[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 546 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.546
One Hundred Eighteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty four
An Act
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to
authorize law enforcement agencies to use COPS grants for recruitment
activities, 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 ``Recruit and Retain Act''.
SEC. 2. IMPROVING COPS GRANTS FOR POLICE HIRING PURPOSES.
(a) Grant Use Expansion.--Section 1701(b) of title I of the Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(b)) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through (23) as paragraphs
(6) through (24), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
``(5) to support hiring activities by law enforcement agencies
experiencing declines in officer recruitment applications by
reducing application-related fees, such as fees for background
checks, psychological evaluations, and testing;''.
(b) Technical Amendment.--Section 1701(b)(23) of title I of the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C.
10381(b)(23)) is amended by striking ``(21)'' and inserting ``(22)''.
SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (i) through (n) as subsections
(j) through (o), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (h) the following:
``(i) Administrative Costs.--Not more than 2 percent of a grant
made for the hiring or rehiring of additional career law enforcement
officers may be used for costs incurred to administer such grant.''.
SEC. 4. PIPELINE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.
Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amended by inserting after
subsection (o) the following:
``(p) COPS Pipeline Partnership Program.--
``(1) Eligible entity defined.--In this subsection, the term
`eligible entity' means a law enforcement agency in partnership
with not less than 1 educational institution, which may include 1
or any combination of the following:
``(A) An elementary school.
``(B) A secondary school.
``(C) An institution of higher education.
``(D) A Hispanic-serving institution.
``(E) A historically Black college or university.
``(F) A Tribal college.
``(2) Grants.--The Attorney General shall award competitive
grants to eligible entities for recruiting activities that--
``(A) support substantial student engagement for the
exploration of potential future career opportunities in law
enforcement;
``(B) strengthen recruitment by law enforcement agencies
experiencing a decline in recruits, or high rates of
resignations or retirements;
``(C) enhance community interactions between local youth
and law enforcement agencies that are designed to increase
recruiting; and
``(D) otherwise improve the outcomes of local law
enforcement recruitment through activities such as dedicated
programming for students, work-based learning opportunities,
project-based learning, mentoring, community liaisons, career
or job fairs, work site visits, job shadowing, apprenticeships,
or skills-based internships.
``(3) Funding.--Of the amounts made available to carry out this
part for a fiscal year, the Attorney General may use not more than
$3,000,000 to carry out this subsection.''.
SEC. 5. COPS GRANT GUIDANCE FOR AGENCIES OPERATING BELOW BUDGETED
STRENGTH.
Section 1704 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10384) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(d) Guidance for Understaffed Law Enforcement Agencies.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Covered applicant.--The term `covered applicant'
means an applicant for a hiring grant under this part seeking
funding for a law enforcement agency operating below the
budgeted strength of the law enforcement agency.
``(B) Budgeted strength.--The term `budgeted strength'
means the employment of the maximum number of sworn law
enforcement officers the budget of a law enforcement agency
allows the agency to employ.
``(2) Procedures.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish
consistent procedures for covered applicants, including guidance
that--
``(A) clarifies that covered applicants remain eligible for
funding under this part; and
``(B) enables covered applicants to attest that the funding
from a grant awarded under this part is not being used by the
law enforcement agency to supplant State or local funds, as
described in subsection (a).
``(3) Paperwork reduction.--In developing the procedures and
guidance under paragraph (2), the Attorney General shall take
measures to reduce paperwork requirements for grants to covered
applicants.''.
SEC. 6. STUDY ON POLICE RECRUITMENT.
(a) Study.--
(1) In general.--The Comptroller General of the United States
shall conduct a study to consider the comprehensive effects of
recruitment and attrition rates on Federal, State, Tribal, and
local law enforcement agencies in the United States, to identify--
(A) the primary reasons that law enforcement officers--
(i) join law enforcement agencies; and
(ii) resign or retire from law enforcement agencies;
(B) how the reasons described in subparagraph (A) may have
changed over time;
(C) the effects of recruitment and attrition on public
safety;
(D) the effects of electronic media on recruitment efforts;
(E) barriers to the recruitment and retention of Federal,
State, and local law enforcement officers; and
(F) recommendations for potential ways to address barriers
to the recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers,
including the barriers identified in subparagraph (E).
(2) Representative cross-section.--
(A) In general.--The Comptroller General of the United
States shall endeavor to ensure accurate representation of law
enforcement agencies in the study conducted pursuant to
paragraph (1) by surveying a broad cross-section of law
enforcement agencies--
(i) from various regions of the United States;
(ii) of different sizes; and
(iii) from rural, suburban, and urban jurisdictions.
(B) Methods description.--The study conducted pursuant to
paragraph (1) shall include in the report under subsection (b)
a description of the methods used to identify a representative
sample of law enforcement agencies.
(b) Report.--Not later than 540 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall--
(1) submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a
report containing the study conducted under subsection (a); and
(2) make the report submitted under paragraph (1) publicly
available online.
(c) Confidentiality.--The Comptroller General of the United States
shall ensure that the study conducted under subsection (a) protects the
privacy of participating law enforcement agencies.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.