[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3586 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3586
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train
bilingual law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 11, 2024
Mr. Ossoff introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
establish a grant program to recruit, retain, certify, and train
bilingual law enforcement officers, 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 ``Bilingual Public Safety Act''.
SEC. 2. BILINGUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER GRANTS.
Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(o) Bilingual Law Enforcement Officer Grants.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Covered training program.--The term `covered
training program' means--
``(i) training curricula for law
enforcement officers to enable effective
communication with members of communities with
limited English proficiency; and
``(ii) an education program relating to the
matter described in clause (i), including a
partnership between a law enforcement agency
and a community college or university under
which law enforcement officers of the law
enforcement agency take language classes or
participate in a series of trainings conducted
by the law enforcement agency.
``(B) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity'
means--
``(i) a State, Tribal, or local law
enforcement agency; and
``(ii) a group of Tribal law enforcement
agencies.
``(C) Grant recipient.--The term `grant recipient'
means a recipient of a grant under the Program.
``(D) Law enforcement agency.--The term `law
enforcement agency' means a public agency charged with
policing functions, including any component bureau of
the agency (such as a governmental victim services
program or village public safety officer program),
including an agency composed of officers or persons
referred to in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 2(10)
of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C.
2801(10)).
``(E) Program.--The term `Program' means the grant
program established under subsection paragraph (2).
``(2) Grant program.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act, the
Attorney General shall establish a grant program within the
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under which the
Attorney General awards grants to eligible entities to aid in
recruiting, retaining, or training law enforcement officers for
the purpose of serving communities with limited English
proficiency.
``(3) Applications.--An eligible entity seeking a grant
under the Program shall submit to the Attorney General an
application at such time, in such manner, and containing or
accompanied by--
``(A) such information as the Attorney General may
reasonably require;
``(B) a description of each eligible project under
paragraph (5) that the grant will fund; and
``(C) a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of
the eligible entity in implementing each project
described in subparagraph (B).
``(4) Selection of grant recipients.--In selecting a
recipient of a grant under the Program, the Attorney General
shall consider--
``(A) the specific plan and activities proposed by
the applicant to improve the ability of the applicant
to serve communities with limited English proficiency;
``(B) the size of each community with limited
English proficiency that will be directly served by
recipient;
``(C) the number of law enforcement officers the
grant would support;
``(D) the plan of the recipient described in
paragraph (3)(C); and
``(E) the amount of funding from the grant the
recipient will dedicate to direct program activities,
as opposed to program administration.
``(5) Eligible projects.--
``(A) In general.--A grant recipient shall use the
grant for activities with the specific objective of
improving the ability of the grant recipient to serve
communities with limited English proficiency, including
by--
``(i) hiring or retaining bilingual or
multilingual officers who, in the course of
their official duties, use their foreign
language skills to communicate with members of
those communities; and
``(ii) providing language education or
training developed, identified, or approved by
the Attorney General under paragraph (6) to
monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual law
enforcement officers to enable those law
enforcement officers to communicate with
members of those communities and in the course
of their official duties.
``(B) Limitations.--
``(i) Compensation and bonuses.--
``(I) In general.--With respect to
a grant recipient that uses amounts
from a grant under this subsection to
provide compensation or recruitment or
retention bonuses to law enforcement
officers, the grant recipient shall
require the law enforcement officer to
commit to employment by the grant
recipient during the 3-year period
beginning on the date of the provision
of the compensation or recruitment or
retention bonus.
``(II) Return of funds.--A law
enforcement officer who does not remain
employed by a grant recipient during
the 3-year period described in
subclause (I) after receiving
compensation or a recruitment or
retention bonus pursuant to subclause
(I) shall return a prorated amount of
the compensation or recruitment or
retention bonus based on the period
during which the law enforcement
officer does not remain employed.
``(ii) Prohibition on remote services.--A
grant recipient may not use funds from the
grant for remote, on-demand translation
services, such as entering into a contract with
a translation service that English-speaking law
enforcement officers call during the course of
an encounter to provide translation by phone.
``(6) Language education or training.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after
the date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety
Act, the Attorney General shall develop or identify
effective covered training programs for law enforcement
officers.
``(B) Approval of proposed programs.--The Attorney
General may approve a covered training program
identified by an eligible entity in an application
submitted under paragraph (3).
``(C) Requirements.--The covered training programs
developed, identified, or approved under this paragraph
shall include--
``(i) pre-training and post-training tests
to assess relevant knowledge and skills covered
in the covered training program; and
``(ii) follow-up evaluative assessments to
determine the degree to which participants in
the covered training program apply the
knowledge and skills gained in the covered
training program in their jobs.
``(D) Consultation.--The Attorney General shall
develop, identify, and approve training curricula under
this paragraph in consultation with--
``(i) relevant law enforcement agencies of
States and units of local government;
``(ii) professional law enforcement
agencies;
``(iii) law enforcement labor or
representative associations;
``(iv) racial, ethnic, or cultural affinity
groups;
``(v) associations made up of or that
represent individuals with limited English
proficiency; and
``(vi) civil rights and civil liberties
groups.
``(E) Timing of grant.--Before the date on which
the Attorney General awards a grant to a grant
recipient under this subsection, the Attorney General
shall confirm that the curricula the grant recipient
plans to use for language education or training is
developed, identified, or approved under this
paragraph.
``(F) List.--The Attorney General shall include as
a part of grant application materials for the Program
on the website of the Department of Justice a list of
the covered training programs developed, identified, or
approved under this paragraph.
``(7) Background check requirement.--An eligible entity
that uses amounts from a grant under this subsection to hire a
new law enforcement officer shall, before hiring the law
enforcement officer, perform a background check on the law
enforcement officer that includes--
``(A) if permitted, a psychological evaluation; and
``(B) a search against, if reasonably available--
``(i) the National Decertification Index
established by the International Association of
Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and
Training;
``(ii) the National Law Enforcement
Accountability Database established under
Executive Order 14074 (87 Fed. Reg. 32945;
relating to effective, accountable policing and
criminal justice practices);
``(iii) any system established by the State
of the eligible entity to track the misconduct,
disciplinary history, or decertification of law
enforcement officers; and
``(iv) any system established by the
locality of the eligible entity to track the
items described in clause (iii).
``(8) Report.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the
date on which a grant recipient receives a grant under
the Program, and annually thereafter until the date
described in subparagraph (B), the grant recipient
shall submit to the Attorney General a report on the
activities carried out using the grant, including, if
applicable--
``(i) the number of bilingual or
multilingual law enforcement officers who
received compensation or recruitment or
retention bonuses awarded with amounts from a
grant under this subsection and the amount of
grant funds expended for such compensation or
bonuses of law enforcement officers;
``(ii) with respect to language education
or training provided with a grant under the
Program--
``(I) the number of law enforcement
officers who received the education or
training;
``(II) a description of the
education or training; and
``(III) data on the effectiveness
of the education or training;
``(iii) with respect to encounters of law
enforcement officers with members of
communities with limited English proficiency
during the preceding year, data on--
``(I) the number of those
encounters; and
``(II) the portion of those
encounters that involved personnel who
received, using funds from a grant--
``(aa) compensation or
recruitment or retention
bonuses; or
``(bb) language education
or training; and
``(iv) any other data the Attorney General
determines appropriate.
``(B) Date described.--The date described in this
subparagraph, with respect to a grant recipient, is--
``(i) the date on which the grant recipient
expends all amounts from the grant and
completes each activity conducted with those
amounts; or
``(ii) an appropriate date determined by
the Attorney General that is not later than the
third September 30 occurring after the date
described in clause (i).
``(9) Evaluation and report.--
``(A) Evaluation.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of enactment of the Bilingual Public Safety Act,
and every 2 years thereafter, the Director of the
National Institute of Justice shall conduct an
evaluation of--
``(i) the practices deployed by grant
recipients to serve communities with limited
English proficiency; and
``(ii) the efficacy of the Program in
improving law enforcement communication with
communities with limited English proficiency.
``(B) Publication.--Not later than 2 years after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the
National Institute of Justice shall submit to Congress
and make publicly available a report summarizing the
evaluation conducted under subparagraph (A).
``(10) Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Attorney General $50,000,000 to carry out
this subsection for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033.''.
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