Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB281 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 281
5	5	To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
6	6	direct certain prosecutor’s offices to annually report to the Attorney
7	7	General, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	FEBRUARY7, 2023
10	10	Mr. K
11	11	ENNEDY(for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. THUNE, and Mrs. BLACKBURN)
12	12	introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
13	13	Committee on the Judiciary
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
16	16	Act of 1968 to direct certain prosecutor’s offices to annu-
17	17	ally report to the Attorney General, and for other pur-
18	18	poses.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prosecutors Need to 4
23	23	Prosecute Act of 2023’’. 5
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26	26	•S 281 IS
27	27	SEC. 2. DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND PROSECUTOR REPORTS. 1
28	28	Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 2
29	29	and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151) is amend-3
30	30	ed— 4
31	31	(1) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as 5
32	32	subsections (h) and (i), respectively; and 6
33	33	(2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-7
34	34	lowing: 8
35	35	‘‘(f) D
36	36	ISTRICTATTORNEYREPORTINGREQUIRE-9
37	37	MENTS.— 10
38	38	‘‘(1) D
39	39	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 11
40	40	‘‘(A) C
41	41	OVERED OFFENSE.—The term ‘cov-12
42	42	ered offense’ means any of the following: 13
43	43	‘‘(i) Murder or non-negligent man-14
44	44	slaughter. 15
45	45	‘‘(ii) Forcible rape. 16
46	46	‘‘(iii) Robbery. 17
47	47	‘‘(iv) Aggravated assault. 18
48	48	‘‘(v) Burglary. 19
49	49	‘‘(vi) Larceny. 20
50	50	‘‘(vii) Motor vehicle theft. 21
51	51	‘‘(viii) Arson. 22
52	52	‘‘(ix) Any offense involving the illegal 23
53	53	use of a firearm. 24
54	54	‘‘(x) Any offense involving the illegal 25
55	55	possession of a firearm. 26
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58	58	•S 281 IS
59	59	‘‘(B) COVERED PROSECUTOR .—The term 1
60	60	‘covered prosecutor’ means the chief executive 2
61	61	of a district attorney or prosecutor’s office that 3
62	62	serves a local government— 4
63	63	‘‘(i) the population of the jurisdiction 5
64	64	of which is not less than 360,000 individ-6
65	65	uals; and 7
66	66	‘‘(ii) that receives funds under this 8
67	67	part. 9
68	68	‘‘(2) R
69	69	EPORTING REQUIREMENT .—Not later 10
70	70	than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Pros-11
71	71	ecutors Need to Prosecute Act of 2023, and annu-12
72	72	ally thereafter, a covered prosecutor shall submit to 13
73	73	the Attorney General a report that contains, for the 14
74	74	previous fiscal year, the following: 15
75	75	‘‘(A) The total number of cases referred to 16
76	76	the covered prosecutor for prosecution of a cov-17
77	77	ered offense. 18
78	78	‘‘(B) The number of cases involving a cov-19
79	79	ered offense— 20
80	80	‘‘(i) that the covered prosecutor de-21
81	81	clined to prosecute or refer for diversion; 22
82	82	or 23
83	83	‘‘(ii) for which the covered prosecutor 24
84	84	declines to reach a plea agreement. 25
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88	88	‘‘(C) For cases involving a covered offense 1
89	89	that result in a plea agreement or referral for 2
90	90	diversion reached with the defendant, the num-3
91	91	ber of cases for which the defendant— 4
92	92	‘‘(i) was previously arrested for a cov-5
93	93	ered offense arising out of a separate con-6
94	94	viction; 7
95	95	‘‘(ii) was previously convicted for a 8
96	96	covered offense arising out of a separate 9
97	97	conviction; 10
98	98	‘‘(iii) with an open case involving a 11
99	99	covered offense arising out of separate con-12
100	100	viction; 13
101	101	‘‘(iv) serving a term of probation for 14
102	102	a conviction for a covered offense arising 15
103	103	out of separate conduct; and 16
104	104	‘‘(v) was released on parole for a con-17
105	105	viction for a covered offense arising out of 18
106	106	separate conduct. 19
107	107	‘‘(D) The number of covered offenses that 20
108	108	the covered prosecutor does not prosecute as a 21
109	109	result of an internal policy against prosecuting 22
110	110	specific criminal offenses including— 23
111	111	‘‘(i) each covered offense captured in 24
112	112	the internal policy; and 25
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115	115	•S 281 IS
116	116	‘‘(ii) each criminal offense that is not 1
117	117	captured in the internal policy. 2
118	118	‘‘(3) C
119	119	OMPLIANCE.—With respect to a covered 3
120	120	prosecutor that complies with the requirement under 4
121	121	paragraph (2)— 5
122	122	‘‘(A) the Attorney General shall give pri-6
123	123	ority in disbursing funds under this part to the 7
124	124	local government served by the covered pros-8
125	125	ecutor; and 9
126	126	‘‘(B) the local government described in 10
127	127	subparagraph (A) shall ensure that the covered 11
128	128	prosecutor receives a portion of the funds re-12
129	129	ceived under this part. 13
130	130	‘‘(4) U
131	131	NIFORM STANDARDS .—The Attorney 14
132	132	General shall establish uniform standards for the re-15
133	133	porting of the information required under this sub-16
134	134	section, including the form such reports shall take 17
135	135	and the process by which such reports shall be 18
136	136	shared with the Attorney General. 19
137	137	‘‘(5) S
138	138	UBMISSION TO JUDICIARY COMMIT -20
139	139	TEES.—The Attorney General shall— 21
140	140	‘‘(A) submit the information received 22
141	141	under this subsection to the Committee on the 23
142	142	Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 24
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145	145	•S 281 IS
146	146	the Judiciary of the House of Representatives; 1
147	147	and 2
148	148	‘‘(B) publish such information on a pub-3
149	149	licly viewable website.’’. 4
150	150	SEC. 3. BYRNE-JAG FUNDS AND ELIMINATION OF CASH 5
151	151	BAIL. 6
152	152	The Attorney General shall not distribute amounts 7
153	153	under subpart I of part E of title 1 of the Omnibus Crime 8
154	154	Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 9
155	155	et seq.) to a State or local government that has in effect 10
156	156	a policy that prohibits the use of cash bail for a defendant 11
157	157	in a case involving the illegal use or illegal possession of 12
158	158	a firearm. 13
159	159	Æ
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