I
117TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 6375
To permit COPS grants to be used for the purpose of increasing the compensation and hiring of law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 12, 2022
Mr. R ICE of South Carolina (for himself, Ms. S PANBERGER, Ms. H ERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. G OLDEN, Mr. C HABOT, Mrs. M URPHY of Florida, Mr.
OWENS, Mr. K IND, Mr. K ATKO, Mr. C UELLAR, and Mrs. K IM of Cali- fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To permit COPS grants to be used for the purpose of in- creasing the compensation and hiring of law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘COPS on the Beat 4
Grant Program Reauthorization and Parity Act of 2022’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The President’s Task Force on 21st Cen-1
tury Policing highlighted the importance of hiring 2
law enforcement officers who reflect the diversity 3
and values of the community, and who have both the 4
mindset and the skills needed to engage with the 5
community. 6
(2) Diverse workforces can be more effective, 7
creative, and resilient than homogenous workforces, 8
and teams with broader perspectives result in better 9
decision-making and problem-solving practices. Re-10
cruiting a diverse pool of candidates includes quali-11 fied individuals from different races, genders, 12
ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. 13
(3) Effective law enforcement recruitment prac-14
tices can help engender trust, develop good relations 15 with their communities, and ensure that the officers 16 they hire can best serve those communities. Recruit-17
ment efforts should start in the community, and law 18
enforcement agencies should consider developing 19
youth programs to attract younger generations. This 20
could include Explorer programs, internships 21
through local schools, cadet academies, university 22
partnerships, and youth mentorship programs that 23
foster relationships between young adults and de-24
partments. Not only do these programs develop en-25
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thusiasm for a law enforcement career, they can also 1
build relationships between law enforcement agencies 2
and the communities they serve. 3
(b) S ENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-4
gress that the COPS Office is uniquely suited to empower 5 local law enforcement agencies to fulfill recommendations 6 related to law enforcement hiring practices, including 7 agencies being reflective of the communities they serve, 8 both demographically and in values and vision, and pos-9 sessing the mindset and skills needed to engage with the 10 community. 11
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF COPS ON THE BEAT GRANT 12
PROGRAMS. 13
(a) R EAUTHORIZATION OF COPS ON THE BEAT 14
GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 1001(a)(11)(A) of title I of 15
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 16 (34 U.S.C. 10261(a)(11)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘for 17 each of fiscal years 2006 through 2009’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2031’’. 19
SEC. 4. RURAL COMMUNITY ACCESS TO COPS GRANTS. 20
(a) USES OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Section 1701(b) of 21
title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 22 of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(b)) is amended— 23
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 24
(23) as paragraphs (4) through (24), respectively; 25
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(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(3) in the case of any State or unit of local 3
government that has a median household income of 4
less than 70 percent of the national median house-5
hold income and qualifies for a reduced contribution 6
under subsection (g)(2), to increase wages of career 7
law enforcement officers to not more than 80 per-8
cent of the national median household income;’’; and 9
(3) in paragraph (23), as redesignated, by 10
striking ‘‘through (21)’’ and inserting ‘‘through 11
(22)’’. 12
(b) P REFERENTIAL CONSIDERATION.—Section 13
1701(c) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 14 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(c)) is amended— 15 (1) by striking paragraph (1); and 16
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 17
paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively. 18
(c) C OST SHARE.—Section 1701(g) of title I of the 19
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 20 U.S.C. 10381(g)) is amended to read as follows: 21
‘‘(g) MATCHING FUNDS.— 22
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—Except as provided in para-23
graph (2), the portion of the costs of a program, 24
project, or activity provided by a grant under sub-25
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section (a) may not exceed 75 percent, unless the 1
Attorney General waives, wholly or in part, the re-2
quirement under this subsection of a non-Federal 3
contribution to the costs of a program, project, or 4
activity. In relation to a grant for a period exceeding 5 1 year for hiring or rehiring or increasing the com-6
pensation of career law enforcement officers, the 7
Federal share shall decrease from year to year for 8
up to 5 years, looking toward the continuation of the 9 increased hiring and compensation level using State 10
or local sources of funding following the conclusion 11 of Federal support, as provided in an approved plan 12
pursuant to section 1702(c)(8). 13
‘‘(2) R EDUCED NON -FEDERAL CONTRIBU -14
TION.— 15
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—The portion of the 16
costs of a program, project, or activity provided 17
by a grant under subsection (a), in any State 18
or unit of local government described in sub-19
paragraph (B), may not exceed— 20
‘‘(i) 90 percent for the first year of 21
the grant; 22
‘‘(ii) 85 percent for the second year of 23
the grant; 24
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‘‘(iii) 80 percent for the third year of 1
the grant; and 2
‘‘(iv) 75 percent for the fourth year of 3
the grant. 4
‘‘(B) S TATE OR UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERN -5
MENT DESCRIBED .—A State or unit of local 6
government described in this subparagraph is 7
any State or unit of local government— 8
‘‘(i) with a median household income 9
that is not more than 80 percent of the na-10
tional median household income; 11
‘‘(ii) that does not provide a single 12
employee with compensation that is more 13
than double the national median household 14
income; and 15
‘‘(iii) that is a rural State, rural com-16
munity, or rural area as such terms are 17
defined in section 40002(a) of the Violent 18
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act 19
of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(26)(A)) is 20
amended.’’. 21
(d) L IMITATION ON HIRING AND REHIRING.—Sec-22
tion 1704(c) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 23 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10384(c)) is amended 24 to read as follows: 25
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‘‘(c) HIRING AND COMPENSATION COST.— 1
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—Funding provided under 2
this part for hiring or rehiring a career law enforce-3 ment officer may not exceed $75,000, unless the At-4
torney General grants a waiver from this limitation. 5
‘‘(2) R EDUCED CONTRIBUTION .—In the case of 6
a jurisdiction that qualifies for a reduced contribu-7
tion under section 1701(g)(2), a career law enforce-8
ment officer who is hired or rehired or whose com-9
pensation is increased under this part may not re-10
ceive from any funding provided under this part 11
compensation exceeding 80 percent of the national 12
median household income for work performed as an 13
on-duty law enforcement officer.’’. 14
(e) A LLOCATION OF COPS G RANT PROGRAM 15
FUNDS.—Section 1001(a)(11)(B) of title I of the Omni-16 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 17
U.S.C. 10261(a)(11)(B)) is amended by inserting after 18 the second sentence the following: ‘‘If funds remain avail-19 able for obligation under this subparagraph in a fiscal year 20 after all eligible and qualified grantees have been funded 21 from the 50 percent of funding allocated for grants pursu-22 ant to applications submitted by units of local government 23 or law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction over areas 24 with populations exceeding 150,000 or by public and pri-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Jan 14, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6375.IH H6375pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6375 IH
vate entities that serve areas with populations exceeding 1 150,000, the remaining funds may be used for grants pur-2 suant to applications submitted by units of local govern-3 ment or law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction over 4 areas with populations 150,000 or less or by public and 5 private entities that serve areas with populations 150,000 6 or less.’’. 7
(f) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1709 of title I of the Om-8
nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 9
U.S.C. 10389) is amended by adding at the end the fol-10 lowing: 11
‘‘(8) ‘Attorney General’ means the Attorney 12
General, acting through the COPS Director.’’. 13
SEC. 5. COPS OFFICE. 14
(a) COPS P ROGRAM.—Section 1701(a) of title I of 15
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 16 (34 U.S.C. 10381(a)) is amended to read as follows: 17
‘‘(a) THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLIC-18
ING SERVICES.— 19
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—There is within the Depart-20
ment of Justice, under the general authority of the 21
Attorney General, a separate and distinct office to 22
be known as the Office of Community Oriented Po-23
licing Services (referred to in this subsection as the 24 ‘COPS Office’). 25
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‘‘(2) D IRECTOR.—The COPS Office shall be 1
headed by a Director who shall— 2
‘‘(A) be appointed by the Attorney Gen-3
eral; and 4
‘‘(B) have final authority over grants 5
under this part and any other grants, coopera-6
tive agreements, and contracts awarded by the 7
COPS Office.’’. 8
SEC. 6. GAO REPORT. 9
In fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2031, the Comp-10
troller General of the United States, after consultation 11 with the Attorney General, shall submit to Congress and 12 make publicly available a report that provides national 13 averages and averages for department characteristic sub-14 groups including at least size of police and sheriff depart-15 ments and urban or rural designations by jurisdiction de-16 tailing— 17
(1) a measure of how representative the exist-18
ing workforce of the average police and sheriff de-19
partments is to the community served based on de-20
mographics which include at least gender and race; 21
(2) the percentage of those employed by the av-22
erage police and sheriff departments that live in the 23 jurisdiction in which they are currently employed; 24
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(3) a measure of average officer pay in police 1
and sheriff departments compared to cost of living 2
in the jurisdiction in which they are currently em-3
ployed; and 4
(4) legislative and administrative recommenda-5
tions for improving the percentage of officers that 6
live in the jurisdiction in which they are employed 7
and how representative the law enforcement agency 8
is of the community it serves. 9
Æ
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