Congressional Record: January 9, 2003 (Senate)
Page S134-S153
By Mr. DASCHLE (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Biden, Mr. Kennedy,
Mr. Schumer, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Dayton,
Mr. Corzine, and Mr. Reed):
S. 22. A bill to enhance domestic security, and for other purposes;
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased today to join Senator Daschle
and other Democratic Senators in introducing the Justice Enhancement
and Domestic Security Act of 2003. This comprehensive crime bill builds
on prior Democratic crime initiatives, including the landmark Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, that worked to bring the
crime rate down.
This year marked an unfortunate turn after a decade of remarkable
declines in the Nation's crime rate. The decade of progress we made
under the leadership of a Democratic President helped revitalize our
cities and restore a sense of security for millions of Americans.
According to the latest FBI report, however, the number of murders,
rapes, robberies, assaults, and property crimes is up across the United
States in all regions of the country except the Northeast, the first
year-to-year increase since 1991. This upswing has been fueled by the
faltering economy and high unemployment rates. The President's ill-
conceived tax cut in 2001, along with the new cuts he proposes now, are
likely to exacerbate these economic woes by plunging us deeper into
deficit spending.
It is troubling that, at this crucial moment, the Bush Administration
is proposing to reduce by nearly 80 percent the Community Oriented
Policing Services, COPS, program that has helped to put 115,000 new
police officers on the beat since 1994. I believe that we must fight to
maintain and extend the COPS program, which has proven its value in
increasing the security of our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
The Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act is designed to get
our Nation's crime rates moving downward, in the right direction,
again. It also aims to bolster our security against terrorists, and to
improve the administration of justice throughout the country.
This bill shows the way to making Americans safer. That objective
will not be achieved by partisan posturing, ``tough on crime''
rhetoric, and a few executions. It will be achieved by giving law
enforcement the tools they need to do their job, focusing on both
immediate and long-term threats we face, and protecting the most
vulnerable in our society.
Most importantly, we should not divert all our attention to fighting
foreign terrorism and foreign wars only to discover that the safety of
Americans at home is jeopardized by losing the fight on crime.
Unfortunately, the rising crime rate shows the risk of not paying
attention to the domestic crime issue. The safety of our schools,
homes, streets, neighborhoods and communities cannot become a casualty
of the economic downturn and our international engagements.
Among other things, the bill does the following: Provides $12 billion
over three years to support public safety officers in their efforts to
protect homeland security and prevent and respond to acts of terrorism.
Increases border security by authorizing funds for additional INS
personnel and technology. Provides statutory authority for the
President to use military tribunals to try suspected terrorists in
appropriate circumstances. Targets crime against the most vulnerable
members of our society: children and senior citizens. Combats the
insidious crime of identity theft. Provides enhanced rights and
protections for crime victims. Extends the COPS program and authorizes
law enforcement improvement and training grants for rural communities.
Increases funding to reduce the backlog of untested DNA evidence in the
Nation's crime labs. Proposes important reforms to FBI policies on
whistleblowers and other issues critical to our security. Cracks down
on war criminals from other nations seeking sanctuary in the United
States. Protects against the execution of innocent individuals.
In sum, the bill represents an important next step in the continuing
effort by Senate Democrats to enhance homeland security and to enact
tough yet balanced reforms to our criminal justice system.
I should note that the bill contains no new death penalties and no
new or increased mandatory minimum sentences. We can be tough without
imposing the death penalty, and we can ensure swift and certain
punishment without removing all discretion from the judge at
sentencing.
As we provide the necessary tools for Federal law enforcement
officials to protect our homeland security, we must remember that State
and local law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency
personnel are our full partners in preventing, investigating and
responding to criminal and terrorist acts.
As a former State prosecutor, I know that public safety officers are
often the first responders to a crime. On September 11, the Nation saw
that the first on the scene were the heroic firefighters, police
officers and emergency personnel in New York City. These real-life
heroes, many of whom gave the ultimate sacrifice, remind us of how
important it is to support our State and local public safety partners.
Subtitle A of title I of the Justice Enhancement and Domestic
Security Act establishes a First Responders Partnership Grant program,
which will provide $4 billion in annual grants for each of the next
three years to support our State and local law enforcement officers in
the war against terrorism. First Responder Grants will be made directly
to State and local governments and Indian tribes for equipment,
training and facilities to support public safety officers in their
efforts to protect homeland security and prevent and respond to acts of
terrorism. Grants may be used to pay up to 90 percent of the cost of
the equipment, training or facility, and each State will be guaranteed
a fair minimum amount. This is essential Federal support that our State
and local public safety officers need and deserve.
Our State and local public safety law enforcement partners welcome
the challenge to join in our national mission to protect our homeland
security. But we cannot ask State and local law enforcement officers,
firefighters and emergency personnel to assume these new national
responsibilities without also providing new Federal support. The First
Responders Partnership Grants will provide the necessary Federal
support for our State and public safety officers to serve as full
partners in our fight to protect homeland security and respond to acts
of terrorism.
Border Security
Subtitle B of title I provides for additional increases in INS
personnel and improvements in INS technology to guard our borders. Just
in the last few weeks, we have seen reports suggesting that numerous
aliens crossed our Northern border illegally with the intention of
planning terrorist act. Through the USA PATRIOT Act and the Enhanced
Border Security and Visa Reform Act, we have attempted to bolster our
borders by creating additional positions. But our work is not done.
This legislation would authorize such sums as may be necessary for the
INS to hire an additional 250 inspectors and associated support staff,
and an additional 250 investigative staff and associated support staff,
during each fiscal year through FY2007. It would also authorize $250
million to the INS for the purposes of making improvements in
technology for improving border security and facilitating the flow of
commerce and persons at ports of entry, including improving and
expanding programs for preenrollment and preclearance. Finally, this
subtitle requires the Attorney General to report
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to Congress about the Department's implementation of the border
improvements we have already legislated, and about his recommendations
for any additional improvements.
Military Tribunal Authorization Act
On November 13, 2001, President Bush signed a military order
authorizing the use of military commissions to try suspected
terrorists. This order stimulated an important national debate and led
to a series of Judiciary Committee hearings with the Attorney General
and others to discuss the many legal, constitutional, and policy
questions raised by the use of such tribunals. Our hearings, and the
continued public discourse, helped to clarify the scope of the
President's order and better define the terms of the debate.
Administration officials have taken the position that the President
does not need the sanction of Congress to convene military commissions,
but I disagree. Military tribunals may be appropriate under certain
circumstances, but only if they are backed by specific congressional
authorization. At a minimum, as the distinguished senior senator from
Pennsylvania stated on this floor on November 15, ``the executive will
be immeasurably strengthened if the Congress backs the President.''
Clearly, our government is at its strongest when the executive and
legislative branches of government act in concert.
Subtitle C of title I, the Military Tribunal Authorization Act of
2003 would provide the executive branch with the specific authorization
it now lacks to use extraordinary tribunals to try members of the al
Qaeda terrorist network and those who cooperated with them.
Specifically, this legislation authorizes the use of ``extraordinary
tribunals'' for al Qaeda members and for persons aiding and abetting al
Qaeda in terrorist activities against the United States who are
apprehended in, or fleeing from, Afghanistan. It also authorizes the
use of tribunals for those al Qaeda members and abettors who are
captured in any other place where there is armed conflict involving the
U.S. Armed Forces.
The Military Tribunal Authorization Act defines the jurisdiction and
procedure of tribunals in a way that ensures a ``full and fair'' trial
for anyone detained. It incorporates basic due process guarantees,
including the right to independent counsel. These procedures do not as
some have claimed provide greater protections to suspected terrorists
than we offer our own soldiers. These are rather, the very basic
guarantees provided under various sources of international law.
Finally, the bill comes down squarely on the side of transparency in
government by providing that tribunal proceedings should be open and
public, and include public availability of the transcripts of the trial
and the pronouncement of judgment. Passage of authorizing legislation
would ensure the constitutionality of military tribunals and protect
any convictions they might yield, while at the same time showing the
world that we will fight terrorists without sacrificing our principles.
Title I of our bill would also provide a new tool for law enforcement
to deal with the problem of serious hoaxes and malicious false reports
relating to the use of biological, chemical, nuclear, or other weapons
of mass destruction. These so-called ``hoaxes'' inflict both mental and
economic damage on victims. They drain away scarce law enforcement
resources from the investigation of real terrorist activity. They
interrupt vital communication facilities. Finally, they feed a public
fear that the vast majority of law abiding Americans are working hard
to dispel.
Federal, State, and local law enforcement already have statutes which
they have been using aggressively to prosecute those who have taken
advantage of these times to perpetrate hoaxes about anthrax
contamination. Existing statutes create serious penalties for threats
to use biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, for sending any
threatening communication through the mail, or for making a willful
false statement of Federal authorities. Indeed, current Federal threat
laws do not require that the defendant have either the intent or
present ability to carry out a threat. However, while they carry high
penalties, including a maximum of life imprisonment, these statutes can
sometimes be awkward when applied in the hoax context.
The Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act provides a well-
tailored statute that deals specifically with the problem of
biological, chemical, nuclear and other mass destruction hoaxes. For
instance, it gives prosecutors a means to distinguish between a person
who is actually threatening to use anthrax on a victim, and a person
who never intends to use it, but wants the victim or the police to
think they have done so. Another provision provides for mandatory
restitution to any victim of these crimes, including the costs of any
and all government response to the hoax. An earlier Administration
proposal, offered during the debate over the terrorism bill, would have
limited such restitution to the Federal government. As we know all too
well from recent events, however, it is State and local authorities,
along with private victims, who are often the first responders and
primary victims when these incidents occur. Our bill provides a
mechanism so that they, too, can be reimbursed for their expenses.
The second title of the Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act
contains a several proposals aimed at protecting the most vulnerable
members of our society: children and seniors.
First, part 1 of subtitle A would enhance the operation of the AMBER
Alert communications network in order to aid the recovery of abducted
children. It is disturbing to see on TV or in the newspapers photo
after photo of missing children from every corner of the Nation. As the
father of three Children, as well as a grandfather of two, I know that
an abducted child is a parent's or grandparent's worst nightmare.
Unfortunately, it appears this nightmare occurs all too often.
Indeed, the Justice Department estimates that the number of children
taken by strangers annually is between 3,000 and 4,000. These parents
and grandparents, as well as the precious children, deserve the
assistance of the American people and helping hand of the Congress.
The AMBER Plan was created as a reaction to the kidnapping and brutal
murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, By
coordinating their efforts, law enforcement, emergency management and
transportation agencies, radio and television stations, and cable
systems have worked to develop an innovative early warning system to
help find abducted children by broadcasting information including
descriptions and pictures of the missing child, the suspected abductor,
a suspected vehicle, and any other information available and valuable
to identifying the child and suspect to the public as speedily as
possible.
The AMBER Alert system's popularity has raced across the United
States: since the original AMBER Plan was established in 1996, 55
modified versions have been adopted at local, regional, and statewide
levels. Eighteen States have already implemented statewide plans. It is
also a proven success: to date, the AMBER Plan has been credited with
recovering 30 children.
The National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003 directs the Attorney
General, in cooperation with the Secretary of Transportation and the
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to appoint a Justice
Department National AMBER Alert Coordinator to oversee the Alert's
communication network for abducted children. The AMBER Alert
Coordinator will work with States, broadcasters, and law enforcement
agencies to set up AMBER plans, serve as a point of contact to
supplement existing AMBER plans, and facilitate regional coordination
of AMBER alerts. In addition, the AMBER Alert Coordinator will work
with the FCC, local broadcasters, and local law enforcement agencies to
establish minimum standards for the issuance of AMBER alerts and for
the extent of their dissemination. In sum, our bill will help kidnap
victims while preserving flexibility for the States in implementing the
Alert system.
Because developing and enhancing the AMBER Alert system is a costly
endeavor for States to take on alone, our bill establishes two Federal
grant programs to share the burden. First, the bill creates a Federal
grant program, under the direction of the Secretary of Transportation,
for statewide notification and communications systems, including
electronic message
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boards and road signs, along highways for alerts and other information
regarding abducted children. Second, the bill establishes a grant
program managed by the Attorney General for the support of AMBER Alert
communications plans with law enforcement agencies and others in the
community.
Similar legislation was proposed in the last Congress by Senators
Feinstein and Hutchison and approved by both the Senate Judiciary
Committee and the full Senate by unanimous consent only one week after
introduction. When the bill passed, it had garnered 41 cosponsors from
both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, despite our great efforts to
have the bill passed on its own merits, the House failed to pass it as
a stand-alone bill. Instead, it was included in a larger package of
bills dubbed the Child Abduction Prevention Act, introduced by
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner. Most of the incorporated
bills had passed the House but were stalled in the Senate due to
controversial language.
Our Nation's children, parents, and grandparents deserve our help to
stop the disturbing trend of child abductions. The AMBER Alert National
Network Act ensures that our communications systems help rescue
abducted children from kidnappers and return them safely to their
families.
Subtitle A of title II also includes the Protecting Our Children
Comes First Act of 2003, which would double funding for the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, (NCMEC), reauthorize the
Center through fiscal year 2006, and increase Federal support to help
NCMEC programs find missing children.
As the Nation's top resource center for child protection, the NCMEC
spearheads national efforts to locate and recover missing children and
raises public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction,
molestation, and sexual exploitation, As a national voice and advocate
for those too young to vote or speak up for their own rights, the NCMEC
works to make our children safer. The Center operates under a
Congressional mandate and works in cooperation with the Justice
Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in
coordinating the efforts of law enforcement officers, social service
agencies, elected officials, judges, prosecutors, educators, and the
public and private sectors to break the cycle of violence that
historically has perpetuated such needless crimes against children.
NCMEC professionals have disturbingly busy jobs, they have worked on
more than 90,000 cases of missing and exploited children since its 1984
founding, helping to recover more than 66,000 children. The Center
raised its recovery rate from 60 percent in the 1980s to 94 percent
today. It set up a nationwide, toll free, 24-hour telephone hotline to
take reports about missing children and clues that might lead to their
recovery. It also manages a national Child Pornography Tipline to
handle calls from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of
children through the production and distribution of pornography and a
CyberTipline to process online leads from individuals reporting the
sexual exploitation of children. It has taken the lead in circulating
millions of photographs of missing children, and serves as a vital
resource for the 17,000 law enforcement agencies located throughout the
United States.
Today, the NCMEC is truly a national organization, with its
headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia and branch offices in five other
locations throughout the country to provide hands-on assistance to
families of missing children and conduct an array of prevention and
awareness programs. It has also grown into an international
organization, establishing the International Division of the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which works to fulfill the
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
The International Division provides assistance to parents, law
enforcement, attorneys, nonprofit organizations, and other concerned
individuals who are seeking assistance in preventing or resolving
international child abductions.
The NCMEC manages to do all of this good work with only a $10 million
annual grant, which expired at the end of fiscal year 2002. We should
act now both to extend its authorization and increase the center's
funding to $20 million each year through fiscal year 2006 so that it
can continue to help keep children safe and families intact around the
nation. There is so much more to be done to ensure the safety of our
children, and this provision will help the Center in its efforts to
prevent crimes that are committed against them.
The Protecting Our Children Comes First Act also increases Federal
support of NCMEC programs to find missing children by allowing the U.S.
Secret Service to provide forensic and investigative support to the
NCMEC. In addition, it facilitates information sharing by allowing
Federal authorities to share the facts or circumstances of sexual
exploitation crimes against children with State authorities without a
court order, and by allowing the NCMEC to make reports directly to
State and local law enforcement officials instead of only through
Federal agencies.
I applaud the ongoing work of the NCMEC and hope both the Senate and
the House of Representatives will support this effort to provide more
Federal support for the Center to continue to find missing children and
protect exploited children across the country.
Finally, subtitle A of title II addresses the problems caused by
housing juveniles who are prosecuted in the criminal justice system in
adult correctional facilities. It assists the States in providing safe
conditions for their confinement and appropriate access to educational,
vocational, and health programs. Improving conditions for juveniles
today will improve the public safety in the future, as juveniles who
are not exposed to adult inmates have a lower likelihood of committing
future crimes.
As a Nation, we increasingly rely on adult facilities to house
juveniles. Nearly all of our States house juveniles in adult jails and
prisons, and only half maintain designated youthful offender housing
units. I believe that there is a will in the States to improve
conditions for these juveniles, but resources are often lacking. The
Federal Government can play a useful role by providing funding to
States that want to take account of the differences between juveniles
and adults.
Although many juvenile offenders serving time in adult prisons have
committed extraordinarily serious offenses, others are there because of
relatively minor crimes and will be released at a young age. Certainly,
many of these juveniles can be convinced not to commit further crimes.
The social and moral cost of not making that attempt is simply
incalculable.
Many scholars have questioned whether housing juvenile offenders with
adult inmates serves our long-term interest in public safety. Multiple
studies have shown that youth transferred to the adult system
recidivate at higher rates and with more serious offenses than youth
who have committed similar offenses but are retained in the juvenile
justice system. We must ensure that juveniles are treated humanely in
the criminal justice system to reduce the risks that upon release they
will commit additional and more serious crimes. One of the ways we can
do that is by helping States improve confinement conditions.
Our bill creates a new incentive grant program for State and local
governments and Indian tribes. These grants can be used for the
following purposes related to juveniles under the jurisdiction of an
adult criminal court: 1. alter existing correctional facilities, or
develop separate facilities, to provide segregated facilities for them;
2. provide orientation and ongoing training for correctional staff
supervising them; 3. provide monitors who will report on their
treatment; and 4. provide them with access to educational programs,
vocational training, mental and physical health assessment and
treatment, and drug treatment. Grants can also be used to seek
alternatives to housing juveniles with adult inmates, including the
expansion of juvenile facilities.
It is important to note that States that choose not to house
juveniles who are convicted as adults with adult inmates are still
eligible for grants under this bill. For example, they could use the
money to train staff, or to provide education or other program for
juveniles, or to improve juvenile facilities.
In addition to these grants, part 5 of subtitle II reauthorizes the
Family
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Unity Demonstration Project, which provides funding for projects
allowing eligible prisoners who are parents to live in structured,
community-based centers with their young children. A study by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics found that about two-third of incarcerated
women were parents of children under 18 years old. According to the
White House, on any given day, America is home to 1.5 million children
of prisoners. And according to Prison Fellowship Industries, more than
half of the juveniles in custody in the United States had an immediate
family member behind bars. This is a serious problem that reauthorizing
the Family Unity Demonstration Project will help to address.
The remainder of title II includes a number of provisions designed to
improve the safety and security of older Americans.
During the 1990s, while overall crime rates dropped throughout the
nation the rate of crime against seniors remained constant. In addition
to the increased vulnerability of some seniors to violent crime, older
Americans are increasingly targeted by swindlers looking to take
advantage of them through telemarketing schemes, pension fraud, and
health care fraud. We must strengthen the hand of law enforcement to
combat those criminals who plunder the savings that older Americans
have worked their lifetime to earn. Subtitle B of title II of our bill,
the Seniors Safety Act of 2003, tries to do exactly that, through a
comprehensive package of proposals to establish new protections and
increase penalties for a wide variety of crimes against seniors.
This legislation addresses the most prevalent crimes perpetrated
against seniors, containing proposals to reduce health care fraud and
abuse, combat nursing home fraud and abuse, prevent telemarketing
fraud, and safeguard pension and employee benefit plans from fraud,
bribery, and graft. In addition, this legislation would help seniors
obtain restitution if their pension plans are defrauded.
Many of the proposals in this legislation are just common sense. For
example, we would authorize the Attorney General to block telephone
service to people using it to commit telemarketing fraud. We would also
establish a ``Better Business Bureau'' style clearinghouse at the
Federal Trade Commission, so that senior citizens and their families
could call and find out whether a telemarketer who was bothering them
had a criminal record or had received past complaints.
We would make it a new criminal offense to engage in multiple willful
violations of the regulations or laws that protect nursing home
residents. We would also protect employees at nursing homes who blow
the whistle on the mistreatment of residents by giving them the power
to bring a lawsuit for damages if they get fired as a result. And we
would tell the Sentencing Commission that if you commit a crime against
someone who is old and vulnerable, you should get a longer sentence.
We want to fight health care fraud and pension fraud because these
are benefits that older Americans have earned and that they count on
everyday. We must do more to prevent crooks from robbing seniors of
their security. That is why we want to create new criminal penalties
for pension fraud and give law enforcement more tools to root out and
stop health care fraud.
The third title of the Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act
contains important provisions to prevent and punish identify theft, a
crime that victimizes thousands of Americans every year. Once a skilled
scam artist gets his hands on a consumer's Social Security or bank
account number, he can wreak unimaginable havoc on a family's finances.
With society conducting more and more of its business electronically,
the incidence of identity theft in America is on the rise. In 2001, the
Federal Trade Commission consumer hotline received 86,000 complaints of
identity theft. Through the first six months of 2002, it received
70,000 such complaints. These complaints are mainly from people who
have been hurt by identify theft, but thousands of others come from
consumers worried about becoming an identity thief's next victim.
Our bill would help identity theft victims restore their credit
ratings and reclaim their good names. It gives victims the tools they
need, such as the right to obtain relevant business records and the
ability to have fraudulent charges blocked from reporting in their
consumer credit reports. It also includes provisions designed to thwart
identity theft, for example by requiring credit card companies to
notify consumers of any change of address request on an existing credit
account, by ensuring that credit card receipts no longer bear the
expiration date or more than the last five digits of the customer's
credit card number, and by entitling every citizen to a free credit
report once per year upon request. Finally, it includes important
provisions to prevent Social Security numbers from being sold, or
published without express consent.
Title III also represents the next step in Senate Democrats'
continuing efforts to afford dignity and recognition to victims of
crime. It provides for comprehensive reform of the Federal law to
establish enhanced rights and protections for victims of Federal crime.
Among other things, it provides crime victims the right to consult with
the prosecution prior to detention hearings and the entry of plea
agreements, and generally requires the courts to give greater
consideration to the views and interests of the victim at all stages of
the criminal justice process. Responding to concerns raised by victims
of the Oklahoma City bombing, the bill would provide standing for the
prosecutor and the victim to assert the right of the victim to attend
and observe the trial.
Assuring that victims are provided their statutorily guaranteed
rights is a critical concern for all those involved in the
administration of justice. That is why the bill establishes an
administrative authority in the Department of Justice to receive and
investigate victims' claims of unlawful or inappropriate action on the
part of criminal justice and victims' service providers. Department of
Justice employees who fail to comply with the law pertaining to the
treatment of crime victims could face disciplinary sanctions, including
suspension or termination of employment.
In addition to these improvements to the Federal system, the bill
proposes several programs to help States provide better assistance for
victims of State crimes. These programs would improve compliance with
State victim's rights laws, promote the development of state-of-the-art
notification systems to keep victims informed of case developments and
important dates on a timely and efficient basis, and encourage further
experimentation with the community-based restorative justice model in
the juvenile court setting. The bill also provides assistance for
shelters and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence.
Of particular significance, title III would eliminate the cap on
distributions from the Crime Victims Fund, which has prevented millions
of dollars in Fund deposits from reaching victims and supporting
essential services. With violent crime on the increase and State
governments struggling to overcome growing budget deficits, crime
victim compensation and assistance programs are facing dire threats to
their fiscal stability. We should not be imposing artificial caps on
spending from the Crime Victims Fund while substantial needs remain
unmet. Our bill proposes replacing the cap with a self-regulating
formula, which would ensure stability and protection of Fund assets,
while allowing more money to go out to the States for victim
compensation and assistance.
While we have greatly improved our crime victims programs and made
advances in recognizing crime victims rights, we still have more to do.
The Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act would help make
victims' rights a reality.
Title IV of the bill includes proposals for supporting Federal, State
and local law enforcement and promoting the effective administration of
justice.
An important element of this effort is the COPS program. As noted
earlier, the Bush Administration has proposed to cut the COPS program
by nearly 80 percent, despite the success of this program in putting
115,000 new police officers on the beat since 1994. Title IV extends
the COPS program through fiscal year 2008, authorizing funding to
deploy up to 50,000 additional police officers, 10,000 additional
prosecutors, and
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10,000 defense attorneys for indigents. It also authorizes $15 million
per year for five years to help rural communities retain officers hired
through the COPS program for an additional year.
In addition, title IV includes the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits
Act, which would effectively erase any distinction between traumatic
and occupational injuries when surviving families apply to the U.S.
Department of Justice Public Safety Officers Benefits, PSOB, Program.
The PSOB fund currently pays just over $260,000 to families of
firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians who die
in the line of duty. The survivors of emergency responders who die of
heart attacks while performing in the line of duty, however, are
ineligible to collect benefits. The Hometown Heroes bill would fix the
loophole in the PSOB Program to ensure that the survivors of public
safety officers who die of heart attacks or strokes in the line of duty
or within 24 hours of a triggering effect while on duty, regardless of
whether a traumatic injury is present at the time of the heart attack
or stroke, are eligible to receive financial assistance.
The families of these brave public servants deserve to participate in
the PSOB Program if their loved ones die of a heart attack or other
cardiac-related ailments while selflessly protecting us from harm. It
is time for Congress to show its support and appreciation for these
extraordinarily brave and heroic public safety officers by passing the
Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefit Act.
Title IV would also correct a disparity in the law that denies
Federal prosecutors the same retirement benefits as other Federal law
enforcement officers. These lawyers, who are more and more often on the
front lines in the war on terrorism, deserve the same benefits as the
other men and women with whom they work.
Also included in title IV of the bill is the FBI Reform Act of 2003,
which stems from the lessons learned during a series of Judiciary
Committee hearings on oversight of the FBI that I chaired beginning in
June 2001. Even more recently, the important changes which are being
made under the FBI's new leadership after the September 11 attacks and
the new powers granted the FBI by the USA PATRIOT Act have resulted in
FBI reform becoming a pressing matter of national importance.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks last
fall, we have relied on the FBI to detect and prevent acts of
catastrophic terrorism that endanger the lives of the American people
and the institutions of our country. The men and women of the FBI are
performing this task with great professionalism at home and abroad. I
think that we have all felt safer as a result of the full mobilization
of the FBI's dedicated Special Agents, its expert support personnel,
and its exceptional technical capabilities. We owe the men and women of
the FBI our thanks.
For decades the FBI has been outstanding law enforcement agency and a
vital member of the United States intelligence community. As our
hearings and recent events have shown, however, there is room for
improvement at the FBI. We must face the mistakes of the past, and make
the changes needed to ensure that they are not repeated. In meeting the
international terrorist challenge, the Congress has an opportunity and
obligation to strengthen the institutional fiber of the FBI based on
lessons learned from recent problems the Bureau has experienced.
The view is not mine alone. When Director Bob Mueller testified at
his confirmation hearings in July 2001, he forthrightly acknowledged
``that the Bureau's remarkable legacy of service and accomplishment has
been tarnished by some serious and highly publicized problems in recent
years. Waco, Ruby Ridge, the FBI lab, Wen Ho Lee, Robert Hanssen and
the McVeigh documents--these familiar names and events remind us all
that the FBI is far from perfect and that the next director faces
significant management and administrative challenges.'' Since then, the
Judiciary Committee has forged a constructive partnership with Director
Mueller to get the FBI back on track.
Congress sometimes has followed a hands-off approach about the FBI.
But with the FBI's new increased power, with our increased reliance on
them to stop terrorism, and with the increased funding requested in the
President's budget will come increased scrutiny. Until the Bureau's
problems are resolved and new challenges overcome, we have to take a
hands-on approach. Indeed our hearing and other oversight activities
have highlighted tangible steps the Congress should take in an FBI
Reform bill as part of this hands-on approach. Among other things,
these hearings demonstrated the need to extend whistleblower
protection, end the double standard for discipline of senior FBI
executives, and enhance the FBI's internal security program to protect
against espionage as occurred in the Hanssen case.
When Director Mueller announced the first stage of his FBI
reorganization in December 2001, he stressed the importance of taking a
comprehensive look at the FBI's missions for the future, and Deputy
Attorney General Thompson's office has told us that the Attorney
General's management review of the FBI is considering this matter.
Director Mueller has stated that the second phase of FBI
reorganizations will be part of a ``comprehensive plan to address not
only the new challenges of terrorism, but to modernize and streamline
the Bureau's more traditional functions.'' Thus, through our hearings,
our oversight efforts, and the statements and efforts of the new
management team at the FBI, a list of challenges facing the FBI has
been developed.
Our bill addresses each of these challenges. It strengthens
whistleblower protection for FBI employees and protects them from
retaliation for reporting wrongdoing. It addresses the issue of a
double standard for discipline of senior executives by eliminating the
disparity in authorized punishments between Senior Executive Service
members and other federal employees. It establishes an FBI
Counterintelligence Polygraph Program for screening personnel in
exceptionally sensitive positions with specific safeguards, and an FBI
Career Security Program, which would bring the FBI into line with other
U.S. intelligence agencies that have strong career security
professional cadres whose skills and leadership are dedicated to the
protection of agency information, personnel, and facilities. It also
requires a set of reports that would enable Congress to engage the
Executive branch in a constructive dialogue building a more effective
FBI for the future.
The FBI Reform Act of 2003 is designed to strengthen the FBI as an
institution that has a unique role as both a law enforcement agency and
a member of the intelligence community. As the Judiciary Committee
continues its oversight work and more is learned about recent FBI
performance, additional legislation may prove necessary. Especially
important will be the lessons from the attacks of September 11, 2001,
the anthrax attacks, and implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act and
other counterterrorism measures. Strengthening the FBI cannot be
accomplished overnight, but with this legislation, we take an important
step into the future.
In addition to protecting, FBI whistleblowers, title IV of this bill
provides new and important protections for other whistleblowers who
provide information to Congress.
The 107th Congress was one of rejuvenated bipartisan oversight. On
the Judiciary Committee we convened the first series of comprehensive
bipartisan FBI oversight hearings in decades after I assumed the
Chairmanship. The Joint Intelligence Committee conducted bipartisan
hearings to ascertain what shortcomings on the part of our intelligence
community need to be corrected so as not the allow the 9-11 terrorist
attacks to recur. The Senate Banking Committee conducted extensive
oversight of the SEC and its relationship with the accounting industry,
to ascertain whether a new regulatory scheme was required. Both the
Senate and House Judiciary Committees are still attempting to ascertain
how the new powers we provided in the USA PATRIOT Act are being used.
These are only a few examples.
A vital part of the increased oversight was the courage of the
whistleblowers who provided information. Their revelations have led to
important reforms. The Enron scandal and the subsequent hearing led to
the most extensive corporate reform legislation
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in decades, including the criminal provisions and the first ever
corporate whistleblower protections, which I authored. The testimony of
the rank and file FBI agents that we heard on the Judiciary Committee
helped us to craft bipartisan FBI reform legislation. The same day as
Coleen Rowley's nationally televised testimony before the Judiciary
Committee, President Bush not only reversed his previous opposition to
establishing a new cabinet level Department of Homeland Security, but
gave a national address calling for the largest government
reorganization in 50 years. In the last year we have learned once again
that the public as a whole can benefit from a lone voice. Indeed, Time
Magazine recognized the courage of these whistleblowers by naming them
the ``People of the Year'' for 2002.
Unfortunately, the people who very rarely benefit from these
revelations are the whistleblowers themselves. We have heard testimony
in oversight hearings on the Judiciary Committee that there is quite
often retaliation against those who raise public awareness about
problems within large organizations even to Congress. Sometimes the
retaliation is overt, sometimes it is more subtle and invidious, but it
is almost always there. The law needs to protect the people who risk so
much to protect us and create a culture that encourages employees to
report waste, fraud, and mismanagement.
For those who provide information to Congress, that protection is a
hollow promise. On one hand, the law is very clear that it is illegal
to interfere with or deny, ``the right of employees, individually or
collectively, to petition Congress or a Member of Congress, or to
furnish information to either House of Congress, or to a committee or
Member thereof . . .'' Amazingly, however, this simple provision is a
right without a remedy. Employees who are retaliated against for
providing information to Congress cannot pursue any avenue of redress
to protect their statutory rights. The only exception to this applies
to employees of publicly traded companies, who are now covered by the
whistleblower provision included in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that we
passed last year. Thus, under current law, government whistleblowers
reporting to Congress have less protection than private industry
whistleblowers.
Title IV would correct this anomaly by providing government employees
that come to Congress with the right to bring an action in court when
they suffer the type of retaliation already prohibited under the law.
Thus, it does not create new statutory rights, but merely provides a
statutory remedy for existing law. That way, we can promise future
whistleblowers who come before Congress that their rights to access the
legislative branch is not an illusion. We can also assure the public at
large that our efforts at Congressional oversight and improving the
functions of government will be effective. This legislation is strongly
supported by leading whistleblower groups, including the National
Whistleblower Center and the Government Accountability Project.
Title IV of the bill also aims to improve the effective
administration of justice by offering a two-pronged attack on sexual
assault crime in America. First, it adds more Federal resources for
States and for the first time, makes those resources directly available
to local governments as well, so that they may eliminate the backlog of
untested DNA samples, and in particular, the troubling backlog of
untested rape kits. Second, because tapping the potential of DNA
technology requires more than eliminating existing backlogs, the bill
provides increased Federal support for sexual assault examiner
programs, DNA training of law enforcement personnel and prosecutors,
and updating the national DNA database. To ensure that these grants are
effective, the bill heightens the standards for DNA collection and
maintenance, and requires the Department of Justice to promulgate
national privacy guidelines. The bill also authorizes the issuance of
John Doe DNA indictments for Federal sexual assault crimes, which toll
the applicable statute of limitations and permit prosecution whenever a
DNA match is made.
Congress began to attack the problem of the DNA backlog when it
passed the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000. That
legislation authorized $170 million over four years for grants to
States to increase the capacity of their forensic labs and to carry out
DNA testing of backlogged evidence. Despite the new law and some
Federal funding, the persistent backlogs nationwide make it plain that
more must be done to help the States. Our bill takes the next step and
provides more comprehensive assistance so that the criminal justice
system can harness the full power of DNA.
A significant problem that arose during Special Prosecutor Kenneth
Starr's investigation of President Clinton was the loss of
confidentiality that had previously attached to the important work of
the U.S. Secret Service. The Department of Justice and Treasury and
even a former Republican President advise that the safety of future
Presidents may be jeopardized by forcing U.S. Secret Service agents to
breach the confidentiality they need to do their job by testifying
before a grand jury. I trust the Secret Service on this issue; they are
the experts with the mission of protecting the lives of the President
and other high-level elected official and visiting dignitaries. I also
have confidence in the judgment of former President Bush, who has
written, ``I feel very strongly that [Secret Service] agents should not
be made to appear in court to discuss that which they might or might
not have seen or heard.''
Section 4502 of the Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act
provides a reasonable and limited protective function privilege so
future Secret Service agents are able to maintain the confidentiality
they say they need to protect the lives of the President, Vice
President and visiting heads of state.
Title V of this bill would create new treatment and prevention
programs to reduce drug abuse, and reauthorize existing successful
ones. Treatment and prevention efforts are often overshadowed by law
enforcement needs. Indeed, a recent study by the Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse showed that of every dollar States spent on
substance abuse and addiction, only four cents went to prevention and
treatment. The States and the Federal government have undeniably
important law enforcement obligations, but we must do more to balance
those obligations with farsighted efforts to prevent drug crimes from
happening in the first place.
Heroin is an increasing problem in my State. In other States,
methamphetamines or other drugs present a growing challenge. This
legislation will help States address their most pressing drug problems,
and places a particular emphasis on States that may not have been able
to address their treatment and prevention needs in the past. Indeed,
among other provisions, the bill offers funding for rural States like
Vermont to establish or enhance treatment centers. It instructs the
Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to make grants to
public and nonprofit private entities that provide treatment and are
approved by State experts. This will allow the Vermont agencies looking
to provide heroin treatment--or to prevent heroin abuse in the first
place, to acquire Federal funding to help in their efforts.
The bill also authorizes funding for residential treatment centers
that treat mothers who are addicted to heroin, methamphetamine, or
other drugs. This will help mothers, and the children who depend on
them to rebuild their lives, it will keep families together. And I hope
it will help avoid further stories like one that appeared in the
Burlington Free Press in February 2001, in which a young mother told a
reporter how heroin ``made it easier for [her] to take care of [her]
kids.''
The bill also would fund drug treatment programs for juveniles, who
can see their lives quickly deteriorate under the influence of drugs.
This is why I have worked to provide Vermont with funding to establish
a long-term residential treatment facility for adolescents. I hope to
continue that effort through this bill, in the hope that we may be able
to prevent future tragedies.
We also would reauthorize substance abuse treatment in Federal
prisons. It is critical that our prisons be drug-free, both because
lawbreaking within our correctional system is a national embarrassment,
and because prisoners who are released while still addicted to
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drugs are far more likely to commit future crimes than prisoners who
are released sober. At the same time we are extending the `carrot' of
treatment opportunities, we also authorize grants to States and
localities for programs supporting comprehensive drug testing of
criminal justice populations, and to establish appropriate
interventions to illegal drug use for offender populations.
Among other additional provisions, we would extend the Safe and Drug-
Free Schools and Communities Program, and authorize grants to establish
methamphetamine prevention and treatment pilot programs in rural areas.
I am particularly proud of title VI of the bill--the Innocence
Protection Act, IPA, of 2003. For nearly three years, I have been
working hard with members on both sides of the aisle, and in both
houses of Congress, to address the horrendous problem of innocent
people being condemned to death. The IPA represents the fruits of those
efforts. This landmark legislation proposes a number of basic,
commonsense reforms to our criminal justice system, aimed at reducing
the risk that innocent people will be put to death.
We have come many miles since I first introduced the IPA in February
2000, along with four Democratic co-sponsors. There is now a broad
consensus across the country--among Democrats and Republicans,
supporters and opponents of the death penalty, liberals and
conservatives, that our death penalty machinery is broken. We know that
the nightmare of innocent people on death row is not just a dream, but
a frequently recurring reality. Since the early 1970s, more than 100
people who were sentenced to death have been released, not because of
technicalities, but because they were innocent. Goodness only knows how
many were not so lucky.
These are not just numbers; these are real people whose lives were
ruined. Anthony Porter came within two days of execution in 1998; he
was exonerated and released from prison only because a class of
journalism students investigated his case and identified the real
killer. Ray Krone spent ten years in prison, including three on death
row; he was released last year after DNA testing exculpated him and
pointed to another man as the real killer. These are just two of the
many tragedies we learn of every year.
Today, Federal judges are voicing concern about the death penalty.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has warned that ``the system may well be
allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.'' Justice Ginsberg
has supported a state moratorium on the death penalty. Another
respected jurist, Sixth Circuit Judge Gilbert Merritt, has referred to
the capital punishment system as ``broken.''
We can all agree that there is a grave problem. The good news is,
there is also a broad consensus on one important step we must take, we
can pass the Innocence Protection Act.
At the close of the 107th Congress, the IPA was cosponsored by a
substantial bipartisan majority of the House and by 32 Senators from
both sides of the aisle. In addition, a version of the bill had been
reported by a bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It
is that version of the bill that we introduce today as title VI of the
Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act.
What would the IPA do? In short, it proposes two minimum steps that
we need to take, not to make the system perfect, but simply to reduce
what is currently an unacceptably high risk of error. First, we need to
make good on the promise of modern technology in the form of DNA
testing. Second, we need to make good on the constitutional promise of
competent counsel.
DNA testing comes first because it is proven and effective. We all
know that DNA testing is an extraordinary tool for uncovering the
truth, whatever the truth may be. It is the fingerprint of the 21st
Century. Prosecutors across the country rightly use it to prove guilt.
By the same token, it should also be used to do what it is equally
scientifically reliable to do, prove innocence.
Where there is DNA evidence, it can show us conclusively, even years
after a conviction, where mistakes have been made. And there is no good
reason not to use it.
Allowing testing does not deprive the state of its ability to present
its case, and under a reasonable scheme for the preservation and
testing of DNA evidence, the practical costs, burdens and delays
involved are relatively small.
The Innocence Protection Act would therefore provide improved access
to DNA testing for people who claim that they have been wrongfully
convicted. It would also prevent the premature destruction of
biological evidence that could hold the key to clearing an innocent
person and, as we recently saw in Ray Krone's case, identifying the
real culprit.
But DNA testing addresses only the tip of the iceberg of the problem
of wrongful convictions. In most cases, there is no DNA evidence to be
tested, just as in most cases, there are no fingerprints. In the vast
majority of death row exonerations, no DNA testing has or could have
been involved.
So the broad and growing consensus on death penalty reform has
another top priority. All the statistics and evidence show that the
single most frequent cause of wrongful convictions is inadequate
defense representation at trial. By far the most important reform we
can undertake is to ensure minimum standards of competency and funding
for capital defense.
Under the IPA, States may choose to work with the federal government
to improve the systems by which they appoint and compensate lawyers in
death cases. These States would receive an infusion of new Federal
grant money, but they would also open themselves up to a set of
controls that are designed to ensure that their systems truly meet
basic standards. In essence, the bill offers the States extra money for
quality and accountability.
A State may also decline to participate in the new grant program, In
that case, the money that would otherwise be available to the state
would be used to fund one or more organizations that provide capital
representation in that state. One way or another, the bill would
improve the quality of appointed counsel in capital cases.
This is a reform that does not in any way hinder good, effective law
enforcement. More money is good for the States. More openness and
accountability is good for everyone. And better lawyering makes the
trial process far less prone to error.
We can never guarantee that no innocent person will be convicted. But
surely when people in this country are put on trial for their lives,
they should be defended by lawyers who meet reasonable standards of
competence and who have sufficient funds to investigate the facts and
prepare thoroughly for trial. That bare minimum is all that the counsel
provisions in the IPA seek to achieve.
The Innocence Protection Act addresses grave and urgent problems with
moderate, fine-tuned practical solutions. It has passed out of
Committee in the Senate and is supported by a majority of the House.
Justice demands that we pass it before more lives are ruined.
Title VII of the bill includes various proposals for strengthening
the Federal criminal laws, including, in subtitle A, the Anti-Atrocity
Alien Deportation Act of 2003. This bill would close loopholes in our
immigration laws that have allowed war criminals and human rights
abusers to enter and remain in this country. I am appalled that this
country has become a safe haven for those who exercised power in
foreign countries to terrorize, rape, murder and torture innocent
civilians. A recent report by Amnesty International claims that nearly
150 alleged human rights abusers have been identified living here, and
warns that this number may be as high as 1,000.
The problem of human rights abusers seeking and obtaining refuge in
this country is real, and requires an effective response with the legal
and enforcement changes proposed in this legislation. We have
unwittingly sheltered the oppressors along with the oppressed for too
long. We should not let this situation continue. We need to focus the
attention of our law enforcement investigators to prosecute and deport
those who have committed atrocities abroad and who now enjoy safe
harbor in the United States.
The Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act would provide a stronger bar
to human rights abusers who seek to exploit loopholes in current law.
The Immigration and Nationality Act currently provides that 1.
Participants in
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Nazi persecutions during the time period from March 23, 1933 to May 8,
1945, 2. aliens who engaged in genocide, and 3. aliens who committed
particularly severe violations of religious freedom, are inadmissible
to the United States and deportable. This legislation would expand the
grounds for inadmissibility and deportation to 1. Add new bars for
aliens who have engaged in acts, outside the United States, of
``torture'' and ``extrajudicial killing'' and 2. remove limitations on
the current bases for ``genocide'' and ``particularly severe violations
of religious freedom.''
The bill would not only add the new grounds for inadmissibility and
deportation, it would expand two of the current grounds. First, the
current bar to aliens who have ``engaged in genocide'' defines that
term by reference to the ``genocide'' definition in the Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. For clarity and
consistency, the bill would substitute instead the definition in the
Federal criminal code, which was adopted pursuant to the U.S.
obligations under the Genocide Convention. The bill would also broaden
the reach of the provision to apply not only to those who ``engaged in
genocide,'' as in current law, but also to cover any alien who has
ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in genocide. This
broader scope will ensure that the genocide provision addresses a more
appropriate range of levels of complicity.
Second, the current bar to aliens who have committed ``particularly
severe violations of religious freedom,'' as defined in the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, limits its application to
foreign government officials who engaged in such conduct within the
last 24 months. Our bill would delete reference to prohibited conduct
occurring within a 24-month period since this limitation is not
consistent with the strong stance of the United States to promote
religious freedom throughout the world.
Changing the law to address the problem of human rights abusers
seeking entry and remaining in the United States is only part of the
solution. We also need effective enforcement, which I believe we can
obtain by updating the mission of the Justice Department's Office of
Special Investigations, or OSI. Our county has long provided the
template and moral leadership for dealing with Nazi war criminals. The
OSI, which was created to hunt down, prosecute, and remove Nazi war
criminals who had slipped into the United States among their victims
under the Displaced Persons Act, is an example of effective
enforcement. Since the OSI's inception in 1979, over 60 Nazi
persecutors have been stripped of U.S. citizenship, almost 50 have been
removed from the United States, and more than 150 have been denied
entry.
The OSI was created by the power of Attorney General Civiletti almost
35 years after the end of World War II and it is only authorized to
track Nazi war criminals. As any prosecutor, or, in my case, former
prosecutor, knows instinctively, delays make documentary and
testimonial evidence more difficult to obtain. Stale cases are the
hardest to make. We should not repeat the mistake of waiting decades
before tracking down war criminals and human rights abusers who have
settled in this country. War criminals should find no sanctuary in
loopholes in our current immigration policies and enforcement. No war
criminal should ever come to believe that he is going to find safe
harbor in the United States.
The Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act would for the first time
provide statutory authorization for the OSI within the Department of
Justice, with authority to denaturalize any alien who has participated
in Nazi persecution, torture, extrajudicial killing or genocide abroad.
The bill would also expand the OSI's jurisdiction to deal with any
alien who participated in torture, extrajudicial killing and genocide
abroad, not just Nazis. Unquestionably, the need to bring Nazi war
criminals to justice remains a matter of great importance. Funds would
not be diverted from the OSI's current mission. Additional resources
are authorized in the bill for OSI's expanded duties.
Title VII of the Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act also
includes a proposal to increase the maximum penalties for violations of
three existing statutes that protect the cultural and archaeological
history of the American people, particularly Native Americans. The
United States Sentencing Commission recommended the statutory changes
contained in this proposal, which would complement the Commission's
strengthening of Federal sentencing guidelines to ensure more stringent
penalties for criminals who steal from our public lands. Passage of
this legislation would demonstrate Congress' commitment to preserving
our nation's history and our cultural heritage.
The Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act is a comprehensive
and realistic set of proposals for assisting local enforcement,
preventing crime, protecting our children and senior citizens, and
assisting the victims of crime. I look forward to working on a
bipartisan basis for passage of as much of this bill as possible during
the 108th Congress.
I ask unanimous consent that a section-by-section summary of the bill
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act of 2003
Section-By-Section Analysis
TITLE I--COMBATING TERRORISM AND ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY
Subtitle A--Supporting First Responders
Sec. 1101. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``First Responders Partnership Grant Act of 2003''.
Sec. 1102. Purpose. Purpose in support of this subtitle.
Sec. 1103. First Responders Partnership Grant Program for
public safety officers. Authorizes grants to States, units of
local government, and Indian tribes to support public safety
officers in their efforts to protect homeland security and
prevent and respond to acts of terrorism.
Sec. 1104. Applications. Requires the Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance to promulgate regulations
specifying the form and information to be included in
submitting an application for a grant under this subtitle.
Sec. 1105. Definitions. Defines terms used in this
subtitle.
Sec. 1106. Authorization of appropriations. Authorizes $4
billion for each fiscal year through FY2005 to carry out this
subtitle.
Subtitle B--Border Security
Sec. 1201. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Safe Borders Act of 2003''.
Sec. 1202. Authorization of appropriations for hiring
additional INS personnel. Authorizes such sums as may be
necessary for the INS to hire an additional 250 inspectors
and associated support staff, and an additional 250
investigative staff and associated support staff, during each
fiscal year through FY2007.
Sec. 1203. Authorization of appropriations for improvements
in technology for improving border security. Authorizes $250
million to the INS for the purposes of making improvements in
technology for improving border security and facilitating the
flow of commerce and persons at ports of entry, including
improving and expanding programs for preenrollment and
preclearance.
Sec. 1204. Report on border security improvements. Directs
the Attorney General to submit a report to Congress detailing
all steps the Department of Justice has taken to implement
the increases in border security personnel and improvements
in border security technology and equipment authorized in the
USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56) and the Enhanced Border
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (Pub. L. 107-173). The
report shall also include the Attorney General's analysis of
what additional personnel and other resources, if any, are
needed to improve security at U.S. borders, particularly the
U.S.-Canada border.
Subtitle C--Military Tribunals Authorization
Sec. 1301. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Military Tribunal Authorization Act of 2003''.
Sec. 1302. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this subtitle.
Sec. 1303. Establishment of extraordinary tribunals.
Authorizes the President to establish tribunals to try non-
U.S. persons who are al Qaeda members (and persons aiding and
abetting al Qaeda in terrorist activities against the United
States); are apprehended in Afghanistan, apprehended fleeing
from Afghanistan, or apprehended in or fleeing from any other
place where there is armed conflict involving the U.S. Armed
Forces; and are not prisoners of war, as defined by the
Geneva Conventions. Tribunals may adjudicate violations of
the laws of war targeted against U.S. persons. The Secretary
of Defense is charged with promulgating rules of evidence and
procedure for the tribunals.
Sec. 1304. Procedural requirements. Describes minimum
procedural safeguards for tribunals established under this
subtitle, including that the accused be presumed innocent
until proven guilty, and that proof of guilt be established
beyond a reasonable doubt. Trial proceedings will generally
be accessible to the public with limited exceptions for
demonstrable public safety concerns. Convictions may be
appealed to the
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; any decisions of
that court regarding proceedings of tribunals are subject to
review by the U.S. Supreme Court by writ of certiorari.
Sec. 1305. Detention. Authorizes detention of individuals
who are subject to a tribunal under this subtitle. In order
to detain an individual under the authority of this section,
the President must certify that the U.S. is in armed conflict
with al Qaeda or Taliban forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere,
or that an investigation, prosecution or post-trial
proceeding against the detainee is ongoing. Detention
determinations and the conditions of detention are subject to
review by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Sec. 1306. Sense of the Congress. Calls for the President
to seek the cooperation of U.S. allies and other nations in
the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for
the September 11 attacks. It also calls for the President to
use multilateral institutions to the fullest extent possible
in carrying out such investigations and prosecutions.
Sec. 1307. Definitions. Defines terms used in this
subtitle.
Sec. 1308. Termination of Authority. Authority under this
subtitle ends on December 31, 2005.
Subtitle D--Anti Terrorist Hoaxes and False Reports
Sec. 1401 Short title. Contains the short title, the ``Anti
Terrorist Hoax and False Report Act of 2003''.
Sec. 1402. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this subtitle.
Sec. 1403. Hoaxes, false reports and reimbursement. Sets
penalties for (1) knowingly conveying false information
concerning an attempt to violate 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 175
(relating to biological weapons), 229 (relating to chemical
weapons), 831 (relating to nuclear material), or 2332a
(relating to weapons of mass destruction), under
circumstances where such information may reasonably be
believed; and (2) transferring any device or material,
knowing or intending that it resembles a nuclear, chemical,
biological, or other weapon of mass destruction, and under
circumstances where it may reasonably be believed to involve
an attempt to violate 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 175, 229, 831,or
2332a. Convicted offenders shall be ordered to reimburse all
victims and government agencies for losses and expenses
incurred as a result of the offense. Authorizes civil actions
by victims and by U.S. Attorney General.
Subtitle E--Amendments to Federal Antiterrorism Laws
Sec. 1501. Attacks against mass transit clarification of
definition. Clarifies that 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1993, which
proscribes terrorist attacks against mass transportation
systems, extends to attacks against ``any carriage or other
contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of
transportation on land, water, or through the air''.
Sec. 1502. Release or detention of a material witness.
Clarifies the conditions under which individuals can be
arrested and detained as material witnesses in Federal
criminal cases and grand jury investigations.
Sec. 1503. Clarification of sunset provision in USA PATRIOT
Act. Clarifies that after sunset of certain provisions in the
USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107-56), pursuant to section 224(a)
of that Act, the law shall revert to what it was before that
Act was enacted.
TITLE II--PROTECTING AMERICA'S CHILDREN AND SENIORS
Subtitle A--Children's Safety
Part I--National Amber Alert Network
Sec. 2111. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003''.
Sec. 2112. National coordination of AMBER Alert
Communications Network. Requires the Attorney General to
assign an AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Department of
Justice to act as the national coordinator of the AMBER Alert
communications network regarding abducted children. The
Coordinator's duties include: (1) seeking to eliminate gaps
in the network; and (2) working with States to ensure
regional coordination.
Sec. 2113. Minimum standards for issuance and dissemination
of alerts through AMBER Alert Communications Network. Directs
the AMBER Alert Coordinator to establish minimum standards
for the issuance of alerts and for the extent of their
dissemination (limited to the geographic areas most likely to
facilitate the recovery of the abducted child).
Sec. 2114. Grant program for notification and
communications systems along highways for recovery of
abducted children. Authorizes grants to States for the
development or enhancement of notification or communications
systems along highways for alerts and other information for
the recovery of abducted children.
Sec. 2115. Grant program for support of AMBER Alert
communications plans. Authorizes grants to States for the
development or enhancement of education, training, and law
enforcement programs and activities for the support of AMBER
Alert communications plans.
Part 2--Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of
Children Today
Sec. 2121. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation
of Children Today Act of 2003'' or ``PROTECT Act''.
Sec. 2122. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 2123. Certain activities relating to material
constituting or containing child pornography. Amends 18
U.S.C. Sec. 2252A, regarding activities relating to material
constituting or containing child pornography, to prohibit:
(1) promoting, distributing, or soliciting material through
the mails or in commerce in a manner that conveys the
impression that the material contains an obscene visual
depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct;
or (2) knowingly distributing to a minor any such visual
depiction that has been transported in commerce, or that was
produced using materials that have been so transported, for
purposes of inducing a minor to participate in illegal
activity.
Sec. 2124. Admissibility of evidence. On motion of the
Government, and except for good cause shown, certain
identifying information of minors depicted in child
pornography shall be inadmissible in any prosecution of such
an act.
Sec. 2125. Definitions. Adds new definitions for
interpretation of Federal criminal laws regarding sexual
exploitation and other abuse of children.
Sec. 2126. Recordkeeping requirements. Increases penalties
for violation of recordkeeping requirements applicable to
producers of certain sexually explicit materials.
Sec. 2127. Extraterritorial production of child pornography
for distribution in the United States. Sets penalties for
employing or coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit
conduct outside of the United States for the purpose of
producing a visual depiction of such conduct and transporting
it to the United States.
Sec. 2128. Civil remedies. Authorizes civil remedies for
offenses relating to material constituting or containing
child pornography.
Sec. 2129. Enhanced penalties for recidivists. Increases
penalties for certain recidivists who commit offenses
involving sexual exploitation and other abuse of children.
Sec. 2130. Sentencing enhancements for interstate travel to
engage in sexual act with a juvenile. Directs Sentencing
Commission to ensure that guideline penalties are adequate in
cases involving interstate travel to engage in a sexual act
with a juvenile.
Sec. 2131. Miscellaneous provisions. Directs the Attorney
General to appoint 25 additional trial attorneys to focus on
the investigation and prosecution of Federal child
pornography laws. Directs the Sentencing Commission to ensure
that the guidelines are adequate to deter and punish
violations of offenses proscribed in section 2123 of this
Act.
Part 3--Reauthorization of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children
Sec. 2141. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2003''.
Sec. 2142. Annual grant to the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children. Doubles the annual grant to the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
from $10 million to $20 million and extends funding through
FY2006.
Sec. 2143. Authorization of appropriations. Amends the
Missing Children's Assistance Act to reauthorize the
appropriated such sums as may be necessary through FY2006.
Sec. 2144. Forensic and investigative support of missing
and exploited children. Authorizes the U.S. Secret Service to
provide forensic and investigative support to the NCMEC to
assist in efforts to find missing children.
Sec. 2145. Creation of a Cyber-Tipline. Amends the Missing
Children's Assistance Act to coordinate the operation of a
Cyber-Tipline to provide online users an effective means of 5
reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the
areas of distribution of child pornography, online enticement
of children for sexual acts, and child prostitution.
Sec. 2146. Service provider reporting of child pornography
and related information. Amends 42 U.S.C. Sec. 13032, which
requires providers of electronic communications and remote
computing services to report apparent offenses that involve
child pornography. Under current law, communications
providers must report to the NCMEC when the provider obtains
knowledge of facts or circumstances from which a violation of
sexual exploitation crimes against children occurs. The NCMEC
then gives the information to Federal agencies designated by
the Attorney General. This section authorizes Federal
authorities to share the information with State authorities
without a court order and also gives the NCMEC the power to
make reports directly to State and local law enforcement.
This section also clarifies that such tips must come from
non-governmental sources, so as to prevent law enforcement
from circumventing the statutory requirements of the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
Sec. 2147. Contents disclosure of stored communications.
Amends 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2702 to be consistent with the scope of
reports under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 13032(d), which provides that,
in addition to the required information that is reported to
NCMEC by communications providers, the reports may include
additional information, such as the identity of a subscriber
who sent a message containing child pornography.
Part 4--National Child Protection and Volunteers for Children
Improvement
Sec. 2151. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``National Child Protection and Volunteers for Children
Improvement Act of 2003''.
Sec. 2152. Definitions. Defines new terms in the National
Child Protection Act of 1993.
[[Page S145]]
Sec. 2153. Strengthening and enforcing the National Child
Protection Act and the Volunteers for Children Act. Amends
the National Child Protection Act to allow qualified State
programs that provide care for children, the elderly, or
individuals with disabilities to apply directly to the
Department of Justice to request national criminal background
checks, which shall be returned within 15 business days. A
qualified entity in a State that does not have a qualified
State program can, one year after the date of enactment of
this Act, also apply directly to the Department for a
background check, which shall be returned within 20 business
days.
Sec. 2154. Dissemination of information. Establishes an
office within the Department of Justice to perform nationwide
criminal background checks for qualified entities.
Sec. 2155. Fees. Caps fees for national criminal background
checks for persons who volunteer with a qualified entity ($5)
and persons who are employed by, or apply for a position
with, a qualified entity ($18).
Sec. 2156. Strengthening State fingerprint technology.
Directs the Attorney General to establish model programs in
each State for the purpose of improving fingerprinting
technology. Programs shall grant to each State funds to (1)
purchase Live-Scan fingerprint technology and a State vehicle
to make such technology mobile, or (2) purchase electric
fingerprint imaging machines for use throughout the State to
send fingerprint images to the Attorney General to conduct
background checks. Additional funds shall be provided to each
State to hire personnel to provide information and training
regarding the requirements for input of criminal and
disposition data into the National Criminal History
Background Check System (NICS).
Sec. 2157. Privacy protections. Establishes privacy
protections for information derived as a result of a national
criminal fingerprint background check request under the
National Child Protection Act of 1993.
Sec. 2158. Authorization of appropriations. Authorizes $100
million through FY2004, and such sums as may be necessary for
the next four fiscal years.
Part 5--Children's Confinement Conditions Improvement
Sec. 2161. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 2162. Purpose. Legislative purpose in support of this
part.
Sec. 2163. Definition. Defines term used in this part.
Sec. 2164. Juvenile Safe Incarceration Grant Program.
Authorizes grants to fund efforts by State and local
governments and Indian tribes to alter correctional
facilities for detained juveniles so that they are segregated
from the adult population, train corrections officers on the
proper supervision of juvenile offenders, and build separate
facilities to house limited numbers of juveniles sentenced as
adults, among other things. Authorizes such sums as necessary
through FY2007 for this grant program.
Sec. 2165. Rural State funding. Authorizes $20 million in
each fiscal year through FY2006 for grants to assist rural
States and economically distressed communities in providing
secure custody for violent juvenile offenders.
Sec. 2166. GAO study. Directs the General Accounting Office
to conduct a study and provide a report within one year on
the use of electroshock weapons, 4-point restraints, chemical
restraints, and solitary confinement against juvenile
offenders.
Sec. 2167. Family Unity Demonstration Project. Reauthorizes
the Family Unity Demonstration Project Act through FY2006.
The project provides funding for projects allowing eligible
prisoners who are parents to live in structured, community-
based centers with their young children.
Subtitle B--Seniors' Safety
Sec. 2201. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Seniors Safety Act of 2003''.
Sec. 2202. Finding and purposes. Legislative findings in
support of this subtitle, and statement of legislative
purposes.
Sec. 2203. Definitions. Defines terms used in this
subtitle.
Part 1--Combating Crimes Against Seniors
Sec. 2211. Enhanced sentencing penalties based on age of
victim. Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review and,
if appropriate, amend the sentencing guidelines to include
age as one of the criteria for determining whether a
sentencing enhancement is appropriate. Encourages such review
to reflect the economic and physical harm associated with
criminal activity targeted at seniors and consider providing
increased penalties for offenses where the victim was a
senior.
Sec. 2212. Study and report on health care fraud sentences.
Directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review and, if
appropriate, amend the sentencing guidelines applicable to
health care fraud offenses. Encourages such review to reflect
the serious harms associated with health care fraud and the
need for law enforcement to prevent such fraud, and to
consider enhanced penalties for persons convicted of health
care fraud.
Sec. 2213. Increased penalties for fraud resulting in
serious injury or death. Increases the penalties under the
mail fraud statute and the wire fraud statute for fraudulent
schemes that result in serious injury or death. The maximum
penalty if serious bodily harm occurred would be up to twenty
years; if a death occurred, the maximum penalty would be a
life sentence.
Sec. 2214. Safeguarding pension plans from fraud and theft.
Punishes, with up to ten years' imprisonment, the act of
defrauding retirement arrangements, or obtaining by means of
false or fraudulent pretenses money or property of any
retirement arrangement.
Sec. 2215. Additional civil penalties for defrauding
pension plans. Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a
civil action for retirement fraud, with penalties up to
$50,000 for an individual or $100,000 for an organization, or
the amount of the gain to the offender or loss to the victim,
whichever is greatest.
Sec. 2216. Punishing bribery and graft in connection with
employee benefit plans. Increases the maximum penalty for
bribery and graft in connection with the operation of an
employee benefit plan from three to five years' imprisonment.
Broadens existing law to cover corrupt attempts to give or
accept bribery or graft payments, and to proscribe bribery or
graft payments to persons exercising de facto influence or
control over employee benefit plans.
Part 2--Preventing Telemarketing Crime
Sec. 2221. Centralized complaint and consumer education
service for victims of telemarketing fraud. Directs the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish a central
information clearinghouse for victims of telemarketing fraud
and procedures for logging in complaints of telemarketing
fraud victims, providing information on telemarketing fraud
schemes, referring complaints to appropriate law enforcement
officials, and providing complaint or prior conviction
information. Directs the Attorney General to establish a
database of telemarketing fraud convictions secured against
corporations or companies, for uses described above.
Sec. 2222. Blocking of telemarketing scams. Clarifies that
telemarketing fraud schemes executed using cellular telephone
services are subject to the enhanced penalties for such fraud
under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2326. Authorizes termination of
telephone service used to carry on telemarketing fraud.
Requires telephone companies, upon notification in writing
from the Department of Justice that a particular phone number
is being used to engage in fraudulent telemarketing or other
fraudulent conduct, and after notice to the customer, to
terminate the subscriber's telephone service.
Part 3--Preventing Health Care Fraud
Sec. 2231. Injunctive authority relating to false claims
and illegal kickback schemes involving Federal health care
programs. Authorizes the Attorney General to take immediate
action to halt illegal health care fraud kickback schemes
under the Social Security Act. Attorney General may seek a
civil penalty of up to $50,000 per violation, or three times
the remuneration, whichever is greater, for each offense
under this section with respect to a Federal health care
program.
Sec. 2232. Authorized investigative demand procedures.
Authorizes the Attorney General to issue administrative
subpoenas to investigate civil health care fraud cases.
Provides privacy safeguards for personally identifiable
health information that may be obtained in response to an
administrative subpoena and divulged in the course of a
Federal investigation.
Sec. 2233. Extending antifraud safeguards to the Federal
Employees Health Benefits program. Removes the anti-fraud
exemption for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Act
(FEHB), thereby extending anti-fraud and anti-kickback
safeguards applicable to the Medicare and Medicaid program to
the FEHB. Allows the Attorney General to use the same civil
enforcement tools to fight fraud perpetrated against the FEHB
program as are available to other Federal health care
programs, and to recover civil penalties against persons or
entities engaged in illegal kickback schemes.
Sec. 2234. Grand jury disclosure. Authorizes Federal
prosecutors to seek a court order to share grand jury
information regarding health care offenses with other Federal
prosecutors for use in civil proceedings or investigations
relating to fraud or false claims in connection with any
Federal health care program. Permits grand jury information
regarding health care offenses to be shared with Federal
civil prosecutors, only after ex parte court review and a
finding that the information would assist in enforcement of
Federal laws or regulations.
Sec. 2235. Increasing the effectiveness of civil
investigative demands in false claims investigations.
Authorizes the Attorney General to delegate authority to
issue civil investigative demands to the Deputy Attorney
General or an Assistant Attorney General. Authorizes
whistleblowers who have brought qui tam actions under the
False Claims Act to seek permission ftom a district court to
obtain information disclosed to the Department of Justice in
response to civil investigative demands.
Part 4--Protecting Residents of Nursing Homes
Sec. 2241. Nursing home resident protection. Sets penalties
for engaging in a pattern of willful violations of Federal or
State laws governing the health, safety, or care of
individuals residing in residential health care facilities.
This section also provides additional whistleblower
protection for persons who are retaliated against for
reporting deficient nursing home conditions.
[[Page S146]]
Part 5--Protecting the Rights of Elderly Crime Victims
Sec. 2251. Use of forfeited funds to pay restitution to
crime victims and regulatory agencies. Authorizes the use of
forfeited funds to pay restitution to crime victims and
regulatory agencies.
Sec. 2252. Victim restitution. Allows the government to
move to dismiss forfeiture proceedings to allow the defendant
to use the property subject to forfeiture for the payment of
restitution to victims. If forfeiture proceedings are
complete, Government may return the forfeited property so it
may be used for restitution.
Sec. 2253. Bankruptcy proceedings not used to shield
illegal gains from false claims. Allows an action under the
False Claims Act despite concurrent bankruptcy proceedings.
Prohibits discharge of debts resulting from judgments or
settlements in Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases. Provides
that no debt owed for a violation of the False Claims Act or
other agreement may be avoided under bankruptcy provisions.
Sec. 2254. Forfeiture for retirement offenses. Requires the
forfeiture of proceeds of a criminal retirement offense.
Permits the civil forfeiture of proceeds from a criminal
retirement offense.
TITLE III--DETERRING IDENTITY THEFT AND ASSISTING VICTIMS OF CRIME AND
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Subtitle A--Deterring Identity Theft
Part 1--Identity Theft Victims Assistance
Sec. 3111. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Identity Theft Victims Assistance Act of 2003''.
Sec. 3112. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 3113. Treatment of identity theft mitigation. Requires
business entities possessing information relating to an
identity theft or that may have done business with a person
who has made unauthorized use of a victim's means of
identification to provide without charge to the victim or to
any Federal, State, or local governing law enforcement agency
or officer specified by the victim copies of all related
application and transaction information. Limits liability for
business entities that provide information under this section
for the purpose of identification and prosecution of identity
theft or to assist a victim. Authorizes civil enforcement
actions by State Attorney General regarding identity theft.
Sec. 3114. Amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to direct a consumer
reporting agency, at the request of a consumer, to block the
reporting of any information identified by the consumer in
such consumer's file resulting from identity theft, subject
to specified requirements.
Sec. 3115. Coordinating committee study of coordination
among Federal, State, and local authorities in enforcing
identity theft laws. Amends the Internet False Identification
Prevention Act of 2000 to (1) expand the membership of the
coordinating committee on false identification to include the
Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, the Postmaster
General, and the Commissioner of the United States Customs
Service; (2) extend the term of the coordinating committee
through December 28, 2004; (3) direct the coordinating
committee to include certain information regarding identity
theft in its annual reports to Congress.
Part 2--Identity Theft Prevention Act
Sec. 3121. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2003''.
Sec. 3122. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 3123. Identity theft prevention. Requires credit card
companies to notify consumers within 30 days of a change of
address request on an existing credit account. This section
also codifies the current industry practice of ``fraud
alerts'' and imposes penalties for non-compliance by credit
issuers or credit reporting agencies. A fraud alert is a
statement inserted in a consumer's credit report that
notifies users that the consumer does not authorize the
issuance of credit in his or her name unless the consumer is
first notified in a pre-arranged manner.
Sec. 3124. Truncation of credit card account numbers. By 18
months after enactment of this Act, all new credit-card
machines that print receipts electronically shall not print
the expiration date or more than the last five digits of the
customer's credit card number. By 4 years after enactment,
all credit card machines that electronically print out
receipts must comply.
Sec. 3125. Free annual credit report. Entitles every
citizen to a free credit report once per year upon request.
Part 3--Social Security Number Misuse Prevention Act
Sec. 3131. Short title. Contains the short title, ``Social
Security Number Misuse Prevention Act of 2003.''
Sec. 3132. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 3133. Prohibition of the display, sale, or purchase of
social security numbers. Prohibits the sale and display of a
social security number without the affirmatively expressed
consent of the individual, but allows legitimate business-to-
business and business-to-government uses of social security
numbers as defined by the Attorney General. Financial
institutions, though not subject to the Attorney General
rule-making, are prohibited by their own regulators from
selling or displaying social security numbers to the general
public.
Sec. 3134. Application of prohibition of the display, sale,
or purchase of social security numbers to public records.
Prohibits government entities from displaying social security
numbers on public records posted on the Internet. Only
records posted on the Internet after the date of enactment
are affected. In addition, the Attorney General may allow
some entities that have already posted social security
numbers on the Internet to continue doing so. This section
also prohibits government entities from displaying a person's
social security number on any record issued to the general
public through CD-ROMs or other electronic media (for records
issued after the date of enactment).
Sec. 3135. Rulemaking authority of the Attorney General.
Allows the Attorney General to decide if social security
numbers should be removed from the face of simple government
documents like professional licenses.
Sec. 3136. Treatment of social security numbers on
government documents. Requires social security numbers to be
prospectively removed from drivers' licenses and government
checks.
Sec. 3137. Limits on personal disclosure of a social
security number for consumer transactions. Limits, for the
first time, when businesses may require a customer to provide
his or her social security number. Under this section, in
general, businesses may not require that the social security
number be provided. Exceptions include business purposes
related to credit reporting, background checks, and law
enforcement.
Sec. 3138. Extension of civil monetary penalties for misuse
of a social security number. Authorizes the Social Security
Administration to issue civil penalties of up to $5,000 for
people who misuse social security numbers.
Sec. 3139. Criminal penalties for misuse of a social
security number. Creates a five-year maximum prison sentence
for anyone who obtains another person's social security
number for the purpose of locating or identifying that person
with the intent to physically injure or harm her.
Sec. 3140. Civil actions and civil penalties. Individuals
whose social security numbers are misused may file a claim in
State court to seek an injunction, or seek the greater of
$500 in damages or their actual monetary losses. Businesses
sued under the statute have an affirmative defense if they
have taken reasonable steps to prevent violations of this
part.
Sec. 3141. Federal injunctive authority. Provides the
Federal government with injunctive authority with respect to
any violation of this part by a public entity.
Subtitle B--Crime Victims Assistance
Sec. 3201. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Crime Victims Assistance Act of 2003''.
Part 1--Victim Rights in the Federal System
Sec. 3211. Right to consult concerning detention. Requires
the government to consult with victim prior to a detention
hearing to obtain information that can be presented to the
court on the issue of any threat the suspected offender may
pose to the victim. Requires the court to make inquiry during
a detention hearing concerning the views of the victim, and
to consider such views in determining whether the suspected
offender should be detained.
Sec. 3212. Right to a speedy trial. Requires the court to
consider the interests of the victim in the prompt and
appropriate disposition of the case, free from unreasonable
delay.
Sec. 3213. Right to consult concerning plea. Requires the
government to make reasonable efforts to notify the victim
of, and consider the victim's views about, any proposed or
contemplated plea agreement. Requires the court, prior to
entering judgment on a plea, to make inquiry concerning the
views of the victim on the issue of the plea.
Sec. 3214. Enhanced participatory rights at trial. Provides
standing for the prosecutor and the victim to assert the
right of the victim to attend and observe the trial. Extends
the Victim Rights Clarification Act to apply to televised
proceedings. Amends the Victims' Rights and Restitution Act
of 1990 to strengthen the right of crime victims to be
present at court proceedings, including trials.
Sec. 3215. Enhanced participatory rights at sentencing.
Requires the probation officer to include as part of the
presentence report any victim impact statement submitted by a
victim. Extends to all victims the right to make a statement
or present information in relation to the sentence. Requires
the court to consider the victim's views concerning
punishment, if such views are presented to the court, before
imposing sentence.
Sec. 3216. Right to notice concerning sentence adjustment.
Requires the government to provide the victim the earliest
possible notice of the scheduling of a hearing on
modification of probation or supervised release for the
offender.
Sec. 3217. Right to notice concerning discharge from
psychiatric facility. Requires the government to provide the
victim the earliest possible notice of the discharge or
conditional discharge from a psychiatric facility of an
offender who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Sec. 3218. Right to notice concerning executive clemency.
Requires the government to provide the victim the earliest
possible notice of the grant of executive clemency to the
offender. Requires the Attorney General to report to Congress
concerning executive clemency matters delegated for review or
investigation to the Attorney General.
[[Page S147]]
Sec. 3219. Procedures to promote compliance. Establishes an
administrative system for enforcing the rights of crime
victims in the Federal system.
Part 2--Victim Assistance Initiatives
Sec. 3221. Pilot programs to enforce compliance with State
crime victim's rights laws. Authorizes the establishment of
pilot programs in five States to establish and operate
compliance authorities to promote compliance and effective
enforcement of State laws regarding the rights of victims of
crime. Compliance authorities would receive and investigate
complaints relating to the provision or violation of a crime
victim's rights, and issue findings following such
investigations. Amounts authorized are $8 million through
FY2004, and such sums as necessary for the next two fiscal
years.
Sec. 3222. Increased resources to develop state-of-the-art
systems for notifying crime victims of important dates and
developments. Authorizes grants to develop and implement
crime victim notification systems. Amounts authorized are $10
million through FY2004, and $5 million for each of the next
two fiscal years.
Sec. 3223. Restorative justice grants. Authorizes grants to
establish juvenile restorative justice programs. Eligible
programs shall: (1) be fully voluntary by both the victim and
the offender (who must admit responsibility); (2) include as
a critical component accountability conferences, at which the
victim will have the opportunity to address the offender
directly; (3) require that conferences be attended by the
victim, the offender, and when possible, the parents or
guardians of the offender, and the arresting officer; and (4)
provide an early, individualized assessment and action plan
to each juvenile offender. These programs may act as an
alternative to, or in addition to, incarceration. Amounts
authorized are $10 million through FY2004, and $5 million for
each of the next two fiscal years.
Part 3--Amendments to the Victims of Crime Act
Sec. 3231. Formula for distributions from the Crime Victims
Fund. Replaces the annual cap on distributions from the Crime
Victims Fund with a formula that ensures stability in the
amounts distributed while preserving the amounts remaining in
the Fund for use in future years. In general, subject to the
availability of money in the Fund, the total amount to be
distributed in any fiscal year shall be not less than 105%
nor more than 115% of the total amount distributed in the
previous fiscal year. This section also establishes minimum
levels of annual funding for both State victim assistance
grants and discretionary grants by the Office for Victims of
Crime.
Sec. 3232. Clarification regarding anti-terrorism emergency
reserve. Clarifies the intent of the USA PATRIOT Act
regarding the restructured Antiterrorism emergency reserve,
which was that any amounts used to replenish the reserve
after the first year would be above any limitation on
spending from the Fund.
Sec. 3233. Prohibition on diverting crime victims fund to
offset increased spending. Ensures that the amounts deposited
in the Crime Victims Fund are distributed in a timely manner
to assist victims of crime as intended by current law and are
not diverted to offset increased spending.
Subtitle C--Violence Against Women Act Enhancements
Sec. 3301. Transitional housing assistance grants.
Authorizes grants to State and local governments, Indian
tribes, and organizations to provide transitional housing and
related support services (18-month maximum with a 6-month
extension) to individuals and dependents who are homeless as
a result of domestic violence, and for whom emergency shelter
services or other crisis intervention services are
unavailable or insufficient. Amounts authorized are $30
million for each fiscal year through FY2007.
Sec. 3302. Shelter services for battered women and
children. Provides assistance to local entities that provide
shelter or transitional housing assistance to victims of
domestic violence. Provides means to improve access to
information on family violence within underserved 15
populations. Reauthorizes funding for the Family Violence
Prevention and Services Act at a level of $175 million
through FY2006.
Title IV--Supporting Law Enforcement and the Effective Administration
of Justice
Subtitle A--Support for Public Safety Officers and Prosecutors
Part I--Providing Reliable Officers, Technology, Education, Community
Prosecutors, and Training in Our Neighborhoods
Sec. 4101. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Providing Reliable Officers, Technology, Education,
Community Prosecutors, and Training in Our Neighborhoods Act
of 2003,'' or ``PROTECTION Act''.
Sec. 4102. Authorizations. Authorizes $1.15 billion per
year through FY 2008 to continue and modernize the Community
Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which has funded
114,000 new community police officers in over 12,400 law
enforcement agencies. This amount includes $600 million for
police hiring grants, $350 million per year for law
enforcement technology grants, and $200 million per year for
community prosecutor grants.
Part 2--Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits
Sec. 4111. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2003''.
Sec. 4112. Fatal heart attack or stroke on duty presumed to
be death in line of duty for purposes of public safety
officer survivor benefits. Closes a loophole in the
Department of Justice Public Safety Officers Benefits Program
by ensuring that the survivors of public safety officers who
die of heart attacks or strokes while on duty or within 24
hours after participating in a training exercise or
responding to an emergency situation--regardless of whether a
traumatic injury was present at the time of the heart attack
or stroke--are eligible to receive financial assistance. This
section applies to deaths occurring on or after January 1,
2002.
Part 3--Federal Prosecutors Retirement Benefit Equity
Sec. 4121. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Federal Prosecutors Retirement Benefit Equity Act of
2003''.
Sec. 4122. Inclusion of Federal prosecutors in the
definition of a law enforcement officer. Amends 5 U.S.C.
Sec. Sec. 8331 and 8401 to extend the enhanced law
enforcement officer (LEO) retirement benefits to Federal
prosecutors, defined to include Assistant United States
Attorneys (AUSAs) and such other attorneys in the Department
of Justice as are designated by the Attorney General. This
section also exempts Federal prosecutors from mandatory
retirement provisions for LEOs under the civil service
laws.
Sec. 4123. Provisions relating to incumbents. Governs the
treatment of incumbent Federal prosecutors who would be
eligible for LEO retirement benefits under this part. This
section requires the Office of Personnel Management to
provide notice to incumbents of their rights under this part;
allows incumbents to opt out of the LEO retirement program;
governs the crediting of prior service by incumbents; and
provides for make-up contributions for prior service of
incumbents to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability
Fund. Incumbents are given the option of either contributing
their own share of any make-up contributions or receiving a
proportionally lesser retirement benefit. The Government may
contribute its share of any makeup contribution ratably over
a ten-year period.
Sec. 4124. Department of Justice administrative actions.
Allows the Attorney General to designate additional
Department of Justice attorneys with substantially similar
responsibilities, in addition to AUSAs, as Federal
prosecutors for purposes of this Act, and thus be eligible
for the LEO retirement benefit.
Subtitle B--Rural Law Enforcement Improvement and Training Grants
Sec. 4201. Rural Law Enforcement Retention Grant Program.
Authorizes grants to help rural communities retain law
enforcement officers hired through the COPS program for an
additional year. Under this program, rural communities are
eligible to receive a one-time retention grant of up to 20%
of their original COPS award. Priority is given to
communities that demonstrate financial hardship. Authorizes
$15 million a year for five years. Provides a 10% set-aside
to assist tribal communities.
Sec. 4202. Rural Law Enforcement Technology Grant Program.
Authorizes grants to help rural communities purchase crime-
fighting technologies without a community policing
requirement. Under this program, rural communities are
eligible to receive funding for the following general
categories of law enforcement-related technology:
communications equipment; computer hardware and software;
video cameras; and crime analysis technologies. Grant
recipients must provide 10% of the total grant amount,
subject to a waiver for extreme hardship. Authorizes $40
million a year for five years. Provides a 10% set-aside to
assist tribal communities.
Sec. 4203. Rural 9-1-1 service. Authorizes $25 million in
grants to establish and improve 911 emergency service in
rural areas. Under this program, rural communities are
eligible to receive a grant of up to $250,000 to provide
access to, and improve, a communications infrastructure that
will ensure reliable and seamless communications between law
enforcement, fire, and emergency medical service providers.
Priority is given to communities that do not have 911
service. Provides a 10% set-aside to assist tribal
communities.
Sec. 4204. Small town and rural law enforcement training
program. Authorizes funding to establish a Rural Policing
Institute as part of the Small Town and Rural Training
Program administered by the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center. Funds may be used to: (1) assess the needs of law
enforcement in rural areas; (2) develop and deliver export
training to rural law enforcement; and (3) conduct outreach
efforts to ensure that training programs under the Rural
Policing Institute reach law enforcement officers in rural
areas. Authorizes $10 million through FY2004 to establish the
Rural Policing Institute, and $5 million a year for the next
four years to continue programs under the Institute. Provides
a 10% set-aside to assist tribal communities.
Subtitle C--FBI Reform
Sec. 4301. Short title. Contain the short title, the
``Federal Bureau of Investigation Reform Act of 2003''.
Part I--Whistleblower Protection
Sec. 4311. Increasing protections for FBI whistleblowers.
Amends 5 U.S.C. Sec. 2303 to expand the types of disclosures
that trigger whistleblower protections by protecting
disclosures to a supervisor of the employee, the
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Inspector General for the Department of Justice, a Member of
Congress, or the Special Counsel (an office associated with
enforcement before the Merit Systems Protection Board
provided for by 5 U.S.C. Sec. 1214).
Part 2--FBI Security Career Program
Sec. 4321. Security management policies. Requires the
Attorney General to establish policies and procedures for
career management of FBI security personnel.
Sec. 4322. Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Authorizes the Attorney General to delegate to the FBI
Director the Attorney General's duties with respect to the
FBI security workforce, and ensures that the security career
program will cover both headquarters and FBI field offices.
Sec. 4323. Director of Security. Directs the FBI Director
to appoint a Director of Security to assist the FBI Director
in carrying out his duties under this part.
Sec. 4324. Security career program boards. Provides for the
establishment of a security career program board to advise in
managing hiring, training, education, and career development
of personnel in the FBI security workforce.
Sec. 4325. Designation of security positions. Directs the
FBI Director to designate certain positions as security
positions, with responsibility for personnel security and
access control; information systems security and information
assurance; physical security and technical surveillance
countermeasures; operational, program and industrial
security; and information security and classification
management.
Sec. 4326. Career development. Requires that career paths
to senior security positions be published. No requirement or
preference for FBI Special Agents shall be used in the
consideration of persons for security positions unless the
Attorney General makes a special determination. All FBI
personnel shall have the opportunity to acquire the
education, training and experience needed for senior security
positions. Policies established under this part shall be
designed to select the best qualified individuals, with
consideration also given to the need for a balanced
workforce.
Sec. 4327. General education, training, and experience
requirements. Directs the FBI Director to establish
education, training, and experience requirements for each
security position. Before assignment as a manager or deputy
manager of a significant security program, a person must have
completed a security program management course accredited by
the Intelligence Community-Department of Defense Joint
Security Training Consortium or determined to be comparable
by the FBI Director, and have six years experience in
security.
Sec. 4328. Education and training programs. Directs the FBI
Director, in consultation with the Director of Central
Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense, to establish
education and training programs for FBI security personnel
that are, to the maximum extent practical, uniform with
Intelligence and Department of Defense programs.
Sec. 4329. Office of Personnel Management approval. Directs
the Attorney General to submit any requirement established
under section 4327 to the Office of Personnel Management for
approval.
Part 3--FBI Counterintelligence Polygraph Program
Sec. 4331. Definitions. Defines terms used in this part.
Sec. 4332. Establishment of program. Establishes a
counterintelligence screening polygraph program for the FBI,
consisting of periodic polygraph examinations of employees
and contractors in positions that are specified by the FBI
Director as exceptionally sensitive. This program shall be
established within six months of the publication of the
results of the Polygraph Review by the National Academy of
Sciences' Committee to Review the Scientific Evidence on the
Polygraph.
Sec. 4333. Regulations. Directs the Attorney General to
prescribe regulations for the polygraph program, which
regulations shall include procedures for addressing ``false
positive'' results and ensuring quality control. No adverse
personnel action may be taken solely by reason of an
individual's physiological reaction on a polygraph
examination without further investigation and a personal
determination by the FBI Director. Employees who are subject
to polygraph 19 examinations shall have prompt access to
unclassified reports regarding any such examinations that
relate to adverse personnel actions.
Sec. 4334. Report on further enhancement of FBI personnel
security program. Requires a report within nine months of the
enactment of this Act on any further legislative action that
the FBI Director considers appropriate to enhance the FBI's
personnel security program.
Part 4--Report
Sec. 4341. Report on legal authority for FBI programs and
activities. Requires a report within nine months after
enactment of this Act describing the legal authority for all
FBI programs and activities, identifying those that have
express statutory authority and those that do not. This
section also requires the Attorney General to recommend
whether (1) the FBI should continue to have investigative
responsibility for the criminal statutes for which it
currently has investigative responsibility; (2) the authority
for any FBI program or activity should be modified or
repealed; (3) the FBI should have express statutory authority
for any program or activity for which it does not currently
have such authority; and (4) the FBI should have authority
for any new program or activity.
Part 5--Ending the Double Standard
Sec. 4351. Allowing disciplinary suspensions of members of
the Senior Executive Service for 14 days or less. Lifts the
minimum of 14 days suspension that applies in the FBI's SES
disciplinary cases and thereby provides additional options
for discipline in SES cases and encourages equality of
treatment. The current inflexibility of disciplinary options
applicable to SES officials was cited at a Senate Judiciary
Committee oversight hearing in July 2001 as one underlying
reason for the ``double standard'' in FBI discipline.
Sec. 4352. Submitting Office of Professional Responsibility
reports to congressional committees. Requires the OIG to
submit to the Judiciary Committees, for five years, annual
reports to be prepared by the FBI Office of Professional
Responsibility summarizing its investigations,
recommendations, and their dispositions, and also requires
that such annual reports include an analysis of whether any
double standard is being employed for FBI disciplinary
action.
Part 6--Enhancing Security at the Department of Justice
Sec. 4361. Report on the protection of security and
information at the Department of Justice. Requires the
Attorney General to submit a report to Congress on the manner
in which the Department of Justice Security and Emergency
Planning Staff, Office of Intelligence Policy and Review
(OIPR), and Chief Information Officer plan to improve the
protection of security and information at the Department,
including a plan to establish secure communications between
the FBI and OIPR for processing information related to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Sec. 4362. Authorization for increased resources to protect
security and information. Authorizes funds for the Department
of Justice Security and Emergency Planning Staff to meet the
increased demands to provide personnel, physical,
information, technical, and litigation security for the
Department, to prepare for terrorist threats and other
emergencies, and to review security compliance by Department
components. Amounts authorized are $13 million through
FY2004, $17 million for FY2005, and $22 million for FY2006.
Sec. 4363. Authorization for increased resources to fulfill
national security mission of the Department of Justice.
Authorizes funds for the Department of Justice Office of
Intelligence Policy and Review to help meet the increased
personnel demands to combat terrorism, process applications
to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, participate
effectively in counterespionage investigations, provide
policy analysis and oversight on national security matters,
and enhance computer and telecommunications security. Amounts
authorized are $7 million through FY2004, $7.5 million for
FY2005, and $8 million for FY2006.
Subtitle D--DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act
Sec. 4401. Short title. Contains the short title, the ``DNA
Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2003''.
Sec. 4402. Assessment of backlog in DNA analysis of
samples. Requires the Attorney General to survey law
enforcement to assess the extent of the backlog of untested
rape kits and other sexual assault evidence. Within one year
of enactment, the Attorney General shall submit his findings
in a report to Congress with a plan for carrying out
additional assessments and reports on the backlog as needed.
Authorizes $500,000 to carry out this section.
Sec. 4403. The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.
Names a section of the DNA Backlog Elimination Act after Ms.
Debbie Smith, and amends the purpose section of that Act to
ensure the timely testing of rape kits and evidence from non-
suspect cases.
Sec. 4404. Increased grants for analysis of DNA samples
from convicted offenders and crime scenes. Extends and
increases authorizations in the DNA Analysis Backlog
Elimination Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 14135. That Act authorizes
$15 million dollars for FY2003 for DNA testing of convicted
offender samples, and $50 million for FY2003 and FY2004 for
DNA testing of crime scene evidence (including rape kits) and
laboratory improvement. This section increases the convicted
offender authorization to $15 million a year through FY2007--
a total increase of $60 million--and increases the crime
scene evidence and laboratory improvement authorizations to
$75 million a year through FY2006, and $25 million for
FY2007--a total increase of $275 million.
Sec. 4405. Authority of local governments to apply for and
receive DNA Backlog Elimination Grants. Authorizes local
State governments and Indian tribes to apply directly for
Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grants so that Federal resources can
meet local needs more quickly.
Sec. 4406. Improving eligibility criteria for backlog
grants. Amends the eligibility requirements for Debbie Smith
DNA Backlog Grants to ensure that applicants adhere to
certain protocols. In making Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grants,
the Department of Justice shall give priority to applicants
with the greatest backlogs per capita.
Sec. 4407. Quality assurance standards for collection and
handling of DNA evidence. Requires the Department of Justice
to develop a recommended national protocol for the collection
of DNA evidence at crime scenes,
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which will provide guidance to law enforcement and other
first responders on appropriate ways to collect and maintain
DNA evidence. This section also amends the Violence Against
Women Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. 3796gg, to ensure that the
recommended national protocol for training individuals in the
collection and use of DNA evidence through forensic
examination in cases of sexual assault that is mandated by
that Act is in fact developed, and to include standards for
training of emergency response personnel.
Sec. 4408. Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program Grants.
Authorizes grants to establish and maintain sexual assault
examiner programs, carry out sexual assault examiner training
and certification, and acquire or improve forensic equipment.
The grant program is authorized through FY2007, at $30
million per year. In awarding grants under this section, the
Attorney General shall give priority to programs that are
serving or will serve communities that are currently
underserved by existing sexual assault examiner programs.
Sec. 4409. DNA Evidence Training Grants. Authorizes grants
to train law enforcement and prosecutors in the collection,
handling, and courtroom use of DNA evidence, and to train law
enforcement in responding to drug-facilitated sexual
assaults. Grants are contingent upon adherence to FBI
laboratory protocols, use of the collection standards
established pursuant to section 4407 and participation in a
State laboratory system. The grant program is authorized
through FY2007, at $10 million per year.
Sec. 4410. Authorizing John Doe DNA Indictments. In Federal
sexual assault crimes, authorizes the issuance of ``John
Doe'' DNA indictments that identify the defendant by his DNA
profile. Such indictments must issue within the applicable
statute of limitations; thereafter, the prosecution may
commence at any time once the defendant is arrested or served
with a summons.
Sec. 4411. Increased grants for Combined DNA Index System
(CODIS). Authorizes $9.7 million to upgrade the national DNA
database.
Sec. 4412. Increased grants for Federal Convicted Offender
Program (FCOP). Authorizes $500,000 to process Federal
offender DNA samples and enter that information into the
national DNA database.
Sec. 4413. Privacy requirements for handling DNA evidence
and DNA analyses. Requires the Department of Justice to
promulgate privacy regulations that will limit the use and
dissemination of DNA information generated for criminal
justice purposes, and ensure the privacy, security, and
confidentiality of DNA samples and analyses. This section
also amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Reduction Act of 2000
to increase criminal penalties for disclosing or using a
DNA sample or DNA analysis in violation of that act by a
fine not to exceed $100,000 per offense.
Subtitle E--Additional Improvements to the Justice System
Sec. 4501. Providing remedies for retaliation against
whistleblowers making congressional disclosures. Provides a
remedy for the currently existing right under 5 U.S.C.
Sec. 7211 for Federal employees to provide information to a
Member or Committee of Congress without retaliation. The
existing statute provides a right without any remedy for such
retaliation; this section creates a cause of action for the
injured employee.
Sec. 4502. Establishment of protective function privilege.
Establishes a privilege against testimony by Secret Service
officers charged with protecting the President, those in
direct line for the Presidency, and visiting foreign heads of
state.
Sec. 4503. Professional standards for government attorneys.
Clarifies the attorney conduct standards governing attorneys
for the Federal Government to ensure that Federal prosecutors
and agents can use traditional Federal law enforcement
techniques without running afoul of State bar rules. This
section also directs the U.S. Judicial Conference to develop
national rules of professional conduct in any area in which
local rules may interfere with effective Federal law
enforcement, including, in particular, with respect to
communications with represented persons.
TITLE V--COMBATING DRUG AND GUN VIOLENCE
Subtitle A--Drug Treatment, Prevention, and Testing
Part 1--Drug Treatment
Sec. 5101. Funding for treatment in rural States and
economically depressed communities. Authorizes grants to
States to provide treatment facilities in the neediest rural
States and economically depressed communities that have high
rates of drug addiction but lack resources to provide
adequate treatment. Amount authorized is $50 million a year
through FY2006.
Sec. 5102. Funding for residential treatment centers for
women with children. Authorizes grants to States to provide
residential treatment facilities for methamphetamine, heroin,
and other drug addicted women who have minor children. These
facilities offer specialized treatment for addicted mothers
and allow their children to reside with them in the facility
or nearby while treatment is ongoing. Amount authorized is
$10 million a year through FY2006.
Sec. 5103. Drug treatment alternative to prison programs
administered by State or local prosecutors. Authorizes grants
to State or local prosecutors to implement or expand drug
treatment alternatives to prison programs. Amounts authorized
are $75 million through FY2004, $85 million for FY2005, $95
million for FY2006, $105 million for FY2007, and $125 million
for FY2008.
Sec. 5104. Substance abuse treatment in Federal prisons
reauthorization. Authorizes funding for substance abuse
treatment in Federal prisons through FY2004.
Sec. 5105. Drug treatment for juveniles. Allows the
Director of the Center for Substance Abuse to make grants to
public and private nonprofit entities to provide residential
drug treatment programs for juveniles. Authorizes such sums
as necessary through FY2005, and $300 million a year through
FY2007 from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.
Part 2--Funding for Drug-Free Community Programs
Sec. 5111. Extension of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and
Communities Program. Extends funding for the Safe and Drug-
Free Schools and Communities Program through FY2007, at $655
million a year through FY2005, and $955 million for FY2006
and FY2007.
Sec. 5112. Say No to Drugs Community Centers. Authorizes
grants for the provision of drug prevention services to youth
living in eligible communities during after-school hours or
summer vacations. Authorizes $125 million a year through
FY2005 from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.
Sec. 5113. Drug education and prevention relating to youth
gangs. Extends funding under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
through FY2007.
Sec. 5114. Drug education and prevention program for
runaway and homeless youth. Extends funding under the Anti-
Drug Abuse Act of 1988 through FY2007.
Part 3--Zero Tolerance Drug Testing
Sec. 5121. Grant authority. Authorizes grants to States and
localities for programs supporting comprehensive drug testing
of criminal justice populations, and to establish appropriate
interventions to illegal drug use for offender populations.
Sec. 5122. Administration. Instructs Attorney General to
coordinate with the other Department of Justice initiatives
that address drug testing and interventions in the criminal
justice system
Sec. 5123. Applications. Instructs potential applicants on
the process of requesting such grants, which are to be
awarded on a competitive basis.
Sec. 5124. Federal share. The Federal share of a grant made
under this part may not exceed 75% of the total cost of the
program.
Sec. 5125. Geographic distribution. The Attorney General
shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, an equitable
geographic distribution of grant awards is made, with rural
and tribal jurisdiction representation.
Sec. 5126. Technical assistance, training, and evaluation.
The Attorney General shall provide technical assistance and
training in furtherance of the purposes of this part.
Sec. 5127. Authorization of appropriations. Authorizes $75
million for FY2003 and such sums as are necessary through
FY2007.
Sec. 5128. Permanent set-aside for research and evaluation.
The Attorney General shall set aside between 1% to 3% of the
sums appropriated under section 5127 for research and
evaluation of this program.
Part 4-Crack House Statute Amendments
Sec. 5131. Offenses. Amends crack house statute (21 U.S.C.
Sec. 856) to make it apply to those who (1) knowingly open,
lease, rent, use or maintain a place either permanently or
temporarily for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing or
using any controlled substance and (2) manage or control any
place, whether permanently or temporarily, for the purpose of
unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a
controlled substance. These changes clarify that the law
applies not just to ongoing drug distribution operations, but
to ``single-event'' activities. This section also applies the
law to outdoor as well as indoor venues.
Sec. 5132. Civil penalty and equitable relief for
maintaining drug-involved premises. Establishes the civil
penalty for violating 21 U.S.C. Sec. 856 as amended to either
$250,000 or two times the gross receipts that were derived
from each violation of that section.
Sec. 5133. Declaratory and injunctive remedies. Authorizes
the Attorney General to commence a civil action for
declaratory or injunctive relief for violations of 21 U.S.C.
Sec. 856 as amended.
Sec. 5134. Sentencing Commission guidelines. Requires the
Sentencing Commission to review Federal sentencing guidelines
with respect to offenses involving gammahydroxybutyric acid
and consider amending Federal sentencing guidelines to
provide for increased penalties.
Sec. 5135. Authorization of appropriations for a demand
reduction coordinator. Authorizes $5.9 million to the Drug
Enforcement Administration to hire a special agent in each
State to coordinate demand reduction activities.
Sec. 5136. Authorization of appropriations for drug
education. Authorizes such sums as may be necessary to the
Drug Enforcement Administration to educate youths, parents,
and other interested adults about the drugs associated with
raves.
Part 5--Cracking Down on Methamphetamine in Rural Areas
Sec. 5141. Methamphetamine treatment programs in rural
areas. Authorizes grants to establish methamphetamine
prevention and treatment pilot programs in rural areas.
Provides a 10% set-aside to assist tribal communities.
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Sec. 5142. Methamphetamine prevention education. Authorizes
$5 million a year through FY2008 to fund programs that
educate people in rural areas about the early signs of
methamphetamine use. Provides a 10% set-aside to assist
tribal communities.
Sec. 5143. Methamphetamine cleanup. Authorizes $20 million
to make grants to States or units of local government to help
cleanup methamphetamine laboratories in rural areas and
improve contract-related response times for such cleanups.
Provides a 10% set-aside to assist tribal communities.
Subtitle B--Disarming Felons
Part 1--Our Lady of Peace Act
Sec. 5201. Short Title. Contains the short title, the ``Our
Lady of Peace Act of 2003''.
Sec. 5202. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 5203. Enhancement of requirement that Federal
departments and agencies provide relevant information to the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Amends the
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to require the head of
each U.S. department or agency to ascertain whether it has
such information on persons for whom receipt of a firearm
would violate specified Federal provisions regarding excluded
individuals or State law as is necessary to enable the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to
operate. Directs that any such record that the department or
agency has to be made available to the Attorney General for
inclusion in the NICS.
Sec. 5204. Requirements to obtain waiver. Makes a State
eligible to receive a waiver of the 10% matching requirement
for National Criminal History Improvement Grants if the State
provides at least 95% of the information described in this
Act, including the name of and other relevant identifying
information related to each person disqualified from
acquiring a firearm.
Sec. 5205. Implementation grants to States. Directs the
Attorney General to make grants to each State: (1) to
establish or upgrade information and identification
technologies for firearms eligibility determinations; and (2)
for use by the State's chief judicial officer to improve
the handling of proceedings related to criminal history
dispositions and restraining orders. Authorizes $250
million a year through FY2006.
Sec. 5206 Continuing evaluations. Requires the Director of
the Bureau of Justice Statistics to study and evaluate the
operations of NICS and to report on grants and on best
practices of States.
Sec. 5207. Grants to State courts for the improvement in
automation and transmittal of disposition record. Directs the
Attorney General to make grants to each State for use by the
chief judicial officer of the State to improve the handling
of proceedings related to criminal history dispositions and
restraining orders. Authorizes $125 million a year through
FY2006.
Part 2--Ballistics, Law Assistance, and Safety Technology
Sec. 5211. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Ballistics, Law Assistance, and Safety Technology Act of
2003,'' or ``BLAST Act''.
Sec. 5212. Purposes. Statement of legislative purposes.
Sec. 5213. Definition of ballistics. Defines terms used in
this part.
Sec. 5214. Test firing and automated storage of ballistics
records. Requires a licensed manufacturer or importer to test
fire firearms, prepare ballistics images, make records
available to the Secretary of the Treasury for entry in a
computerized database, and store the fired bullet and
cartridge casings. Directs the Attorney General and the
Secretary to assist firearm manufacturers and importers in
complying. Specifies that nothing herein creates a cause of
action against any Federal firearms licensee or any other
person for any civil liability except for imposition of a
civil penalty under this section. Authorizes $20 million a
year through FY2006 to carry out this program.
Sec. 5215. Privacy rights of law abiding citizens.
Prohibits the use of ballistics information of individual
guns for (1) prosecutorial purposes, unless law enforcement
officials have a reasonable belief that a crime has been
committed and that ballistics information would assist in the
investigation of that crime, or (2) the creation of a
national firearms registry of gun owners.
Sec. 5216. Demonstration firearm crime reduction strategy.
Directs the Secretary and the Attorney General to establish
in the jurisdictions selected a comprehensive firearm crime
reduction strategy. Requires the Secretary and the Attorney
General to select not fewer than ten jurisdictions for
participation in the program. Authorizes $20 million per year
through FY2006 to carry out this program.
Part 3--Extension of Project Exile
Sec. 5221. Authorization of funding for additional State
and local gun prosecutors. Authorizes $150 million to hire
additional local and State prosecutors to expand the Project
Exile program in high gun-crime areas. Requires
interdisciplinary team approach to prevent, reduce, and
respond to firearm related crimes in partnership with
communities.
Part 4--Expansion of the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative
Sec. 5231. Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative. Directs
the Secretary of the Treasury to expand participation in the
Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII). Authorizes
grants to States and localities for purposes of assisting
them in the tracing of firearms and participation in the
YCGII.
Part 5--Gun Offenses
Sec. 5241 Gun ban for dangerous juvenile offenders.
Prohibits juveniles adjudged delinquent for serious drug
offenses or violent felonies from receiving or possessing a
firearm, and makes it a crime for any person to sell or
provide a firearm to someone they have reason to believe has
been adjudged delinquent. This section applies only
prospectively, and access to firearms may be restored under
State restoration of rights provisions, but only if such
restoration is on a case-by-case, rather than automatic
basis.
Sec. 5242. Improving firearms safety. Requires gun dealers
to have secure gun storage devices available for sale,
including any device or attachment to prevent a gun's use by
one not having regular access to the firearm, or a lockable
safe or storage box.
Sec. 5243. Juvenile handgun safety. Increases the maximum
penalty for transferring a handgun to a juvenile or for a
juvenile to unlawfully possess a handgun from one to five
years.
Sec. 5244. Serious juvenile drug offenses as armed career
criminal predicates. Permits the use of an adjudication of
juvenile delinquency for a serious drug trafficking offense
as a predicate offense for determining whether a defendant
falls within the Armed Career Criminal Act. That act provides
additional penalties for armed criminals with a proven record
of serious crimes involving drugs and violence.
Sec. 5245. Increased penalty for transferring a firearm to
a minor for use in crime of violence or drug trafficking
crime. Increases the maximum penalty for providing a firearm
to a juvenile that one knows will be used in a serious crime
from 10 to 15 years.
Sec. 5246. Increased penalty for firearms conspiracy.
Subjects conspirators to the same penalties as are provided
for the underlying firearm offenses in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924.
Part 6--Closing the Gun Show Loophole
Sec. 5251. Findings. Legislative findings in support of
this part.
Sec. 5252. Extension of Brady background checks to gun
shows. Closes the gun show loophole by regulating firearms
transfers at gun shows, including requiring criminal
background checks on all transferees. Increases penalties for
serious record-keeping violations by licensees, and for
violations of criminal background check requirements. Amends
the Brady law to prevent the Federal government from keeping
records on qualified purchasers for more than 90 days.
TITLE VI--THE INNOCENCE PROTECTION ACT
Sec. 6001. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Innocence Protection Act of 2003.''
Subtitle A--Exonerating the Innocent Through DNA Testing
Sec. 6101. DNA testing in Federal criminal justice system.
Establishes rules and procedures governing applications for
DNA testing by inmates in the Federal system, and prohibits
the destruction of biological evidence in a criminal case
while a defendant remains incarcerated, with exceptions.
Sec. 6102. DNA testing in State criminal justice system.
Conditions receipt of Federal grants for DNA-related programs
on assurances that the State will adopt adequate procedures
for preserving DNA evidence and making DNA testing available
to inmates. States must also agree to review their capital
convictions and conduct DNA testing where appropriate and, in
cases where DNA testing exonerates an inmate, investigate
what went wrong and take steps to prevent similar errors in
future cases.
Sec. 6103. Prohibition pursuant to section 5 of the 14th
Amendment. Prohibits States from denying State prisoners
access to evidence for the purpose of DNA testing, where such
testing has the scientific potential to produce new,
noncumulative evidence that is material to the prisoner's
claim of innocence, and that raises a reasonable probability
that he or she would not have been convicted.
Sec. 6104. Grants to prosecutors for DNA testing programs.
Permits States to use grants under the Edward Byrn Memorial
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Programs to fund
the growing number of prosecutor-initiated programs that
review convictions to identify cases in which DNA testing is
appropriate and that offer DNA testing to inmates in such
cases.
Subtitle B--Improving State Systems for Providing Competent Legal
Services in Capital Cases
Sec. 6201. Capital Representation System Improvement
Grants. Authorizes grants to States to improve the quality of
legal representation provided to indigent defendants in
capital cases. States that choose to accept Federal funds
agree to create or improve an effective system for providing
competent legal representation in capital cases. The
following funds are authorized to carry out the grant
programs: FY2003: $50.million; FY2004: $75 million; FY2005
and FY2006: $ 100 million per year; FY2007: $75 million;
FY2008: $50 million.
Sec. 6202. Enforcement suits. A person may bring a civil
suit in Federal district court against an officer of a State
receiving Federal funds under section 6201, alleging that the
State has failed to maintain an effective capital
representation system as required under the grant program.
The Attorney General may intervene in such suits, and where
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he does so, he assumes responsibility for conducting the
action. If the court finds that the State has not met the
grant conditions, it may order injunctive or declaratory
relief, but not money damages.
Sec. 6203. Grants to qualified capital defender
organizations. If a State does not qualify or does not apply
for a grant under section 6201, a qualified capital defender
organization in that State may apply for grant funds. Grants
to such organizations may be used to strengthen systems,
recruit and train attorneys, and augment an organization's
resources for providing competent representation in capital
cases.
Sec. 6204. Grants to train prosecutors, defense counsel,
and State and local judges handling State capital cases.
Authorizes grants to train State and local prosecutors,
defense counsel, and judges in handling capital cases. Each
program is authorized at $15 million through FY2007.
Subtitle C--Right to Review of the Death Penalty Upon the Grant of
Certiorari
Sec. 6301. Protecting the rights of death row inmates to
review of cases granted certiorari. Ensure that a defendant
who is granted certiorari by the Supreme Court (an action
requiring four affirmative votes by qualified Justices), but
who is not granted a stay of execution by the Court (an
action requiring five affirmative votes), is not executed
while awaiting review of his case.
Subtitle D--Compensation for the Wrongfully Convicted
Sec. 6401. Increased compensation in Federal cases.
Increases the maximum amount of damages that the U.S. Court
of Federal Claims may award against the United States in
cases of unjust imprisonment from a flat $5,000 to $ 10,000
per year.
Sec. 6402. Sense of Congress regarding compensation in
State death penalty cases. Expresses the sense of Congress
that States should provide reasonable compensation to any
person found to have been unjustly convicted of an offense
against the State and sentenced to death.
Subtitle E--Student Loan Repayment for Public Attorneys
Sec. 6501. Student loan repayment for public attorneys.
Encourages qualified individuals to enter and continue
employment as prosecutors and public defenders by
establishing a program to repay Stafford loans for both
prosecutors and defenders who agree to remain employed for
the required period of service. This section also extends
Perkins loan forgiveness--currently available only to
prosecutors--to public defenders. Repayment benefits may not
exceed $6,000 in a single calendar year, or a total of
$40,000 for any individual.
TITLE VII--STRENGTHENING THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWS
Subtitle A--Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act
Sec. 7101. Short title. Contains the short title, the
``Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act of 2003''.
Sec. 7102. Inadmissibility and deportability of aliens who
have committed acts of torture or extrajudicial killing
abroad. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act by
expanding the grounds for inadmissibility and deportation to
cover aliens who have committed, ordered, incited, assisted,
or otherwise participated in the commission of acts of
torture or extrajudicial killing abroad and clarify and
expand the scope of the genocide bar. This section applies to
acts committed before, on, or after the date this legislation
is enacted, and to all cases after enactment, even where the
acts in question occurred or where adjudication procedures
were initiated prior to enactment.
Sec. 7103. Inadmissibility and deportability of foreign
government officials who have committed particularly severe
violations of religious freedom. Amends 8 U.S.C. 11
82(a)(2)(G), which was added as part of the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998, to expand the grounds for
inadmissibility and deportability of aliens who commit
particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
Sec. 7104. Bar to good moral character for aliens who have
committed acts of torture, extrajudicial killings, or severe
violations of religious freedom. Amends 8 U.S.C. 1101(f),
which provides the current definition of ``good moral
character,'' to make clear that aliens who have committed
torture, extrajudicial killing, or severe violation of
religious freedom abroad do not qualify. This amendment
prevents aliens covered by the amendments made in sections
7102 and 7103 from becoming U.S. citizens or benefitting from
cancellation of removal or voluntary departure.
Sec. 7105. Establishment of the Office of Special
Investigations. Provides explicit statutory authority for the
Office of Special Investigations (OSI), which was established
in 1979 within the Criminal Division of the Department, and
expands OSI's current authorized mission beyond Nazi war
criminals. This section also sets forth specific
considerations in determining the appropriate legal action to
take against an alien who has participated in Nazi
persecution, genocide, torture or extrajudicial killing
abroad, and expressly directs the Department of Justice to
consider the availability of prosecution under U.S. laws for
any conduct that forms the basis for removal and
denaturalization. In addition, the Department is directed to
consider deportation to foreign jurisdictions that are
prepared to undertake such a prosecution.
Sec. 7106. Report on implementation. Directs the Attorney
General, in consultation with the INS Commissioner, to report
within six months on the implementation of the Act, including
procedures for referral of matters to OSI, any revisions made
to INS forms to reflect amendments made by the Act, and the
procedures developed, with adequate due process protection,
to obtain sufficient evidence and determine whether an alien
is deemed inadmissible under the Act.
Subtitle B--Deterring Cargo Theft
Sec. 7201. Punishment of cargo theft. Clarifies Federal
statute governing thefts of vehicles normally used in
interstate commerce to includes trailers, motortrucks, and
air cargo containers; and freight warehouses and transfer
stations. Makes such a theft a felony punishable by three
(not one) years in prison. Provides for appropriate
amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines.
Sec. 7202. Reports to Congress on cargo theft. Mandates
annual reports by the Attorney General to evaluate and
identify further means of combating cargo theft.
Sec. 7203. Establishment of advisory committee on cargo
theft. Establishes a 6-member Advisory Committee on Cargo
Theft with representatives of the Departments of Justice,
Treasury and Transportation, and three experts from the
private sector. Committee will hold hearings and submit a
report within one year with detailed recommendations on cargo
security.
Sec. 7204. Addition of attempted theft and counterfeiting
offenses to eliminate gaps and inconsistencies in coverage.
Amends 22 statutes to clarify that an attempt to embezzle
funds or counterfeit is a crime, just as is actual
embezzlement or counterfeiting.
Sec. 7205. Clarification of scienter requirement for
receiving property stolen from an Indian tribal organization.
Provides that it is a crime to receive, conceal or retain
property stolen from a tribal organization if one knows that
the property has been stolen, even if one did not know that
it had been stolen from a tribal organization.
Sec. 7206. Larceny involving post office boxes and postal
stamp vending machines. Clarifies that it is a crime to steal
from a post office box or stamp vending machine irrespective
of whether it is in a building used by the Postal Service.
Sec. 7207. Expansion of Federal theft offenses to cover
theft of vessels. Expands Federal law covering the
transportation of stolen vehicles to include watercraft.
Subtitle C--Additional Improvements and Corrections to the Federal
Criminal Laws
Sec. 7301. Enhanced penalties for cultural heritage crimes.
Increases penalties for violations of the Archaeological
Resources Protection Act of 1979 and other cultural heritage
crimes.
Sec. 7302. Enhanced enforcement of laws affecting
racketeer-influenced and corrupt organizations. Enhances the
ability of Federal and State regulators to enforce existing
law by giving State Attorneys General and the Securities and
Exchange Commission explicit authority to bring a civil RICO
action under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1964. Currently, only the U.S.
Attorney General has such authority.
Sec. 7303. Increased maximum corporate penalty for
antitrust violations. Increases the maximum statutory fine
for corporations convicted of criminal antitrust violations
from the current Sherman Act maximum of $10 million to a new
maximum of $100 million.
Sec. 7304. Technical correction to ensure compliance of
sentencing guidelines with provisions of all Federal
statutes. Ensures that sentencing guidelines promulgated by
the United States Sentencing Commission are consistent with
the provisions of all Federal statutes.
Sec. 7305. Inclusion of assault crimes and unlicensed money
transmitting businesses as racketeering activity. Makes
assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious
bodily injury, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting
business predicate crimes for a RICO prosecution.
Sec. 7306. Inclusion of unlicensed money transmitting
businesses and structuring currency transactions to evade
reporting requirement as wiretap predicates. Adds Sec. 18
U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1960 and 5324 to list of offenses for which
the Government may seek a wiretap.
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