Policing Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8597 To improve the collection and retention of disciplinary records of law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 16, 2020 Mr. CARTER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To improve the collection and retention of disciplinary records of law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Policing Transparency 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL USE-OF-FORCE DATA COLLECTION. 6 Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 7 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152) is amend- 8 ed by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(h) NATIONAL USE-OF-FORCE DATA COLLEC- 1 TION.— 2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 ‘‘(A) the term ‘law enforcement officer’— 4 ‘‘(i) means any officer, agent, or em- 5 ployee of a State, unit of local government, 6 or an Indian tribe authorized by law or by 7 a government agency to engage in or su- 8 pervise the prevention detection, or inves- 9 tigation of any violation of criminal law, or 10 authorized by law to supervise sentenced 11 criminal offenders; and 12 ‘‘(ii) includes an individual described 13 in clause (i) who is employed or volunteers 14 in a full-time, part-time, or auxiliary ca- 15 pacity; 16 ‘‘(B) the term ‘National Use-of-Force Data 17 Collection’ means the National Use-of-Force 18 Data Collection of the Federal Bureau of Inves- 19 tigation; and 20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘serious bodily injury’ means 21 bodily injury that results in death, unconscious- 22 ness, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or 23 protracted loss or impairment of the function of 24 a bodily member or organ. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(2) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—For each fis- 1 cal year in which a State or unit of local government 2 receives funds under subsection (a), the State or 3 unit of local government shall report to the National 4 Use-of-Force Data Collection on an annual basis and 5 pursuant to guidelines established by the Federal 6 Bureau of Investigation, information regarding— 7 ‘‘(A) a use-of-force event by a law enforce- 8 ment officer in the State or unit of local gov- 9 ernment that results in— 10 ‘‘(i) the fatality of an individual that 11 is connected to use of force by a law en- 12 forcement officer; 13 ‘‘(ii) the serious bodily injury of an in- 14 dividual that is connected to use of force 15 by a law enforcement officer; and 16 ‘‘(iii) in the absence of either death or 17 serious bodily injury, when a firearm is 18 discharged by a law enforcement officer at 19 or in the direction of an individual; 20 ‘‘(B) any event in which a firearm is dis- 21 charged by a civilian at or in the direction of 22 a law enforcement officer; and 23 ‘‘(C) the death or serious bodily injury of 24 a law enforcement officer that results from any 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8597 IH discharge of a firearm by a civilian, or any 1 other means, including whether the law enforce- 2 ment officer was killed or suffered serious bod- 3 ily injury as part of an ambush or calculated 4 attack. 5 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—For each use- 6 of-force event required to be reported under para- 7 graph (2), the following information shall be pro- 8 vided, as required by the Federal Bureau of Inves- 9 tigation: 10 ‘‘(A) Incident information, including the 11 type of incident, the type of force used, and the 12 weapon type, if applicable. 13 ‘‘(B) Subject information, including any 14 injuries sustained by the subject and the race of 15 the subject. 16 ‘‘(C) Officer information, including the 17 race of each officer involved, the length of serv- 18 ice of each officer involved, the number of offi- 19 cers involved, and the size of the law enforce- 20 ment agency that employs each such officer. 21 ‘‘(4) COMPLIANCE.— 22 ‘‘(A) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.— 23 ‘‘(i) FIRST FISCAL YEAR.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(I) STATES.—For the first fis- 1 cal year beginning after the date of 2 enactment of the Policing Trans- 3 parency Act in which a State fails to 4 comply with paragraph (2) with re- 5 spect to a State law enforcement 6 agency, the State shall be subject to a 7 20-percent reduction of the funds that 8 would otherwise be allocated for reten- 9 tion by the State under section 505(c) 10 for that fiscal year, and if any unit of 11 local government within the State fails 12 to comply with paragraph (2), the 13 State shall be subject to a reduction 14 of the funds allocated for retention by 15 the State under section 505(c) that is 16 equal to the percentage of the popu- 17 lation of the State represented by the 18 unit of local government, not to ex- 19 ceed 20 percent. 20 ‘‘(II) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 21 For the first fiscal year beginning 22 after the date of enactment of the Po- 23 licing Transparency Act in which a 24 unit of local government fails to com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8597 IH ply with paragraph (2), the unit of 1 local government shall be subject to a 2 20-percent reduction of the funds that 3 would otherwise be allocated to the 4 unit of local government for that fis- 5 cal year under this subpart. 6 ‘‘(ii) SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.— 7 ‘‘(I) STATES.—Beginning in the 8 first fiscal year beginning after the 9 first fiscal year described in clause 10 (i)(I) in which a State fails to comply 11 with paragraph (2) with respect to a 12 State law enforcement agency, the 13 percentage by which the funds de- 14 scribed in clause (i)(I) are reduced 15 shall be increased by 5 percent each 16 fiscal year the State fails to comply 17 with paragraph (2), except that such 18 reduction shall not exceed 25 percent 19 in any fiscal year. 20 ‘‘(II) LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.— 21 Beginning in the first fiscal year be- 22 ginning after the first fiscal year de- 23 scribed in clause (i)(II) in which a 24 unit of local government fails to com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8597 IH ply with paragraph (2), the percent- 1 age by which the funds described in 2 clause (i)(II) are reduced shall be in- 3 creased by 5 percent each fiscal year 4 the unit of local government fails to 5 comply with paragraph (2), except 6 that such reduction shall not exceed 7 25 percent in any fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(B) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allo- 9 cated under a program referred to in subpara- 10 graph (A) to a State or unit of local govern- 11 ment for failure to comply with paragraph (2) 12 shall be reallocated to the United States Treas- 13 ury. 14 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—Not 15 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 16 Act, and each year thereafter, the Director of the 17 Federal Bureau of Investigation shall publish, and 18 make available to the public, the National Use-of- 19 Force Data Collection. 20 ‘‘(6) FBI OUTREACH AND TECHNICAL ASSIST- 21 ANCE.—The Director of the Federal Bureau of In- 22 vestigation shall provide to a State or unit of local 23 government technical assistance and training for the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8597 IH collection and submission of data in accordance with 1 this subsection.’’. 2 SEC. 3. LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS RETENTION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of title I of the Omnibus 4 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 5 10151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘Subpart 4—Law Enforcement Records Retention 8 ‘‘SEC. 531. LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS RETENTION. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 10 ‘‘(1) the term ‘applicable covered system’, with 11 respect to a law enforcement agency, means the cov- 12 ered system of the covered government of which the 13 law enforcement agency is part; 14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered government’ means a 15 State or unit of local government; 16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered system’ means a system 17 maintained by a covered government under sub- 18 section (b); and 19 ‘‘(4) the term ‘disciplinary record’— 20 ‘‘(A) means any written document regard- 21 ing an allegation of misconduct by a law en- 22 forcement officer that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(i) is substantiated and is adju- 1 dicated by a government agency or court; 2 and 3 ‘‘(ii) results in— 4 ‘‘(I) resignation, dismissal of em- 5 ployment, relief of duty status exceed- 6 ing three days, or another adverse ac- 7 tion by the employing law enforcement 8 agency resulting in the loss of pay or 9 demotion; or 10 ‘‘(II) criminal charges; and 11 ‘‘(B) does not include a written document 12 regarding an allegation described in subpara- 13 graph (A) if the adjudication described in 14 clause (i) of that subparagraph has been over- 15 turned on appeal. 16 ‘‘(b) RECORDS RETENTION REQUIREMENTS.— 17 ‘‘(1) RECORDS RETENTION SYSTEM.—A covered 18 government that receives funds under this part shall 19 maintain a system for sharing disciplinary records of 20 law enforcement officers that meets the require- 21 ments under paragraph (2). 22 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In administering a cov- 23 ered system, a covered government shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(A) retain each disciplinary record or in- 1 ternal investigation record regarding a law en- 2 forcement officer that is prepared by a law en- 3 forcement agency of the covered government, 4 and retain, for each law enforcement officer 5 with respect to whom a record is retained under 6 this subparagraph, at the time of the creation 7 of the record— 8 ‘‘(i) the number of official claims 9 made against the officer and investigations 10 regarding the officer that were based on 11 discrimination; 12 ‘‘(ii) the number of investigations with 13 respect to which the complaint was deter- 14 mined to be unfounded; and 15 ‘‘(iii) the total number of official civil- 16 ian interactions (including traffic stops and 17 arrests) the officer has had during their 18 employment with the law enforcement 19 agency; 20 ‘‘(B) retain a record of each award or com- 21 mendation regarding a law enforcement officer 22 that is prepared by a law enforcement agency 23 of the covered government; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(C) establish a policy that ensures that 1 each record included in the covered system is 2 retained and accessible for not less than 20 3 years; 4 ‘‘(D) allow a law enforcement officer, coun- 5 sel for a law enforcement officer, or the rep- 6 resentative organization of a law enforcement 7 officer to— 8 ‘‘(i) submit information to the covered 9 system relating to a disciplinary record or 10 internal investigation record regarding the 11 law enforcement officer that is retained 12 under subparagraph (A); or 13 ‘‘(ii) obtain access to the covered sys- 14 tem in order to review a disciplinary record 15 or internal investigation record described 16 in clause (i); 17 ‘‘(E) allow any Federal, State, or local law 18 enforcement agency to access any record in- 19 cluded in the covered system for the purpose of 20 making a decision to hire a law enforcement of- 21 ficer; 22 ‘‘(F) require that, before hiring a law en- 23 forcement officer, a representative of a law en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8597 IH forcement agency of the covered government 1 with hiring authority— 2 ‘‘(i) search the applicable covered sys- 3 tem of each law enforcement agency that 4 has employed the applicant as a law en- 5 forcement officer in order to determine 6 whether the applicant has a disciplinary 7 record, internal investigation record, or 8 record of an award or commendation on 9 file; and 10 ‘‘(ii) if a record described in clause (i) 11 exists, review the record in full before hir- 12 ing the law enforcement officer; and 13 ‘‘(G) prohibit access to the covered system 14 by any individual other than an individual who 15 is authorized to access the covered system for 16 purposes of— 17 ‘‘(i) submitting records or other infor- 18 mation to the covered system as described 19 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (D); or 20 ‘‘(ii) reviewing records or other infor- 21 mation in the covered system as described 22 in subparagraphs (E) and (F). 23 ‘‘(c) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 8597 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A covered government may 1 not receive funds under section 505, 506, 515, or 2 516 unless the covered government is in compliance 3 with subsection (b) of this section. 4 ‘‘(2) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 5 under a section referred to in paragraph (1) to a 6 covered government for failure to comply with sub- 7 section (b) shall be reallocated to the United States 8 Treasury. 9 ‘‘(d) ONE-TIME GRANT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 11 award a grant to each State, using an apportion- 12 ment formula that reflects the differences between 13 each State, to be used by the State and units of 14 local government within the State to establish cov- 15 ered systems. 16 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award- 17 ed to a State under paragraph (1) shall be not less 18 than $1,000,000. 19 ‘‘(3) DIRECT APPROPRIATIONS.—For the pur- 20 pose of making grants under this subsection, there 21 is authorized to be appropria [Text truncated for display. 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