly develop guidelines and processes, as appro- 20 priate, to authorize the use of funds made available to 21 grantees under the following programs for purposes of ac- 22 quiring technology to improve the digital evidence capacity 23 of law enforcement personnel: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5227 IH (1) The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice As- 1 sistance Grant program. 2 (2) The Urban Area Security Initiative. 3 (3) The State Homeland Security Grant Pro- 4 gram. 5 (c) DISSEMINATION OF ACQUISITION GUIDANCE.— 6 Through the program established in subsection (a), the 7 Attorney General and the Secretary shall develop guidance 8 on acquisition of law enforcement technologies that sup- 9 port digital evidence capacity, and regularly disseminate 10 such guidance to State and local law enforcement organi- 11 zations. Such guidance shall identify and encourage adop- 12 tion of effective law enforcement technologies useful across 13 different technological platforms and formats. 14 (d) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.—Subject to 15 the availability of resources, the Attorney General and the 16 Secretary shall, under the program established in sub- 17 section (a), enter into partnerships with public or private 18 entities to improve the access of Federal, State, and local 19 law enforcement personnel to law enforcement tech- 20 nologies that support digital evidence capacity. Such part- 21 nerships may— 22 (1) develop collaborative approaches to devel- 23 oping new investigative tools; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5227 IH (2) promote the exchange of technical experts 1 between the technology and law enforcement commu- 2 nities; 3 (3) build public access data sets that may aid 4 law enforcement investigations; 5 (4) exchange information on technical ap- 6 proaches relating to digital evidence capacity, con- 7 sistent with relevant laws and policies; 8 (5) develop training modules and content to 9 support training of criminal justice personnel on rel- 10 evant topics relating to digital evidence capacity; and 11 (6) address other such matters as the Attorney 12 General and the Secretary deem appropriate. 13 SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY POLICY 14 ADVISORY BOARD. 15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a De- 16 partment of Justice Technology Policy Advisory Board 17 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘Board’’), 18 which shall be composed of 11 members appointed in ac- 19 cordance with subsection (c) and shall conduct its business 20 in accordance with this chapter. 21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Board shall be 22 to— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5227.IH H5227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 5227 IH (1) foster sustained dialogue between the tech- 1 nology and law enforcement communitie [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]