Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB232 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 232
5	5	To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
6	6	prioritize veterans court treatment programs that ensure equal access
7	7	for racial and ethnic minorities and women, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY10, 2023
10	10	Ms. J
11	11	ACKSONLEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on the Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
15	15	Act of 1968 to prioritize veterans court treatment pro-
16	16	grams that ensure equal access for racial and ethnic
17	17	minorities and women, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Real Justice for Our 4
22	22	Veterans Act of 2023’’. 5
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25	25	•HR 232 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. EQUAL ACCESS TO VETERANS COURT TREATMENT 1
27	27	PROGRAMS FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC MI-2
28	28	NORITIES AND WOMEN. 3
29	29	Section 2991(i)(2) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 4
30	30	Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651(i)(2)) is 5
31	31	amended by adding at the end the following: 6
32	32	‘‘(C) R
33	33	EPORT.—Not later than 3 years 7
34	34	after the date of enactment of this subpara-8
35	35	graph, the Attorney General shall submit to 9
36	36	Congress a report on the effectiveness of vet-10
37	37	erans treatment court programs. In preparing 11
38	38	such a report, the Attorney General shall con-12
39	39	duct a national multi-site evaluation of such 13
40	40	programs, including an assessment of— 14
41	41	‘‘(i) the population served by such 15
42	42	programs; 16
43	43	‘‘(ii) whether such programs use evi-17
44	44	dence-based treatments for substance use 18
45	45	and mental health, including medication 19
46	46	for addiction treatment; 20
47	47	‘‘(iii) recidivism rates of participants 21
48	48	in such programs; 22
49	49	‘‘(iv) program completion rates; and 23
50	50	‘‘(v) whether racial and ethnic minori-24
51	51	ties and women have equal access to such 25
52	52	programs and an equal opportunity to 26
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55	55	•HR 232 IH
56	56	complete such programs, including by col-1
57	57	lecting and analyzing data related to ad-2
58	58	mission in such programs and completion 3
59	59	of such programs, to ensure there are not 4
60	60	disparities related to race, ethnicity, or 5
61	61	sex.’’. 6
62	62	SEC. 3. VETERANS PILOT PROGRAM ON PROMISING RETEN-7
63	63	TION MODELS. 8
64	64	(a) E
65	65	STABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General, acting 9
66	66	through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, 10
67	67	shall carry out a pilot program to make grants to eligible 11
68	68	units of local government to improve retention in veterans 12
69	69	treatment court programs (as such term is defined in sec-13
70	70	tion 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 14
71	71	Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)) and drug court programs. 15
72	72	(b) E
73	73	LIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible for a grant 16
74	74	under subsection (a), a unit of local government shall op-17
75	75	erate a veterans treatment court program or a drug court. 18
76	76	(c) A
77	77	PPLICATION.—A unit of local government seek-19
78	78	ing a grant through the pilot program under subsection 20
79	79	(a) shall submit to the Attorney General an application 21
80	80	at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor-22
81	81	mation as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 23
82	82	including— 24
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85	85	•HR 232 IH
86	86	(1) a description of the therapeutic or treat-1
87	87	ment modality that the unit of local government 2
88	88	plans to implement and data to support the use of 3
89	89	the therapeutic or treatment modality, including in-4
90	90	formation showing how the therapeutic or treatment 5
91	91	modality will promote retention in and completion of 6
92	92	veterans treatment court programs and drug court 7
93	93	programs; and 8
94	94	(2) detailed plans on how the applicant would 9
95	95	test the efficacy of the therapeutic or treatment mo-10
96	96	dality. 11
97	97	(d) R
98	98	EPORTINGMETRICS.—Not later than 180 days 12
99	99	after receiving a grant under subsection (a), a unit of local 13
100	100	government shall submit to the Attorney General a report, 14
101	101	which includes demographic information of participants in 15
102	102	the veterans treatment court program, and completion 16
103	103	rates of such participants. The Attorney General shall de-17
104	104	velop guidelines for the report required under this sub-18
105	105	section. 19
106	106	(e) A
107	107	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 20
108	108	authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of fis-21
109	109	cal years 2023 through 2028 to carry out this section. 22
110	110	SEC. 4. ADMISSION OF VETERANS TO DRUG COURTS. 23
111	111	In the case of a jurisdiction that does not operate 24
112	112	a veterans treatment court program (as such term is de-25
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115	115	•HR 232 IH
116	116	fined in section 2991 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 1
117	117	Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651)), but that 2
118	118	does operate a drug court under part EE of the Omnibus 3
119	119	Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 4
120	120	10611 et seq.), a veteran who would be eligible to partici-5
121	121	pate in a veterans treatment court program may partici-6
122	122	pate in the drug court, including a veteran who is a violent 7
123	123	offender (as such term is defined in section 2953(a) of 8
124	124	the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 9
125	125	(34 U.S.C. 10613(a))). 10
126	126	Æ
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