[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5811 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5811
To use Byrne JAG funds for deflection and diversion programs, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 28, 2023
Mr. Ryan (for himself, Mr. Trone, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Mooney)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To use Byrne JAG funds for deflection and diversion programs, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Public Safety and Community Support
Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFLECTION AND PRE-ARREST DIVERSION.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Law enforcement officers and other first responders are
at the front line of the opioid epidemic. However, a
traditional law enforcement response to substance use often
fails to disrupt the cycle of addiction and arrest, or reduce
the risk of overdose.
(2) Law enforcement-assisted deflection and diversion
programs have the potential to improve public health, decrease
the number of people entering the criminal justice system for
low-level offenses, and address racial disparities.
(3) According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the
Department of Justice, ``Five pathways have been most commonly
associated with opioid overdose prevention and diversion to
treatment.'' The 6 pathways are--
(A) ``self-referral'', in which--
(i) an individual voluntarily initiates
contact with a first responder, such as a law
enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency
medical services professional, for a treatment
referral (without fear of arrest); and
(ii) the first responder personally
introduces the individual to a treatment
provider (commonly known as a ``warm
handoff'');
(B) ``active outreach'', in which a law enforcement
officer or other first responder--
(i) identifies or seeks out individuals in
need of substance use disorder treatment; and
(ii) makes a warm handoff of such an
individual to a treatment provider, who engages
the individual in treatment;
(C) ``naloxone plus'', in which a law enforcement
officer or other first responder engages an individual
in treatment as a follow-up to an overdose response;
(D) ``officer prevention referral'', in which a law
enforcement officer or other first responder initiates
treatment engagement with an individual, but no
criminal charges are filed against the individual;
(E) ``officer intervention referral'', in which--
(i) a law enforcement officer or other
first responder initiates treatment engagement
with an individual; and
(ii)(I) criminal charges are filed against
the individual and held in abeyance; or
(II) a citation is issued to the
individual; and
(F) ``community response'', in which a team
comprising community-based behavioral health
professionals engages individuals to help de-escalate
crises, mediate low-level conflicts, or address quality
of life issues by providing a referral to treatment,
services or to a case manager.
(4) As of the date of enactment of this Act, there are no
national best practices or guidelines for law enforcement-
assisted deflection and diversion programs.
(b) Use of Byrne Jag Funds for Deflection and Diversion Programs.--
Section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(E), by inserting before the period
at the end the following: ``, including law enforcement-
assisted deflection programs and law enforcement-assisted pre-
arrest and pre-booking diversion programs (as those terms are
defined in subsection (h))''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Law Enforcement-Assisted Deflection Programs and Law
Enforcement-Assisted Pre-Arrest and Pre-Booking Diversion Programs.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Covered grant.--The term `covered grant'
means a grant for a deflection or diversion program
awarded under subsection (a)(1)(E).
``(B) Deflection or diversion program.--The term
`deflection or diversion program' means a law
enforcement-assisted deflection program or a law
enforcement-assisted pre-arrest or pre-booking
diversion, including a program under which--
``(i) an individual voluntarily initiates
contact with a first responder for a substance
use disorder or mental health treatment
referral without fear of arrest and receives a
warm handoff to such treatment;
``(ii) a law enforcement officer or other
first responder identifies or seeks out
individuals in need of substance use disorder
or mental health treatment and a warm handoff
is made to a treatment provider, who engages
the individuals in treatment;
``(iii) a law enforcement officer or other
first responder engages an individual in
substance use disorder treatment as part of an
overdose response;
``(iv) a law enforcement officer or other
first responder initiates substance use
disorder or mental health treatment engagement,
but no criminal charges are filed;
``(v) a law enforcement officer or other
first responder initiates substance use
disorder or mental health treatment engagement
with an individual; or
``(vi) charges are filed against an
individual who has committed an offense that is
not a crime against a person, and the primary
cause of which appears to be based on a
substance use disorder or mental health
disorder and held in abeyance or a citation is
issued to such an individual.
``(C) Law enforcement-assisted deflection
program.--The term `law enforcement-assisted deflection
program' means a program under which a law enforcement
officer, when encountering an individual who is not
engaged in criminal activity but appears to have a
substance use disorder or mental health disorder,
instead of taking no action at the time of contact or
taking action at a later time, attempts to connect the
individual to substance use disorder treatment
providers or mental health treatment providers--
``(i) without the use of coercion or fear
of arrest; and
``(ii) using established pathways for
connections to local, community-based
treatment.
``(D) Law enforcement-assisted pre-arrest or pre-
booking diversion program.--The term `law enforcement-
assisted pre-arrest or pre-booking diversion program'
means a program--
``(i) under which a law enforcement
officer, when encountering an individual who
has committed an offense that is not a crime
against a person, and the primary cause of
which appears to be based on a substance use
disorder or the mental health disorder of the
individual, instead of arresting the
individual, or instead of booking the
individual after having arrested the
individual, attempts to connect the individual
to substance use disorder treatment providers
or mental health treatment providers--
``(I) without the use of coercion;
and
``(II) using established pathways
for connections to local, community-
based treatment;
``(ii) under which, in the case of pre-
arrest diversion, a law enforcement officer
described in clause (i) may decide to--
``(I) issue a civil citation; or
``(II) take no action with respect
to the offense for which the officer
would otherwise have arrested the
individual described in clause (i); and
``(iii) that may authorize a law
enforcement officer to refer an individual to
substance use disorder treatment providers or
mental health treatment providers if the
individual appears to have a substance use
disorder or mental health disorder and the
officer suspects the individual of chronic
violations of law but lacks probable cause to
arrest the individual (commonly known as a
`social contact referral').
``(2) Sense of congress regarding deflection or diversion
programs.--It is the sense of Congress that a deflection or
diversion program funded under this subpart should not exclude
individuals who are chronically exposed to the criminal justice
system.
``(3) Reports to attorney general.--Not later than 2 years
after the date on which a State or unit of local government is
awarded a covered grant, and each year thereafter until the
date that is 1 year after the date on which the period of the
covered grant ends, the State or unit of local government shall
submit a report to the Attorney General that includes
information relating to the deflection or diversion program
carried out by the State or unit of local government, including
information relating to--
``(A) the goals of the deflection or diversion
program;
``(B) any evidence-based interventions carried out
under the deflection or diversion program;
``(C) outcomes of the deflection or diversion
program, which shall--
``(i) be reported in a manner that
distinguishes the outcomes based on the
categories of, with respect to the participants
in the deflection or diversion program--
``(I) the race of the participants;
and
``(II) the gender of the
participants; and
``(ii) include information relating to the
rate of reincarceration among participants in
the deflection or diversion program, if
available; and
``(D) expenditures under the deflection or
diversion program.''.
(c) Technical Assistance Grant Program.--
(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
(A) the term ``deflection or diversion program''
has the meaning given the term in subsection (h) of
section 501 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152), as added by
subsection (b); and
(B) the terms ``State'' and ``unit of local
government'' have the meanings given those terms in
section 901 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251).
(2) Grant authorized.--The Attorney General shall award a
single grant to an entity with significant experience in
working with law enforcement agencies, community-based
treatment providers, and other community-based human service
providers to develop or administer both deflection and
diversion programs that use each of the 6 pathways described in
subsection (a)(3), to promote and maximize the effectiveness
and racial equity of deflection or diversion programs, in order
to--
(A) help State and units of local government launch
and expand deflection or diversion programs;
(B) develop best practices for deflection or
diversion teams, which shall include--
(i) recommendations on community input and
engagement in order to implement deflection or
diversion programs as rapidly as possible and
with regard to the particular needs of a
community, including regular community meetings
and other mechanisms for engagement with--
(I) law enforcement agencies;
(II) community-based treatment
providers and other community-based
human service providers;
(III) the recovery community; and
(IV) the community at-large; and
(ii) the implementation of metrics to
measure community satisfaction concerning the
meaningful participation and interaction of the
community with the deflection or diversion
program and program stakeholders;
(C) develop and publish a training and technical
assistance tool kit for deflection or diversion for
public education purposes;
(D) disseminate uniform criteria and standards for
the delivery of deflection or diversion program
services; and
(E) develop outcome measures that can be used to
continuously inform and improve social, clinical,
financial and racial equity outcomes.
(3) Term.--The term of the grant awarded under paragraph
(2) shall be 5 years.
(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to the Attorney General $30,000,000 for the
grant under paragraph (2).
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