Safe Interactions Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4987 To provide grants to enable nonprofit disability organizations to develop training programs that support safe interactions between law enforcement officers and individuals with disabilities and older individuals. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 9, 2020 Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide grants to enable nonprofit disability organizations to develop training programs that support safe inter- actions between law enforcement officers and individuals with disabilities and older individuals. 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 ‘‘Safe Interactions Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4987 IS (1) Individuals with disabilities are 2.5 times 1 more likely to be victims of violent crime. 2 (2) Individuals with disabilities are 3 times 3 more likely to be victims of a serious crime. 4 (3) Individuals with disabilities make up be- 5 tween one-third and one-half of all individuals killed 6 by law enforcement officers. 7 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 8 The purpose of this Act is to— 9 (1) authorize the Attorney General to award 10 competitive grants to nonprofit disability organiza- 11 tions to administer enhanced training programs to 12 law enforcement officers who may encounter or pro- 13 vide services to covered individuals, including— 14 (A) individuals with mental health disabil- 15 ities, including schizophrenia; 16 (B) individuals who are deaf, hard of hear- 17 ing, or blind, are autistic, or have other intellec- 18 tual or developmental disabilities; 19 (C) older individuals with dementia or 20 other cognitive impairments; 21 (D) individuals with any other disabilities 22 or chronic health condition; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4987 IS (E) support, not replace, other specialized 1 law enforcement officer training, such as crisis 2 intervention team training; and 3 (2)(A) increase the awareness, knowledge, and 4 understanding of law enforcement officers about cov- 5 ered individuals and their unique needs and applica- 6 ble Federal civil rights laws; 7 (B) reduce incidences of violence between law 8 enforcement officers and covered individuals; 9 (C) expand the knowledge of law enforcement 10 officers of the signs of disabilities and effective ways 11 to approach covered individuals to minimize situa- 12 tions of risk to— 13 (i) those individuals; and 14 (ii) the law enforcement officers who inter- 15 vene or provide services to those individuals; 16 and 17 (D) increase the knowledge of law enforcement 18 officers of community resources available for covered 19 individuals to ultimately limit interactions with law 20 enforcement officers. 21 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 22 In this Act: 23 (1) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 24 grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 5(a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4987 IS (2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 1 individual’’ means— 2 (A) an older individual; or 3 (B) an individual with a disability. 4 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 5 ty’’ means a nonprofit disability organization that 6 has formed a partnership with a law enforcement 7 agency or a consortium of law enforcement agencies 8 to administer enhanced training programs to law en- 9 forcement officers of the agency or agencies on how 10 to interact with covered individuals. 11 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 12 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 13 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 14 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 15 (5) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 16 ‘‘individual with a disability’’ means any individual 17 who has a disability, as defined in section 3 of the 18 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 19 12102). 20 (6) INITIAL TRAINING PROGRAM.—The term 21 ‘‘initial training program’’ means a training program 22 offered to new law enforcement officers under sec- 23 tion 5(d)(1)(A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4987 IS (7) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 1 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ means any officer, agent, 2 or employee of a State, political subdivision of a 3 State, or Indian Tribe— 4 (A) authorized by law or by a government 5 agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, 6 detection, or investigation of any violation of 7 criminal law; or 8 (B) authorized by law to supervise sen- 9 tenced criminal offenders. 10 (8) NONPROFIT DISABILITY ORGANIZATION.— 11 The term ‘‘nonprofit disability organization’’ means 12 a nonprofit organization— 13 (A) that serves covered individuals; and 14 (B)(i) that is operated by a board of which 15 the majority of members are covered individ- 16 uals; 17 (ii) that has an advisory panel of which the 18 majority of members are covered individuals; or 19 (iii) the majority of the employees of which 20 are covered individuals. 21 (9) OLDER INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘older indi- 22 vidual’’ has the meaning given the term in section 23 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 24 3002). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4987 IS (10) PARTNER ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘partner 1 academy’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 2 ceives a covered grant, means a law enforcement 3 training academy with which the eligible entity part- 4 ners to administer an initial training program, as 5 described in section 5(b)(1). 6 (11) PARTNER AGENCY.—The term ‘‘partner 7 agency’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 8 ceives a covered grant, means the law enforcement 9 agency with which the eligible entity partners, or 10 that is a member of a consortium with which the eli- 11 gible entity partners, to administer enhanced train- 12 ing programs to law enforcement officers of the 13 agency on how to interact with covered individuals. 14 (12) REFRESHER TRAINING PROGRAM.—The 15 term ‘‘refresher training program’’ means a training 16 program offered to existing law enforcement officers 17 under section 5(d)(1)(B). 18 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall award 20 competitive grants to nonprofit disability organizations to 21 administer enhanced training programs to law enforce- 22 ment officers who may encounter or provide services to 23 covered individuals. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4987 IS (b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a cov- 1 ered grant shall submit to the Attorney General an appli- 2 cation that— 3 (1)(A) identifies a law enforcement training 4 academy with which the eligible entity will partner 5 to administer an initial training program; and 6 (B) includes a memorandum of understanding 7 entered into between the eligible entity and the law 8 enforcement training academy; 9 (2) describes any training on how to interact 10 with covered individuals that is provided, as of the 11 date of submission of the application— 12 (A) by the partner academy to new law en- 13 forcement officers; or 14 (B) by any partner agency to existing law 15 enforcement officers; 16 (3) describes the learning objectives of the 17 training programs that the eligible entity will admin- 18 ister using the grant; 19 (4) describes the activities that will be carried 20 out under the grant; 21 (5) includes a timeline of the activities de- 22 scribed in paragraph (4); and 23 (6) demonstrates expertise in training related to 24 covered individuals. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4987 IS (c) PREFERENCES.—In awarding covered grants, the 1 Attorney General shall ensure— 2 (1) geographic diversity of grant recipients, in- 3 cluding grant recipients that serve rural localities; 4 and 5 (2) that the training funded by the grant is 6 provided to multiple levels of law enforcement agen- 7 cies, including local, county, State, and Tribal agen- 8 cies. 9 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 10 (1) MANDATORY USES.—An eligible entity that 11 receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 12 to— 13 (A) modify the training provided by the 14 partner academy to new law enforcement offi- 15 cers of each partner agency so that the acad- 16 emy provides not fewer than 8 hours of training 17 on how to interact with covered individuals and 18 applicable Federal civil rights laws, including 19 not fewer than 4 hours of interactive learning 20 taught by covered individuals; and 21 (B) develop and implement an enhanced 22 training program for existing law enforcement 23 officers of each partner agency on safe, effec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4987 IS tive, and respectful interactions with covered in- 1 dividuals— 2 (i) that includes— 3 (I) awareness of and education 4 about covered individuals, including— 5 (aa) individuals with mental 6 health disabilities, including 7 schizophrenia; 8 (bb) individuals who are 9 deaf, hard of hearing, or blind, 10 are autistic, or have other intel- 11 lectual or developmental disabil- 12 ities; 13 (cc) older individuals with 14 dementia or other cognitive im- 15 pairments; and 16 (dd) individuals with any 17 other disabilities or chronic 18 health condition; 19 (II) escalation avoidance and de- 20 escalation techniques to be used when 21 interacting with covered individuals, 22 including procedures a law enforce- 23 ment officer should follow to ensure 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4987 IS the safety and calmness of a covered 1 individual; and 2 (III) communication strategies to 3 be used when interacting with covered 4 individuals, including individuals who 5 do not use speech to communicate; 6 (ii) that utilizes— 7 (I) instructors who are covered 8 individuals; or 9 (II) guest instructors or speakers 10 who are covered individuals; and 11 (iii) in which each law enforcement of- 12 ficer participates not less frequently than 13 once every 2 years. 14 (2) OPTIONAL USES.—An eligible entity that re- 15 ceives a covered grant may use the grant funds to— 16 (A) expand an existing training program 17 regarding interaction with covered individuals 18 that was provided to law enforcement officers 19 by a nonprofit disability organization in con- 20 junction with the partner academy or a partner 21 agency before the eligible entity received the 22 grant; 23 (B) reimburse staff members of the eligible 24 entity for mileage and travel time expended to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4987 IS attend an initial training program or refresher 1 training program; 2 (C) develop a model of training that uti- 3 lizes volunteer instructors, except that the eligi- 4 ble entity shall pay any instructor, including a 5 guest instructor, who is a covered individual; or 6 (D) acquire a computer system or software 7 needed for the training programs. 8 (e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—An eligible enti- 9 ty that receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 10 to supplement, and not supplant, any funds that would, 11 in the absence of the grant funds, be made available from 12 a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian Tribe 13 for the activities described in subsection (d). 14 (f) ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 16 ceives a covered grant shall establish an advisory 17 council composed of 15 members to advise the eligi- 18 ble entity on activities carried out using the grant. 19 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—An advisory council estab- 20 lished under paragraph (1) shall— 21 (A) be composed of— 22 (i) 1 representative of the eligible en- 23 tity who is a covered individual and shall 24 serve as chair of the advisory council; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4987 IS (ii) 1 representative of the State law 1 enforcement training academy or law en- 2 forcement agency for the State that the eli- 3 gible entity serves, who shall serve as vice 4 chair of the advisory council; 5 (iii) 4 representatives of community- 6 based organizations that support individ- 7 uals with disabilities, not fewer than 2 of 8 whom have a disability; 9 (iv) 2 representatives of community- 10 based organizations that support older 11 adults; 12 (v) 2 State officials or their designees; 13 (vi) 2 representatives of a State public 14 safety agency; and 15 (vii) 3 members of the public with 16 knowledge of individuals with disabilities 17 and older adults with cognitive impair- 18 ment, including not fewer than 2 self-advo- 19 cates or family members of a covered indi- 20 vidual; and 21 (B) include a majority of representation 22 from racial and ethnic minority communities. 23 (3) DUTIES.—An advisory council established 24 under paragraph (1) shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:34 Dec 22, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4987.IS S4987 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4987 IS (A) advise the eligible entity and provide 1 general oversight of grant activities carried out 2 by the eligible entity, including development of 3 the training curriculum and implementation of 4 the training programs; and 5 (B) provide the advisory council with rec- 6 ommendations for the sustainability and expan- 7 sion of the training programs, such as the de- 8 velopment of a train-the-trainer model. 9 (g) ANNUAL REPORT.— 10 (1) REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL BY ELIGI- 11 BLE ENTITIES.—Not later than 1 year after receiv- 12 ing a covered grant, and each year there [Text truncated for display. 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