I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 304
To authorize grants for States, and units of local government that take
efforts to stop enabling repeat violence, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY11, 2023
Ms. S
TEFANIK(for herself, Mr. LALOTA, Mr. GARBARINO, Ms. TENNEY, Ms.
M
ALLIOTAKIS, Mr. MOLINARO, Mr. WILLIAMSof New York, Mr.
D’E
SPOSITO, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Mr. LAWLER, and Mr. SANTOS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary
A BILL
To authorize grants for States, and units of local government
that take efforts to stop enabling repeat violence, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Enabling Repeat 4
Violence and Endangering Our Communities Act’’ or the 5
‘‘SERVE Our Communities Act’’. 6
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•HR 304 IH
SEC. 2. SERVE OUR COMMUNITIES GRANT PROGRAM. 1
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General, acting 2
through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, 3
is authorized to make grants to eligible States and units 4
of local government for the purposes described in sub-5
section (c). 6
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible for a grant 7
under this section, a State or unit of local government— 8
(1) shall allow a State court or magistrate to 9
consider the danger an individual poses to the com-10
munity when determining bail or pretrial release 11
conditions; and 12
(2) shall have taken steps during the previous 13
calendar year to prevent repeat offenses by violent 14
offenders, including— 15
(A) enacting a law that allows a State 16
court or magistrate to consider the danger an 17
individual poses to the community when deter-18
mining bail or pretrial release conditions; 19
(B) expanding efforts of that jurisdiction 20
to hire and retain law enforcement officers and 21
prosecutorial staff; or 22
(C) administering a public education pro-23
gram to combat anti-police sentiment and im-24
prove community-police relations. 25
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•HR 304 IH
(c) USE OFFUNDS.—A State or unit of local govern-1
ment that receives a grant under this section may use such 2
funds for the purposes described in section 211(b) of the 3
Second Chance Act of 2007 (34 U.S.C. 60531(b)). 4
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 5
authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fis-6
cal years 2024 through 2029 to carry out this section. 7
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘State’’ 8
and ‘‘unit of local government’’ have the meanings given 9
such terms in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control 10
and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). 11
Æ
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