Safe Interactions Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1731 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 MAY 18, 2023 Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 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 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1731 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Individuals with disabilities are 2.5 times 3 more likely to be victims of violent crime. 4 (2) Individuals with disabilities are 3 times 5 more likely to be victims of a serious crime. 6 (3) Individuals with disabilities make up be- 7 tween one-third and one-half of all individuals killed 8 by law enforcement officers. 9 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 10 The purposes of this Act are to— 11 (1) authorize the Secretary to award competi- 12 tive grants to nonprofit disability organizations to 13 administer enhanced training programs to law en- 14 forcement officers who may encounter or provide 15 services to covered individuals, including— 16 (A) individuals with mental health disabil- 17 ities, including schizophrenia; 18 (B) individuals who are deaf, deaf-blind, 19 hard of hearing, or blind, are autistic, or have 20 other intellectual or developmental disabilities; 21 (C) older individuals with dementia or 22 other cognitive impairments; and 23 (D) individuals with any other disability or 24 chronic health condition; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1731 IS (2) support, not replace, other specialized law 1 enforcement officer training; and 2 (3)(A) increase the awareness, knowledge, and 3 understanding of law enforcement officers about cov- 4 ered individuals and their unique needs and applica- 5 ble Federal civil rights laws; 6 (B) reduce incidences of violence between law 7 enforcement officers and covered individuals; 8 (C) expand the knowledge of law enforcement 9 officers, in areas such as the signs of disabilities, 10 identifying people with disabilities, communicating 11 with people with disabilities, and effective ways to 12 approach covered individuals to minimize situations 13 of risk to— 14 (i) those individuals; and 15 (ii) the law enforcement officers who inter- 16 vene or provide services to those individuals; 17 and 18 (D) increase the knowledge of law enforcement 19 officers of community resources available for covered 20 individuals to ultimately limit interactions with law 21 enforcement officers. 22 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this Act: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1731 IS (1) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 1 grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 5(a). 2 (2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 3 individual’’ means— 4 (A) an older individual; or 5 (B) an individual with a disability. 6 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 7 ty’’ means a nonprofit disability organization that 8 has formed a partnership with a law enforcement 9 agency or a consortium of law enforcement agencies 10 to administer enhanced training programs to law en- 11 forcement officers of the agency or agencies on how 12 to interact with covered individuals. 13 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 14 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 15 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 16 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 17 (5) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 18 ‘‘individual with a disability’’ means any individual 19 who has a disability, as defined in section 3 of the 20 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 21 12102). 22 (6) INITIAL TRAINING PROGRAM.—The term 23 ‘‘initial training program’’ means a mandatory train- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1731 IS ing program offered to new law enforcement officers 1 during their orientation under section 5(d)(1)(A). 2 (7) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 3 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ means any officer, agent, 4 or employee of a State, political subdivision of a 5 State, or Indian Tribe— 6 (A) authorized by law or by a government 7 agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, 8 detection, or investigation of any violation of 9 criminal law; or 10 (B) authorized by law to supervise sen- 11 tenced criminal offenders. 12 (8) NONPROFIT DISABILITY ORGANIZATION.— 13 The term ‘‘nonprofit disability organization’’ means 14 a nonprofit organization— 15 (A) that serves covered individuals; and 16 (B)(i) that is operated by a board of which 17 the majority of members are covered individ- 18 uals; 19 (ii) that has an advisory panel of which the 20 majority of members are covered individuals; or 21 (iii) the majority of the employees of which 22 are covered individuals. 23 (9) OLDER INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘older indi- 24 vidual’’ has the meaning given the term in section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1731 IS 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1 3002). 2 (10) PARTNER ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘partner 3 academy’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 4 ceives a covered grant, means a law enforcement 5 training academy with which the eligible entity part- 6 ners to administer an initial training program, as 7 described in section 5(b)(1). 8 (11) PARTNER AGENCY.—The term ‘‘partner 9 agency’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 10 ceives a covered grant, means the law enforcement 11 agency with which the eligible entity partners, or 12 that is a member of a consortium with which the eli- 13 gible entity partners, to administer enhanced train- 14 ing programs to law enforcement officers of the 15 agency on how to interact with covered individuals. 16 (12) REFRESHER TRAINING PROGRAM.—The 17 term ‘‘refresher training program’’ means a training 18 program offered to existing law enforcement officers 19 under section 5(d)(1)(B). 20 (13) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 21 means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 22 (14) STATE.— 23 (A) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes, 24 in addition to the several States of the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1731 IS States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 1 District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, 2 the United States Virgin Islands, the Common- 3 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and 4 the Freely Associated States. 5 (B) FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES.—The 6 term ‘‘Freely Associated States’’ means the Re- 7 public of the Marshall Islands, the Federated 8 States of Micronesia, and the Republic of 9 Palau. 10 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award com- 12 petitive grants to nonprofit disability organizations to ad- 13 minister enhanced training programs to law enforcement 14 officers who may encounter or provide services to covered 15 individuals. 16 (b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a cov- 17 ered grant shall submit to the Secretary an application 18 that— 19 (1)(A) identifies a law enforcement training 20 academy with which the eligible entity will partner 21 to administer an initial training program; and 22 (B) includes a memorandum of understanding 23 entered into between the eligible entity and the law 24 enforcement training academy; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1731 IS (2) describes the training program curriculum, 1 which shall include training on how to interact with, 2 identify, approach, and communicate with covered 3 individuals that is provided, as of the date of sub- 4 mission of the application— 5 (A) by the partner academy to new law en- 6 forcement officers; or 7 (B) by any partner agency to existing law 8 enforcement officers; 9 (3) describes the learning objectives of the 10 training programs that the eligible entity will admin- 11 ister using the grant; 12 (4) describes the activities that will be carried 13 out under the grant; 14 (5) includes a timeline of the activities de- 15 scribed in paragraph (4); and 16 (6) demonstrates expertise in training related to 17 covered individuals. 18 (c) PREFERENCES.—In awarding covered grants, the 19 Secretary shall ensure— 20 (1) geographic diversity of grant recipients, in- 21 cluding grant recipients that serve rural localities; 22 and 23 (2) that the training funded by the grant is 24 provided to multiple levels of law enforcement agen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 1731 IS cies, including local, county, State, and Tribal agen- 1 cies. 2 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 3 (1) MANDATORY USES.—An eligible entity that 4 receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 5 to— 6 (A) modify the training provided by the 7 partner academy to new law enforcement offi- 8 cers of each partner agency so that the acad- 9 emy provides not fewer than 8 hours of training 10 on topics such as how to interact with, identify, 11 approach, and communicate with covered indi- 12 viduals and applicable Federal civil rights laws, 13 including not fewer than 4 hours of interactive 14 learning taught by covered individuals; and 15 (B) develop and implement an enhanced 16 training program for existing law enforcement 17 officers of each partner agency on safe, effec- 18 tive, and respectful interactions with covered in- 19 dividuals— 20 (i) that includes— 21 (I) awareness of and education 22 about covered individuals, including— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 1731 IS (aa) individuals with mental 1 health disabilities, including 2 schizophrenia; 3 (bb) individuals who are 4 deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, 5 or blind, are autistic, or have 6 other intellectual or develop- 7 mental disabilities; 8 (cc) older individuals with 9 dementia or other cognitive im- 10 pairments; and 11 (dd) individuals with any 12 other disability or chronic health 13 condition; 14 (II) escalation avoidance and de- 15 escalation techniques to be used when 16 interacting with covered individuals, 17 including procedures a law enforce- 18 ment officer should follow to ensure 19 the health and safety of a covered in- 20 dividual; and 21 (III) communication strategies to 22 be used when interacting with covered 23 individuals, including individuals who 24 do not use speech to communicate; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 1731 IS (ii) that utilizes— 1 (I) instructors who are covered 2 individuals; or 3 (II) guest instructors or speakers 4 who are covered individuals; and 5 (iii) in which each law enforcement of- 6 ficer participates not less frequently than 4 7 hours every year. 8 (2) OPTIONAL USES.—An eligible entity that re- 9 ceives a covered grant may use the grant funds to— 10 (A) expand an existing training program 11 regarding topics such as interacting with, iden- 12 tifying, approaching, and communicating with 13 covered individuals that was provided to law en- 14 forcement officers by a nonprofit disability or- 15 ganization in conjunction with the partner 16 academy or a partner agency before the eligible 17 entity received the grant; 18 (B) reimburse staff members of the eligible 19 entity for mileage and travel time expended to 20 attend an initial training program or refresher 21 training program occurring in person or online; 22 (C) develop a model of training that uti- 23 lizes volunteer instructors, except that the eligi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 1731 IS ble entity shall pay any instructor, including a 1 guest instructor, who is a covered individual; 2 (D) acquire a computer system or software 3 needed for the training programs; or 4 (E) support the paid participation of indi- 5 viduals with disabilities and their family mem- 6 bers as advisors. 7 (e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—An eligible enti- 8 ty that receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 9 to supplement, and not supplant, any funds that would, 10 in the absence of the grant funds, be made available from 11 a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian Tribe 12 for the activities described in subsection (d). 13 (f) ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 15 ceives a covered grant shall establish an advisory 16 council composed of 15 members to advise the eligi- 17 ble entity on activities carried out using the grant. 18 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—An advisory council estab- 19 lished under paragraph (1) shall— 20 (A) be composed of— 21 (i) 1 representative of the eligible en- 22 tity who is a covered individual and shall 23 serve as chair of the advisory council; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1731.IS S1731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 1731 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) 3 representatives of community- 6 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]