Holding Prosecutors Accountable Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6999 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6999

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
     require reports about the prosecution of certain offenses for 
          recipients of Byrne grants, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 16, 2024

  Mr. Meuser 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 
     require reports about the prosecution of certain offenses for 
          recipients of Byrne grants, 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 ``Holding Prosecutors Accountable 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DISTRICT ATTORNEY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR BYRNE GRANTS.

    Section 501 of subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10152) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) District Attorney Reporting Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--On an annual basis, each chief executive 
        of a district attorney or prosecutor's office that serves a 
        jurisdiction of 380,000 or more persons, which jurisdiction 
        receives funds under this part, shall submit to the Attorney 
        General a report that contains, for the previous fiscal year, 
        the following:
                    ``(A) The total number of cases referred to the 
                office for prosecution of a covered offense.
                    ``(B) The number of cases such office declined to 
                prosecute involving a covered offense and the reasoning 
                for why office declined to prosecute covered offense.
                    ``(C) For cases involving a covered offense that 
                resulted in a plea agreement reached with the 
                defendant--
                            ``(i) the total number of such cases;
                            ``(ii) the number of such cases by each 
                        initial charge; and
                            ``(iii) the number of such cases by each 
                        charge of conviction.
                    ``(D) The number of cases involving covered 
                offenses initiated against a defendant--
                            ``(i) previously arrested for a covered 
                        offense arising out of separate conduct;
                            ``(ii) previously convicted for a covered 
                        offense arising out of separate conduct;
                            ``(iii) with an open case involving a 
                        covered offense arising out of separate 
                        conduct;
                            ``(iv) serving a term of probation for a 
                        conviction for a covered offense arising out of 
                        separate conduct; and
                            ``(v) released on parole for a conviction 
                        for a covered offense arising out of separate 
                        conduct.
                    ``(E) The number of defendants charged with a 
                covered offense--
                            ``(i) who were released on their own 
                        recognizance;
                            ``(ii) who were eligible for bail; and
                            ``(iii) for whom the prosecutor requested 
                        bail.
            ``(2) Uniform standards.--The Attorney General shall define 
        uniform standards for the reporting of the information required 
        under this subsection, including the form such reports shall 
        take and the process by which such reports shall be shared with 
        the Attorney General.
            ``(3) Submission to judiciary committees.--The Attorney 
        General shall submit the information received under this 
        subsection to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and 
        the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 
        and shall publish such information on a publicly viewable 
        website.
            ``(4) Covered offense defined.--In this subsection, the 
        term `covered offense' means any of the following:
                    ``(A) Murder or non-negligent manslaughter.
                    ``(B) Forcible rape.
                    ``(C) Robbery.
                    ``(D) Aggravated assault.
                    ``(E) Burglary.
                    ``(F) Larceny.
                    ``(G) Motor vehicle theft.
                    ``(H) Arson.
                    ``(I) Any offense involving the illegal use of a 
                firearm.
                    ``(J) Any offense involving the illegal possession 
                of a firearm.
            ``(5) Reduction in funding.--For any fiscal year beginning 
        on or after the date of enactment of this Act, a State or unit 
        of local government shall be ineligible for a grant under this 
        part if--
                    ``(A) the chief executive of a district attorney or 
                prosecutor's office of that jurisdiction who was 
                required to submit a report under this subsection, 
                failed to submit the report required under this 
                subsection; or
                    ``(B) the chief executive of a district attorney or 
                prosecutor's office of that jurisdiction declined to 
                prosecute \2/3\ or more of the total number of cases 
                referred to the office for prosecution of a covered 
                offense for the previous fiscal year.''.
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