True Justice Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3815 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3815

  To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to strengthen the 
     provision of legal representation to individuals in judicial 
 proceedings that take place after the individual has been arrested in 
  connection with a criminal offense, including at initial appearance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 6, 2025

   Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. 
 Norton, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Crockett, Ms. Brown, Mr. Cleaver, 
 Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Jayapal, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Pressley, and 
  Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to strengthen the 
     provision of legal representation to individuals in judicial 
 proceedings that take place after the individual has been arrested in 
  connection with a criminal offense, including at initial appearance.

    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 ``True Justice Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC DEFENDER GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Public Defender Services Grants.--The Attorney General is 
authorized to make grants to States, units of local government (as such 
term is defined in section 901(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251(a))), and public defender offices 
to provide legal representation to individuals in judicial proceedings 
that take place after the individual has been arrested in connection 
with a criminal offense, including at initial appearance.
    (b) Public Defender Training Grants.--The Attorney General is 
authorized to make grants to States, units of local government, and 
non-profit organizations to provide training to public defenders, 
court-appointed attorneys, and contract attorneys on best practices for 
representing individuals in judicial proceedings described in 
subsection (a).
    (c) Application.--An entity seeking a grant under this section 
shall submit to the Attorney General an application at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as the Attorney General 
may reasonably require.
    (d) Amount.--In determining the amount of a grant under this 
section, the Attorney General shall take into account, with respect to 
the receiving entity--
            (1) the cost of any technology and training that the entity 
        will require in order to provide the services under subsection 
        (a) or the training under subsection (b), as applicable; and
            (2) the size of the justice system that the entity 
        administers or in which the entity participates, as applicable, 
        relative to the size of other justice systems in--
                    (A) the United States, if the entity is a State or 
                a public defender's office of a State;
                    (B) the State in which the entity is located, if 
                the entity is a unit of local government (other than an 
                Indian Tribe) or a public defender's office of a unit 
                of local government (other than an Indian Tribe); or
                    (C) of the Indian Tribe, if the entity is a Tribal 
                organization or a public defender's office of a Tribal 
                organization.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Attorney General to carry out this section 
$50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the constitutional right to 
counsel established by the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright (372 
U.S. 335) applies to any and all post-arrest proceedings.
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