Safe Interactions Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3550 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Ms. WILD (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. CASTEN) introduced the following bill; which was 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 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3550 IH (1) Individuals with disabilities are 2.5 times 1 more likely to be victims of violent crime. 2 (2) Individuals with disabilities are 3 times 3 more likely to be victims of a serious crime. 4 (3) Individuals with disabilities make up be- 5 tween one-third and one-half of all individuals killed 6 by law enforcement officers. 7 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 8 The purposes of this Act are to— 9 (1) authorize the Secretary to award competi- 10 tive grants to nonprofit disability organizations to 11 administer enhanced training programs to law en- 12 forcement officers who may encounter or provide 13 services to covered individuals, including— 14 (A) individuals with mental health disabil- 15 ities, including schizophrenia; 16 (B) individuals who are deaf, deaf-blind, 17 hard of hearing, or blind, are autistic, or have 18 other intellectual or developmental disabilities; 19 (C) older individuals with dementia or 20 other cognitive impairments; and 21 (D) individuals with any other disability or 22 chronic health condition; 23 (2) support, not replace, other specialized law 24 enforcement officer training; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3550 IH (3)(A) increase the awareness, knowledge, and 1 understanding of law enforcement officers about cov- 2 ered individuals and their unique needs and applica- 3 ble Federal civil rights laws; 4 (B) reduce incidences of violence between law 5 enforcement officers and covered individuals; 6 (C) expand the knowledge of law enforcement 7 officers, in areas such as the signs of disabilities, 8 identifying people with disabilities, communicating 9 with people with disabilities, and effective ways to 10 approach covered individuals to minimize situations 11 of risk to— 12 (i) those individuals; and 13 (ii) the law enforcement officers who inter- 14 vene or provide services to those individuals; 15 and 16 (D) increase the knowledge of law enforcement 17 officers of community resources available for covered 18 individuals to ultimately limit interactions with law 19 enforcement officers. 20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 21 In this Act: 22 (1) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 23 grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 5(a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3550 IH (2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 1 individual’’ means— 2 (A) an older individual; or 3 (B) an individual with a disability. 4 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 5 ty’’ means a nonprofit disability organization that 6 has formed a partnership with a law enforcement 7 agency or a consortium of law enforcement agencies 8 to administer enhanced training programs to law en- 9 forcement officers of the agency or agencies on how 10 to interact with covered individuals. 11 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 12 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 13 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 14 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 15 (5) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 16 ‘‘individual with a disability’’ means any individual 17 who has a disability, as defined in section 3 of the 18 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 19 12102). 20 (6) INITIAL TRAINING PROGRAM.—The term 21 ‘‘initial training program’’ means a mandatory train- 22 ing program offered to new law enforcement officers 23 during their orientation under section 5(d)(1)(A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3550 IH (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 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3550 IH (10) PARTNER ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘partner 1 academy’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 2 ceives a covered grant, means a law enforcement 3 training academy with which the eligible entity part- 4 ners to administer an initial training program, as 5 described in section 5(b)(1). 6 (11) PARTNER AGENCY.—The term ‘‘partner 7 agency’’, with respect to an eligible entity that re- 8 ceives a covered grant, means the law enforcement 9 agency with which the eligible entity partners, or 10 that is a member of a consortium with which the eli- 11 gible entity partners, to administer enhanced train- 12 ing programs to law enforcement officers of the 13 agency on how to interact with covered individuals. 14 (12) REFRESHER TRAINING PROGRAM.—The 15 term ‘‘refresher training program’’ means a training 16 program offered to existing law enforcement officers 17 under section 5(d)(1)(B). 18 (13) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 19 means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 20 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award com- 22 petitive grants to nonprofit disability organizations to ad- 23 minister enhanced training programs to law enforcement 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3550 IH officers who may encounter or provide services to covered 1 individuals. 2 (b) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a cov- 3 ered grant shall submit to the Secretary an application 4 that— 5 (1)(A) identifies a law enforcement training 6 academy with which the eligible entity will partner 7 to administer an initial training program; and 8 (B) includes a memorandum of understanding 9 entered into between the eligible entity and the law 10 enforcement training academy; 11 (2) describes the training program curriculum, 12 which shall include training on how to interact with, 13 identify, approach, and communicate with covered 14 individuals that is provided, as of the date of sub- 15 mission of the application— 16 (A) by the partner academy to new law en- 17 forcement officers; or 18 (B) by any partner agency to existing law 19 enforcement officers; 20 (3) describes the learning objectives of the 21 training programs that the eligible entity will admin- 22 ister using the grant; 23 (4) describes the activities that will be carried 24 out under the grant; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3550 IH (5) includes a timeline of the activities de- 1 scribed in paragraph (4); and 2 (6) demonstrates expertise in training related to 3 covered individuals. 4 (c) PREFERENCES.—In awarding covered grants, the 5 Secretary shall ensure— 6 (1) geographic diversity of grant recipients, in- 7 cluding grant recipients that serve rural localities; 8 and 9 (2) that the training funded by the grant is 10 provided to multiple levels of law enforcement agen- 11 cies, including local, county, State, and Tribal agen- 12 cies. 13 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 14 (1) MANDATORY USES.—An eligible entity that 15 receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 16 to— 17 (A) modify the training provided by the 18 partner academy to new law enforcement offi- 19 cers of each partner agency so that the acad- 20 emy provides not fewer than 8 hours of training 21 on topics such as how to interact with, identify, 22 approach, and communicate with covered indi- 23 viduals and applicable Federal civil rights laws, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3550 IH including not fewer than 4 hours of interactive 1 learning taught by covered individuals; and 2 (B) develop and implement an enhanced 3 training program for existing law enforcement 4 officers of each partner agency on safe, effec- 5 tive, and respectful interactions with covered in- 6 dividuals— 7 (i) that includes— 8 (I) awareness of and education 9 about covered individuals, including— 10 (aa) individuals with mental 11 health disabilities, including 12 schizophrenia; 13 (bb) individuals who are 14 deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, 15 or blind, are autistic, or have 16 other intellectual or develop- 17 mental disabilities; 18 (cc) older individuals with 19 dementia or other cognitive im- 20 pairments; and 21 (dd) individuals with any 22 other disability or chronic health 23 condition; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3550 IH (II) escalation avoidance and de- 1 escalation techniques to be used when 2 interacting with covered individuals, 3 including procedures a law enforce- 4 ment officer should follow to ensure 5 the health and safety of a covered in- 6 dividual; and 7 (III) communication strategies to 8 be used when interacting with covered 9 individuals, including individuals who 10 do not use speech to communicate; 11 (ii) that utilizes— 12 (I) instructors who are covered 13 individuals; or 14 (II) guest instructors or speakers 15 who are covered individuals; and 16 (iii) in which each law enforcement of- 17 ficer participates not less frequently than 4 18 hours every year. 19 (2) OPTIONAL USES.—An eligible entity that re- 20 ceives a covered grant may use the grant funds to— 21 (A) expand an existing training program 22 regarding topics such as interacting with, iden- 23 tifying, approaching, and communicating with 24 covered individuals that was provided to law en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3550 IH forcement officers by a nonprofit disability or- 1 ganization in conjunction with the partner 2 academy or a partner agency before the eligible 3 entity received the grant; 4 (B) reimburse staff members of the eligible 5 entity for mileage and travel time expended to 6 attend an initial training program or refresher 7 training program occurring in person or online; 8 (C) develop a model of training that uti- 9 lizes volunteer instructors, except that the eligi- 10 ble entity shall pay any instructor, including a 11 guest instructor, who is a covered individual; 12 (D) acquire a computer system or software 13 needed for the training programs; or 14 (E) support the paid participation of indi- 15 viduals with disabilities and their family mem- 16 bers as advisors. 17 (e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—An eligible enti- 18 ty that receives a covered grant shall use the grant funds 19 to supplement, and not supplant, any funds that would, 20 in the absence of the grant funds, be made available from 21 a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian Tribe 22 for the activities described in subsection (d). 23 (f) ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3550 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 1 ceives a covered grant shall establish an advisory 2 council composed of 15 members to advise the eligi- 3 ble entity on activities carried out using the grant. 4 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—An advisory council estab- 5 lished under paragraph (1) shall— 6 (A) be composed of— 7 (i) 1 representative of the eligible en- 8 tity who is a covered individual and shall 9 serve as chair of the advisory council; 10 (ii) 1 representative of the State law 11 enforcement training academy or law en- 12 forcement agency for the State that the eli- 13 gible entity serves, who shall serve as vice 14 chair of the advisory council; 15 (iii) 3 representatives of community- 16 based organizations that support individ- 17 uals with disabilities, not fewer than 2 of 18 whom have a disability; 19 (iv) 2 representatives of community- 20 based organizations that support older 21 adults; 22 (v) 2 State officials or their designees; 23 (vi) 1 representative of an organiza- 24 tion providing victim services; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 3550 IH (vii) 1 representative of a State public 1 safety agency; 2 (viii) 3 members of the public with 3 knowledge of individuals with disabilities 4 and older adults with cognitive impair- 5 ment, including not fewer than 2 self-advo- 6 cates or family members of a covered indi- 7 vidual; and 8 (ix) 1 active local or State law en- 9 forcement officer representing a labor or 10 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]