[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3846 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3846

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
    establish a grant program to help law enforcement agencies with 
        civilian law enforcement tasks, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2025

 Mr. Harder of California (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Swalwell, 
and Mr. Nunn of Iowa) introduced the following bill; which was 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 help law enforcement agencies with 
        civilian law enforcement tasks, 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 ``Retired Law Enforcement Officers 
Continuing Service Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM.

    Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 
(34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

              ``PART PP--CIVIL LAW ENFORCEMENT TASK GRANTS

``SEC. 3061. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part:
            ``(1) Civilian law enforcement task.--The term `civilian 
        law enforcement task'--
                    ``(A) includes--
                            ``(i) assisting in homicide investigations;
                            ``(ii) assisting in carjacking 
                        investigations;
                            ``(iii) assisting in financial crimes 
                        investigations;
                            ``(iv) assisting in compliance with 
                        reporting requirements;
                            ``(v) reviewing camera footage;
                            ``(vi) crime scene analysis;
                            ``(vii) forensics analysis; and
                            ``(viii) providing expertise in computers, 
                        computer networks, information technology, or 
                        the internet; and
                    ``(B) does not include the ability to make arrests 
                or use force under the color of law.
            ``(2) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means a 
        State, local, Tribal, or territorial law enforcement agency 
        that certifies that retired law enforcement personnel hired 
        using amounts from a grant under this part--
                    ``(A) have appropriate and reasonably current 
                training and experience to effectively carry out the 
                tasks described in section 3062(a); or
                    ``(B) will participate in appropriate continuing 
                education programs to satisfy subparagraph (A).

``SEC. 3062. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) In General.--The Attorney General may award grants to 
eligible entities for the purpose of hiring retired personnel from law 
enforcement agencies to--
            ``(1) train civilian employees of the eligible entity on 
        civilian law enforcement tasks that can be performed on behalf 
        of a law enforcement agency; and
            ``(2) perform civilian law enforcement tasks on behalf of 
        the eligible entity.
    ``(b) Disciplinary Records.--
            ``(1) In general.--An eligible entity receiving a grant 
        under subsection (a) shall make a good faith effort to 
        determine whether a retired law enforcement officer seeking to 
        be hired by the eligible entity using amounts from a grant 
        under this part has a disciplinary record or an internal 
        investigation record by--
                    ``(A) conducting a search of the National 
                Decertification Index; or
                    ``(B) requesting the personnel record of the 
                retired law enforcement officer from each law 
                enforcement agency that employed the retired law 
                enforcement officer.
            ``(2) Hiring determinations.--Before making any hiring 
        determination, the highest ranking law enforcement officer of 
        an eligible entity receiving a grant under subsection (a) or a 
        designee of that law enforcement officer shall review any 
        findings of misconduct that arise as a result of a search or 
        request conducted pursuant to paragraph (1).

``SEC. 3063. ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--A grant awarded under this part shall be subject 
to the accountability requirements of this section.
    ``(b) Audit Requirement.--
            ``(1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `unresolved 
        audit finding' means a finding in a final audit report of the 
        Inspector General of the Department of Justice that an audited 
        grantee has used grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or 
        otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed or resolved 
        within 12 months from the date when the final audit report is 
        issued.
            ``(2) Audits.--Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning 
        after the date of enactment of the Retired Law Enforcement 
        Officers Continuing Service Act, and in each fiscal year 
        thereafter, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice 
        shall conduct audits of recipients of grants under this part to 
        prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. The 
        Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall determine 
        the appropriate number of grantees to be audited each year.
            ``(3) Mandatory exclusion.--A recipient of grant funds 
        under this part that is found to have an unresolved audit 
        finding shall not be eligible to receive grant funds under this 
        part during the first 2 fiscal years beginning after the end of 
        the 12-month period described in paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Priority.--In awarding grants under this part, the 
        Attorney General shall give priority to eligible entities that 
        did not have an unresolved audit finding during the 3 fiscal 
        years before submitting an application for a grant under this 
        part.
    ``(c) Annual Certification.--Beginning in the fiscal year during 
which audits commence under subsection (b)(2), the Attorney General 
shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives an annual 
certification--
            ``(1) indicating whether--
                    ``(A) all audits issued by the Office of the 
                Inspector General of the Department of Justice under 
                subsection (b) have been completed and reviewed by the 
                appropriate Assistant Attorney General or Director; and
                    ``(B) all mandatory exclusions required under 
                subsection (b)(3) have been issued; and
            ``(2) that includes a list of any grant recipients excluded 
        under subsection (b)(3) from the previous year.
    ``(d) Preventing Duplicative Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--Before the Attorney General awards a 
        grant to an eligible entity under this part, the Attorney 
        General shall compare potential grant awards with other grants 
        awarded by the Attorney General to determine if grant awards 
        are or have been awarded for a similar purpose.
            ``(2) Report.--If the Attorney General awards grants to the 
        same applicant for a similar purpose, the Attorney General 
        shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate 
        and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
        Representatives a report that includes--
                    ``(A) a list of all such grants awarded, including 
                the total dollar amount of any such grants awarded; and
                    ``(B) the reason the Attorney General awarded 
                multiple grants to the same applicant for a similar 
                purpose.''.
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