David Dorn Back the Blue Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4543 To subsidize the salaries of State and local law enforcement officers and promote officer hiring and retention, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To subsidize the salaries of State and local law enforcement officers and promote officer hiring and retention, 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 ‘‘David Dorn Back the 4 Blue Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY FUNDING REFORM. 6 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Part W of title I of the Omni- 7 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 8 U.S.C. 10491 et seq.) is amended— 9 (1) in section 2301 (34 U.S.C. 10491)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4543.IS S4543 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4543 IS (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1 the end; 2 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe- 3 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(7) provide programs to support the hiring 6 and retention of law enforcement personnel and aug- 7 ment the salaries of law enforcement personnel em- 8 ployed by cooperating State and local law enforce- 9 ment agencies or organizations.’’; 10 (2) in section 2302 (34 U.S.C. 10492), by in- 11 serting before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 12 or in the case of State and local law enforcement 13 agencies, to support the hiring and retention of law 14 enforcement personnel and augment wages paid to 15 law enforcement personnel’’; 16 (3) in section 2303 (34 U.S.C. 10493)— 17 (A) in subsection (a), by inserting before 18 the period at the end the following: ‘‘, or to 19 support the hiring and retention of law enforce- 20 ment personnel and to augment wages paid to 21 law enforcement personnel’’; and 22 (B) in subsection (b), in the matter pre- 23 ceding paragraph (1), by inserting before the 24 colon the following: ‘‘, unless supporting the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4543.IS S4543 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4543 IS hiring and retention of law enforcement per- 1 sonnel or augmenting wages in accordance with 2 subsection (d)’’; and 3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(d) HIRING AND RETENTION OF LAW ENFORCE- 5 MENT PERSONNEL.—A law enforcement agency or organi- 6 zation that receives funds under this part may use the 7 funds for activities and programs to hire and pay addi- 8 tional law enforcement personnel or to retain existing per- 9 sonnel. 10 ‘‘(e) AUGMENTATION OF WAGES.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A law enforcement agency 12 or organization that receives funds under this part 13 may use the funds to augment the salaries of law 14 enforcement personnel, up to an amount equal to 15 110 percent of the State real median household in- 16 come of the preceding year, as estimated by the 17 United States Census Bureau. 18 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—A law enforcement agen- 19 cy or organization shall not be eligible to receive 20 funds under this part for the purpose described in 21 paragraph (1) if the agency or organization reduced 22 the salaries of law enforcement personnel during the 23 calendar year immediately preceding the application 24 for funds.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4543.IS S4543 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4543 IS (4) in section 2304(1) (34 U.S.C. 10494(1)), by 1 inserting ‘‘, unless Federal funds are sought for the 2 purpose of personnel hiring, personnel retention, or 3 wage augmentation,’’ after ‘‘certify’’; and 4 (5) in section 2305 (34 U.S.C. 10495(b))— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General 6 may award’’ and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 8 graph (2), the Attorney General may award’’; and 9 (B) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 11 apply to grants sought for the purpose of personnel 12 hiring, personnel retention, or wage augmentation.’’. 13 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 14 1001(21) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 15 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10261(21)) is amended 16 by striking ‘‘$7,500,000’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘$15,000,000,000’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4543.IS S4543 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS