Enhancing Oversight to End Discrimination in Policing Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4170 To reform pattern or practice investigations conducted by the Department of Justice, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 2, 2020 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WYDEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. HEINRICH, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To reform pattern or practice investigations conducted by the Department of Justice, 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 ‘‘Enhancing Oversight 4 to End Discrimination in Policing Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4170 IS SEC. 2. RESCISSION OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE MEMO- 1 RANDUM RELATING TO CIVIL CONSENT DE- 2 CREES. 3 The memorandum issued by the Attorney General ti- 4 tled ‘‘Principles and Procedures for Civil Consent Decrees 5 and Settlement Agreements with State and Local Govern- 6 mental Entities’’ on November 8, 2018, or any other sub- 7 stantially similar memorandum, shall have no force or ef- 8 fect. 9 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR PATTERN OR PRACTICE INVESTIGA- 10 TIONS. 11 (a) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—There are authorized to 12 be appropriated, in addition to any other amounts author- 13 ized, $445,000,000 to the Civil Rights Division of the De- 14 partment of Justice for each of fiscal years 2020 through 15 2029, of which not less than $100,000,000 shall be made 16 available each fiscal year for investigations conducted 17 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Control and 18 Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601). 19 (b) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—Section 210401(a) of 20 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 21 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘in- 22 cluding a prosecutor or other agency involved in the ad- 23 ministration of justice,’’ before ‘‘to engage’’. 24 (c) AUTHORITY FOR STATE INVESTIGATIONS.—Sec- 25 tion 210401(b) of the Violent Crime Control and Law En- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4170 IS forcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601(b)) is amend- 1 ed— 2 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ENFORCE- 3 MENT.—’’ before ‘‘Whenever’’; 4 (2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by strik- 5 ing ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 6 and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(2) STATE ENFORCEMENT.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Whenever an attorney 10 general of a State has reasonable cause to be- 11 lieve that a violation of subsection (a) has oc- 12 curred by a governmental authority, or agent 13 thereof, of the State, including a prosecutor or 14 other agency involved in the administration of 15 justice, the attorney general, or another official 16 or agency designated by a State, may in a civil 17 action brought in any appropriate district court 18 of the United States obtain appropriate equi- 19 table and declaratory relief to eliminate the pat- 20 tern or practice. 21 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The At- 22 torney General shall provide technical assist- 23 ance and training to States and units of local 24 government to assist States and units of local 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4170 IS governments in carrying out pattern or practice 1 investigations and cases.’’. 2 (d) GRANT PROGRAM.— 3 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 4 (A) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 5 several States, the District of Columbia, and 6 each commonwealth, territory, or possession of 7 the United States; and 8 (B) the term ‘‘Tribal government’’ means 9 the governing body of an Indian Tribe included 10 on the most recent list published by the Sec- 11 retary pursuant to section 104 of the Federally 12 Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 13 U.S.C. 5131). 14 (2) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General 15 may award grants to States and Tribal governments 16 to assist such States and Tribal governments in pur- 17 suing pattern or practice investigations and cases 18 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Control 19 and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 20 12601). 21 (3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 22 grant under this subsection, a State or Tribal gov- 23 ernment shall submit an application to the Attorney 24 General that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4170 IS (A) contains clearly defined and measur- 1 able objectives for the grant funds; 2 (B) describes how the State or Tribal gov- 3 ernment intends to use the grant funds to pur- 4 sue pattern or practice investigations and cases 5 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Con- 6 trol and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 7 U.S.C. 12601); and 8 (C) outlines the qualifications and training 9 of the attorneys, staff, and other personnel who 10 are, or who may be, assigned to lead or assist 11 pattern or practice investigations and cases. 12 (4) REQUIRED REPORTING.— 13 (A) GRANTEE REPORTING.—In each fiscal 14 year a State or Tribal government receives a 15 grant under this subsection, the State or Tribal 16 government shall submit to the Attorney Gen- 17 eral a report detailing— 18 (i) how the grant funds were used; 19 and 20 (ii) the progress made towards ad- 21 dressing patterns and practices identified 22 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime 23 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 24 (34 U.S.C. 12601). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4170 IS (B) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later 1 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 2 Act, and once each year thereafter, the Attor- 3 ney General shall submit to the Committee on 4 the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 5 on the Judiciary of the House of Representa- 6 tives a report on the grant program established 7 under this subsection, which shall include— 8 (i) a detailed summary of how grant 9 funds awarded under the grant program 10 were used; and 11 (ii) recommendations, if any, for im- 12 provements needed for the grant program. 13 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 14 There are authorized to be appropriated to the At- 15 torney General $150,000,000 for each of fiscal years 16 2020 through 2029 to carry out this subsection. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4170.IS S4170 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS