Enhancing Oversight to End Discrimination in Policing Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7488 To reform pattern and practice investigations conducted by the Department of Justice, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 2, 2020 Mr. RICHMOND (for himself, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. HASTINGS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To reform pattern and 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 SEC. 2. RESCISSION OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE MEMO- 6 RANDUM RELATING TO CIVIL CONSENT DE- 7 CREES. 8 The memorandum issued by the Attorney General ti- 9 tled ‘‘Principles and Procedures for Civil Consent Decrees 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7488 IH and Settlement Agreements with State and Local Govern- 1 mental Entities’’ on November 8, 2018, or any other sub- 2 stantially similar memorandum, shall have no force or ef- 3 fect. 4 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR PATTERN OR PRACTICE INVESTIGA- 5 TIONS. 6 (a) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—There are authorized to 7 be appropriated, in addition to any other amounts author- 8 ized, $445,000,000 to the Civil Rights Division of the De- 9 partment of Justice for each of fiscal years 2020 through 10 2029, of which not less than $100,000,000 shall be made 11 available each fiscal year for investigations conducted 12 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Control and 13 Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601). 14 (b) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—Section 210401(a) of 15 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 16 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘in- 17 cluding a prosecutor or other agency involved in the ad- 18 ministration of justice,’’ before ‘‘to engage’’. 19 (c) AUTHORITY FOR STATE INVESTIGATIONS.—Sec- 20 tion 210401(b) of the Violent Crime Control and Law En- 21 forcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12601(b)) is amend- 22 ed— 23 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ENFORCE- 24 MENT.—’’ before ‘‘Whenever’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7488 IH (2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by strik- 1 ing ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 2 and 3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(2) STATE ENFORCEMENT.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Whenever an attorney 6 general of a State has reasonable cause to be- 7 lieve that a violation of subsection (a) has oc- 8 curred by a governmental authority, or agent 9 thereof, of the State, including a prosecutor or 10 other agency involved in the administration of 11 justice, the attorney general, or another official 12 or agency designated by a State, may in a civil 13 action brought in any appropriate district court 14 of the United States obtain appropriate equi- 15 table and declaratory relief to eliminate the pat- 16 tern or practice. 17 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The At- 18 torney General shall provide technical assist- 19 ance and training to States and units of local 20 government to assist States and units of local 21 governments in carrying out pattern or practice 22 investigations and cases.’’. 23 (d) GRANT PROGRAM.— 24 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7488 IH (A) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 1 several States, the District of Columbia, and 2 each commonwealth, territory, or possession of 3 the United States; and 4 (B) the term ‘‘Tribal government’’ means 5 the governing body of an Indian Tribe included 6 on the most recent list published by the Sec- 7 retary pursuant to section 104 of the Federally 8 Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 9 U.S.C. 5131). 10 (2) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General 11 may award grants to States and Tribal governments 12 to assist such States and Tribal governments in pur- 13 suing pattern or practice investigations and cases 14 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Control 15 and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 16 12601). 17 (3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 18 grant under this subsection, a State or Tribal gov- 19 ernment shall submit an application to the Attorney 20 General that— 21 (A) contains clearly defined and measur- 22 able objectives for the grant funds; 23 (B) describes how the State or Tribal gov- 24 ernment intends to use the grant funds to pur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7488 IH sue pattern or practice investigations and cases 1 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime Con- 2 trol and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (34 3 U.S.C. 12601); and 4 (C) outlines the qualifications and training 5 of the attorneys, staff, and other personnel who 6 are, or who may be, assigned to lead or assist 7 pattern or practice investigations and cases. 8 (4) REQUIRED REPORTING.— 9 (A) GRANTEE REPORTING.—In each fiscal 10 year a State or Tribal government receives a 11 grant under this subsection, the State or Tribal 12 government shall submit to the Attorney Gen- 13 eral a report detailing— 14 (i) how the grant funds were used; 15 and 16 (ii) the progress made towards ad- 17 dressing patterns and practices identified 18 under section 210401 of the Violent Crime 19 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 20 (34 U.S.C. 12601). 21 (B) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later 22 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 23 Act, and once each year thereafter, the Attor- 24 ney General shall submit to the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7488 IH the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 1 on the Judiciary of the House of Representa- 2 tives a report on the grant program established 3 under this subsection, which shall include— 4 (i) a detailed summary of how grant 5 funds awarded under the grant program 6 were used; and 7 (ii) recommendations, if any, for im- 8 provements needed for the grant program. 9 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the At- 11 torney General $150,000,000 for each of fiscal years 12 2020 through 2029 to carry out this subsection. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7488.IH H7488 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS