II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 768
To establish a grant program to provide assistance to local law enforcement
agencies, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Ms. C
ORTEZMASTO(for herself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr.
B
LUMENTHAL, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. COONS, Ms. COLLINS,
Mr. K
ELLY, Mr. YOUNG, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a grant program to provide assistance to local
law enforcement agencies, 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 ‘‘Invest to Protect Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 7
(1) D
E-ESCALATION TRAINING.—The term ‘‘de- 8
escalation training’’ means training relating to tak-9
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ing action or communicating verbally or non-verbally 1
during a potential force encounter in an attempt to 2
stabilize the situation and reduce the immediacy of 3
the threat so that more time, options, and resources 4
can be called upon to resolve the situation without 5
the use of force or with a reduction in the force nec-6
essary. 7
(2) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 8
the Director of the Office. 9
(3) E
LIGIBLE LOCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term 10
‘‘eligible local government’’ means— 11
(A) a county, municipality, town, township, 12
village, parish, borough, or other unit of general 13
government below the State level that employs 14
fewer than 175 law enforcement officers; and 15
(B) a Tribal government that employs 16
fewer than 175 law enforcement officers. 17
(4) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER .—The term 18
‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the meaning given the 19
term ‘‘career law enforcement officer’’ in section 20
1709 of title I the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 21
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10389). 22
(5) O
FFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-23
fice of Community Oriented Policing Services of the 24
Department of Justice. 25
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(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 1
the Office a grant program to— 2
(1) provide training and access to mental health 3
resources to local law enforcement officers; and 4
(2) improve the recruitment and retention of 5
local law enforcement officers. 6
(c) A
UTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 7
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall award 8
grants to eligible local governments as a part of the grant 9
program established under subsection (b). 10
(d) A
PPLICATIONS.— 11
(1) B
ARRIERS.—The Attorney General shall de-12
termine what barriers exist to establishing a stream-13
lined application process for grants under this sec-14
tion. 15
(2) R
EPORT.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 17
after the date of enactment of this Act, the At-18
torney General shall submit to Congress a re-19
port that includes a plan to execute a stream-20
lined application process for grants under this 21
section under which an eligible local government 22
seeking a grant under this section can reason-23
ably complete the application in not more than 24
2 hours. 25
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(B) CONTENTS OF PLAN .—The plan re-1
quired under subparagraph (A) may include a 2
plan for— 3
(i) proactively providing eligible local 4
governments seeking a grant under this 5
section with information on the data eligi-6
ble local governments will need to prepare 7
before beginning the grant application; and 8
(ii) ensuring technical assistance is 9
available for eligible local governments 10
seeking a grant under this section before 11
and during the grant application process, 12
including through dedicated liaisons within 13
the Office. 14
(3) A
PPLICATIONS.—In selecting eligible local 15
governments to receive grants under this section, the 16
Director shall use the streamlined application proc-17
ess described in paragraph (2)(A). 18
(e) E
LIGIBLEACTIVITIES.—An eligible local govern-19
ment that receives a grant under this section may use 20
amounts from the grant only for— 21
(1) de-escalation training for law enforcement 22
officers; 23
(2) victim-centered training for law enforcement 24
officers in handling situations of domestic violence; 25
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(3) evidence-based law enforcement safety 1
training for— 2
(A) active shooter situations; 3
(B) the safe handling of illicit drugs and 4
precursor chemicals; 5
(C) rescue situations; 6
(D) recognizing and countering ambush at-7
tacks; or 8
(E) response to calls for service involv-9
ing— 10
(i) persons with mental health needs; 11
(ii) persons with substance use dis-12
orders; 13
(iii) veterans; 14
(iv) persons with disabilities; 15
(v) vulnerable youth; 16
(vi) persons who are victims of domes-17
tic violence, sexual assault, or trafficking; 18
or 19
(vii) persons experiencing homeless-20
ness or living in poverty; 21
(4) the offsetting of overtime costs associated 22
with scheduling issues relating to the participation 23
of a law enforcement officer in the training de-24
scribed in paragraphs (1) through (3), (9), and (10); 25
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(5) a signing bonus for a law enforcement offi-1
cer in an amount determined by the eligible local 2
government; 3
(6) a retention bonus for a law enforcement of-4
ficer— 5
(A) in an amount determined by the eligi-6
ble local government that does not exceed 20 7
percent of the salary of the law enforcement of-8
ficer; and 9
(B) who— 10
(i) has been employed at the law en-11
forcement agency for not fewer than 5 12
years; 13
(ii) has not been found by an internal 14
investigation to have engaged in serious 15
misconduct; and 16
(iii) commits to remain employed by 17
the law enforcement agency for not less 18
than 3 years after the date of receipt of 19
the bonus; 20
(7) a stipend for the graduate education of law 21
enforcement officers in the area of mental health, 22
public health, or social work, which shall not exceed 23
the lesser of— 24
(A) $10,000; or 25
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(B) the amount the law enforcement offi-1
cer pays towards such graduate education; 2
(8) providing access to patient-centered behav-3
ioral health services for law enforcement officers, 4
which may include resources for risk assessments, 5
evidence-based, trauma-informed care to treat post- 6
traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder, 7
peer support and counselor services and family sup-8
ports, and the promotion of improved access to high 9
quality mental health care through telehealth; 10
(9) the implementation of evidence-based best 11
practices and training on the use of lethal and non-12
lethal force; 13
(10) the implementation of evidence-based best 14
practices and training on the duty of care and the 15
duty to intervene; and 16
(11) data collection for police practices relating 17
to officer and community safety. 18
(f) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTRECIPI-19
ENTS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Director shall establish 21
reasonable reporting requirements specifically relat-22
ing to a grant awarded under this section for eligible 23
local governments that receive such a grant in order 24
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to assist with the evaluation by the Office of the pro-1
gram established under this section. 2
(2) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing require-3
ments under paragraph (1), the Director shall con-4
sider the capacity of law enforcement agencies with 5
fewer than 175 officers to collect and report infor-6
mation. 7
(g) D
ISCLOSURE OFOFFICERRECRUITMENT AND 8
R
ETENTIONBONUSES.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 10
the date on which an eligible local government that 11
receives a grant under this section awards a signing 12
or retention bonus described in paragraph (5) or (6) 13
of subsection (e), the eligible local government shall 14
disclose to the Director and make publicly available 15
on a website of the eligible local government the 16
amount of the bonus. 17
(2) R
EPORT.—The Attorney General shall sub-18
mit to the appropriate congressional committees an 19
annual report that includes each signing or retention 20
bonus disclosed under paragraph (1) during the pre-21
ceding year. 22
(h) G
RANTACCOUNTABILITY.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—All grants awarded by the 24
Director under this section shall be subject to the 25
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accountability provisions described in this sub-1
section. 2
(2) A
UDIT REQUIREMENT.— 3
(A) D
EFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 4
term ‘‘unresolved audit finding’’ means a find-5
ing in the final audit report of the Inspector 6
General of the Department of Justice that the 7
audited grantee has used grant funds for an 8
unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallow-9
able cost that is not closed or resolved within 10
12 months from the date when the final audit 11
report is issued. 12
(B) A
UDITS.—Beginning in the first fiscal 13
year beginning after the date of enactment of 14
this subsection, and in each fiscal year there-15
after, the Inspector General of the Department 16
of Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of 17
grants under this section to prevent waste, 18
fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. The In-19
spector General of the Department of Justice 20
shall determine the appropriate number of 21
grantees to be audited each year. 22
(C) M
ANDATORY EXCLUSION .—A recipient 23
of grant funds under this section that is found 24
to have an unresolved audit finding shall not be 25
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eligible to receive grant funds under this section 1
during the first 3 fiscal years beginning after 2
the end of the 12-month period described in 3
subparagraph (A). 4
(D) R
EIMBURSEMENT.—If an eligible local 5
government is awarded grant funds under this 6
section during the 3-fiscal-year period during 7
which the eligible local government is barred 8
from receiving grants under subparagraph (C), 9
the Attorney General shall— 10
(i) deposit an amount equal to the 11
amount of the grant funds that were im-12
properly awarded to the grantee into the 13
General Fund of the Treasury; and 14
(ii) seek to recoup the costs of the re-15
payment to the fund from the grant recipi-16
ent that was erroneously awarded grant 17
funds. 18
(3) A
NNUAL CERTIFICATION.—Beginning in the 19
fiscal year during which audits commence under 20
paragraph (2)(B), the Attorney General shall submit 21
to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Com-22
mittee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 23
Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on 24
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Appropriations of the House of Representatives an 1
annual certification— 2
(A) indicating whether— 3
(i) all audits issued by the Office of 4
the Inspector General of the Department 5
of Justice under paragraph (2) have been 6
completed and reviewed by the appropriate 7
Assistant Attorney General or Director; 8
(ii) all mandatory exclusions required 9
under paragraph (2)(C) have been issued; 10
and 11
(iii) all reimbursements required 12
under paragraph (2)(D) have been made; 13
and 14
(B) that includes a list of any grant recipi-15
ents excluded under paragraph (2) from the 16
previous year. 17
(i) P
ROGRAMEVALUATION.—Not less frequently 18
than annually, the Attorney General shall analyze the in-19
formation provided by eligible local governments pursuant 20
to the reporting requirements established under subsection 21
(f)(1) to evaluate the efficacy of programs funded by the 22
grant program under this section. 23
(j) P
REVENTINGDUPLICATIVEGRANTS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Before the Director awards 1
a grant to an eligible local government under this 2
section, the Attorney General shall compare poten-3
tial grant awards with other grants awarded by the 4
Attorney General to determine if grant awards are 5
or have been awarded for a similar purpose. 6
(2) R
EPORT.—If the Attorney General awards 7
grants to the same applicant for a similar purpose, 8
whether through the grant program under this sec-9
tion or another grant program administered by the 10
Department of Justice, the Attorney General shall 11
submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the 12
Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 13
House of Representatives a report that includes— 14
(A) a list of all such grants awarded, in-15
cluding the total dollar amount of any such 16
grants awarded; and 17
(B) the reason the Attorney General 18
awarded multiple grants to the same applicant 19
for a similar purpose. 20
(k) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 21
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 22
not more than $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 23
through 2030. 24
Æ
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