Attacks on Free Press Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8500 To establish an electronic system by which members of the press may file a complaint with the Department of Justice alleging misconduct by Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, and for other pur- poses. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 1, 2020 Mr. TAKANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish an electronic system by which members of the press may file a complaint with the Department of Jus- tice alleging misconduct by Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, 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 ‘‘Attacks on Free Press 4 Transparency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PRESS COMPLAINTS. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8500 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 1 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 2 General shall establish a electronic system by which 3 members of the press may file a complaint with the 4 Department of Justice alleging misconduct by Fed- 5 eral, State, and local law enforcement agencies and 6 law enforcement officers of such agencies. 7 (2) ATTACHMENTS.—The electronic system 8 shall allow relevant media to be attached, including 9 photos, videos, and audio recordings. 10 (3) ANONYMOUS SUBMISSION.—A complaint 11 may be filed anonymously under this section. 12 (b) PROCEDURE.— 13 (1) COMPLAINT.—A complaint may be filed 14 under this section not later than 180 days after an 15 incident has occurred, Such complaint shall include 16 the following: 17 (A) The date of this incident. 18 (B) The name of each law enforcement of- 19 ficer involved. 20 (C) A detailed description of the incident. 21 (D) Any legal justification or motivation 22 that was provided to the individual by a law en- 23 forcement officer to justify the law enforcement 24 action taken. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8500 IH (E) If applicable, any property searched, 1 damaged, or seized during the incident. 2 (F) If applicable, any audio or visual re- 3 cordings of the incident between the law en- 4 forcement officer and press materials or mis- 5 cellaneous documentation with respect to the in- 6 cident. 7 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 8 after a complaint has been filed with the Depart- 9 ment of Justice, the Attorney General shall notify 10 the law enforcement agency that is the subject of the 11 complaint that the complaint has been filed and pro- 12 vide the details of the complaint. 13 (3) RESPONSE.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any Federal, State, or 15 local law enforcement agency that is the subject 16 of a complaint shall respond not later than 60 17 days after receipt of the notice of the complaint 18 under paragraph (2). 19 (B) CONTENTS OF RESPONSE.—A re- 20 sponse to the complaint shall include the fol- 21 lowing: 22 (i) The date of the incident. 23 (ii) The name of each law enforce- 24 ment officer involved. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8500 IH (iii) A detailed description of the inci- 1 dent. 2 (iv) Any legal justification or motiva- 3 tion that was provided to the individual by 4 the law enforcement officer to justify the 5 law enforcement action taken. 6 (v) If applicable, any property 7 searched, damaged, or seized during the 8 incident. 9 (vi) If applicable, any audio or visual 10 recordings of the incident between the law 11 enforcement officer and press materials or 12 miscellaneous documentation that supports 13 the justification for the law enforcement 14 action taken. 15 (C) BYRNE ENFORCEMENT.— 16 (i) IN GENERAL.—If a State or unit 17 of local government fails to comply with 18 this paragraph for a fiscal year, the State 19 or unit of local government shall be subject 20 to a 50 percent reduction of the amount 21 that would otherwise by awarded in the fol- 22 lowing fiscal year to that State or unit of 23 local government under subpart 1 of part 24 E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8500 IH and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 1 10151 et seq.). 2 (ii) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not al- 3 located to a State or unit of local govern- 4 ment for failure to comply with paragraph 5 (3) shall be reallocated to States and units 6 of local government that have complied 7 with such paragraph in accordance with 8 subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omni- 9 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 10 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.). 11 (D) 1033 PROGRAM ENFORCEMENT.—If 12 the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with 13 the Attorney General, determines that a State 14 has failed to respond to 3 or more complaints 15 during a fiscal year, the State may not receive 16 a transfer under section 2576a of title 10, 17 United States Code, until such time as the Sec- 18 retary of Defense, in consultation with the At- 19 torney General, determines that the State is in 20 compliance with the requirements of this Act. 21 (c) MEMBER OF THE PRESS DEFINED.—In this sec- 22 tion, the term member of the press means any individual 23 who works in the gathering, processing, disseminating, 24 and delivery of news and information that serves the pub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8500 IH lic interest to the public through mass media, including 1 television, radio, and newspapers. 2 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORT. 3 Not later than 30 days after the end of each calendar 4 year, the Attorney General shall make available to the 5 public on the Department of Justice website a report that 6 includes a compilation of the complaints received under 7 section 2 with personally identifiable information of in- 8 volved parties redacted. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8500.IH H8500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS