Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1981

(Measure passed Senate, amended, roll call #229 (86-3))

Department of Justice Appropriation Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1981 - =Title I: Authorizations= - Authorizes appropriations in specified amounts for fiscal year 1981 to carry out the following activities of the Department of Justice: (1) general administration; (2) United States Parole Commission; (3) Foreign Claims Settlement Commission; (4) general legal activities; (5) Antitrust Division; (6) United States attorneys, marshals, and trustees; (7) support of United States prisoners in non-Federal institutions; (8) fees and expenses of witnesses; (9) Community Relations Service; (10) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): (11) Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); (12) Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and (13) Federal Prison System.

Includes in the authorization for general administration financial assistance to joint State and joint State and local law enforcement agencies engaged in cooperative efforts with respect to drug related offenses and organized crime.

Provides that the FBI authorization is to be used to classify the offense of arson as a part I crime in its Uniform Crime Reports. Stipulates that up to $1,000,000 of the FBI authorization shall be made available for investigations under the Fugitive Felon Act in parental kidnapping cases arising under State law.

Directs the Attorney General to report annually to the congressional judiciary committees, beginning January 1, 1984, on the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of the offense of parental kidnapping during the previous calendar year.

Requires the Attorney General to report to such committees on January 1, 1982, and January 1, 1983, on the number of inquiries per State received by the FBI for assistance with respect to locating parents who have allegedly violated State child custody laws. Specifies the content of such reports. Authorizes the sum of $250,000 for fiscal year 1981 to carry out such reports.

States that the Department shall not be required to absorb from appropriations made pursuant to the authorizations of this Act salary increases, other employee benefits, or other nondiscretionary costs.

Permits authorizations under this Act to be used for certain educational expenses for dependents of Department personnel stationed abroad under specified circumstances.

Authorizes necessary appropriations for fiscal year 1981 for salary increases, employee benefits, and other nondiscretionary costs.

Specifies the activities for which authorizations to the FBI may be used with respect to undercover investigative operations. Directs the FBI to conduct detailed financial audits of each closed undercover operation, and to report the results to the Department and, on an annual basis, to Congress.

Requires each organization of the Department, through the appropriate office within the Department, to notify in writing the Committees on the Judiciary and other appropriate committees of Congress (including ranking Minority Party Members) of the reprogramming of funds and significant program changes at least 15 days before effecting such changes.

Amends the Controlled Substances Act to permit the award of compensation to informers in respect to forfeitures to be based on the value of the seized property or the proceeds from the sale of such property (current law requires such awards to be made in accordance with the customs laws).

Requires the Attorney General to perform periodic evaluations of the overall efficiency of Department programs and supporting programs funded under this Act, to be made available to the congressional judiciary and other appropriate committees.

Directs the Attorney General to: (1) submit a copy of any agreement with another agency which affects the litigation authority of the Department to the congressional judiciary committees 30 days before its effectiveness; (2) resolve all legal disputes between two or more agencies, absent other specific statutory authority; and (3) report to such committees at the beginning of each Congress on the status of litigation authority, coordinating efforts, and legislative proposals.

Requires the Attorney General to prescribe from time to time regulations which: (1) set the fees for the services of U.S. Marshals; and (2) establish a minimum and maximum amount for the commissions collected by U.S. Marshals for seizing or levying on property. Requires that the former regulations include a fee schedule which, at a minimum, equals the costs of the services. Provides that such fees shall be waived as authorized by the court with respect to proceedings in forma pauperis. Permits U.S. Marshals to require a deposit to cover any of the fees and expenses.

Directs the Attorney General to submit to the congressional judiciary committees a systems development plan for the activation and coordination within the Department of compatible, comprehensive case management information and tracking systems for each judicial district.

Requires the Attorney General to report to the congressional judiciary committees by January 1, 1981, on the extent to which the Department has collected all judgments owed to the United States as of September 30, 1980.

Requires the Attorney General to report to the congressional judiciary committees by February 1, 1981, on the status of civil and criminal fraud cases as of December 31, 1980.

Directs the Attorney General to make arrangements with an appropriate independent entity to submit to the congressional judiciary committees by October 1, 1982: (1) a recommendation as to whether the Government should provide communications systems, networks, and data bases, for the distribution to Federal, State, local, or foreign governments of arrest and other criminal records; and (2) if advisable, a plan to improve existing systems, such as the National Crime Information Center and criminal record operations of the FBI. Requires the policy for such recommendation and plan to be developed in consultation with an advisory panel. Specifies requirements with respect to such a plan. Requires the Attorney General to submit to such committees an interim implementation report by October 1, 1981.

Prohibits authorizations to be used for engaging in message-switching until the congressional judiciary committees have approved any such plan.

Increases the compensation of the Solicitor General of the United States and Associate Attorney General by changing the classification of these positions from level III to level II of the Executive Schedule.

Authorizes the Attorney General to appoint 30 senior trial attorneys without regard to provisions relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates.

Amends title II of the Speedy Trial Act of 1974 (Pretrial Services Agencies) to authorize $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1981 for the pretrial services agencies.

Directs the Attorney General to transmit a report to each House of Congress in any case in which a law is not enforced or a law in any administrative or judicial proceeding is not contested or defended by the Department because of the position of the Department that such law is unconstitutional.

Amends title VI of the Ethics in Government Act (Special Prosecutor) to require the Attorney General to notify the chairman and ranking member of the congressional judiciary committees whenever an investigation of Government officials is initiated, and to notify such committees whenever notification is made to the court that no further investigation is warranted or a special prosecutor has been appointed.

Permits a committee to disclose the notification that no further investigation is warranted upon a determination that any individual's right will not be prejudiced.

Prohibits the court from appointing as a special prosecutor any person involved in any Federal investigation or civil or criminal proceeding (except as counsel in such matter).

Terminates such notification provisions two years after enactment.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should not admit more than an additional 100,000 immigrants, refugees, persons seeking asylum or those paroled (but excluding immediate relatives of U.S. citizens) from July 1, 1980, to September 30, 1980.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States recognize the Khmer people and others who have fled Cambodia and are being kept in holding centers in Thailand as legitimate refugees seeking resettlement and that the Government do all in its power to speed the resettlement of refugees from the official refugee camps.

Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) deplores the efforts by private citizens to involve themselves in negotiations regarding the hostages in Iran without Government approval as counterproductive; and (2) supports the enforcement of any applicable statutes not excluding the Logan Act.

Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Department comply with the request of the Judiciary Committee to produce information relating to the Committee's oversight of the Public Integrity Section of the Department's Criminal Division.

=Title II: Department of Justice Professional Responsibility Act= - Department of Justice Professional Responsibility Act - Establishes an Office of Professional Responsibility in the Department, to be headed by a Counsel appointed by the President, and charged with investigating and making recommendations to the Attorney General or other officials concerning conduct by a Department employee that may violate law, Department regulations or orders, or applicable standards of conduct. Requires such Counsel to establish procedures for reporting to the Office by internal inspection units and uniform standards for the conduct of investigations by internal inspection units and, within two years of enactment, uniform standards for the administration of disciplinary sanctions for each Department entity.

Stipulates that internal inspection units within each Department entity shall retain their primary responsibility to receive information on employee allegations and conduct investigations.

Requires the Counsel to report annually to Congress on the number and disposition of allegations of employee misconduct, and other specified information. Directs the Counsel to submit to the congressional judiciary committees within three years of enactment evaluations of the procedures for administrative sanctions and prosecution and implementation of this title, and specific legislative recommendations.

Authorizes necessary appropriations for such Office for fiscal year 1981 and subsequent fiscal years.

=Title III: Amendments to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968= - Amends title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Justice System Improvement) to permit funds available for expenditure in fiscal year 1981 from prior appropriations to be obligated to carry out the activities of such title, but limits to 15 percent of such funds the amount which may be obligated for administrative costs.

Authorizes appropriations in the amount of $19,000,000 for fiscal year 1981 to carry out parts B and C of such title (establishing the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, respectively).

Prohibits funds from being appropriated for fiscal year 1981 pursuant to the existing authorization provision of such title or any other law (except for public safety officers' death benefits and the authorization in the preceding paragraph), but sets forth a new provision authorizing emergency assistance to State and local governments and private nonprofit organizations for criminal justice programs of proven effectiveness or having a record of proven success.

Permits the Federal share of grants made under the new emergency provision to be up to 100 percent of program costs. Authorizes necessary appropriations for such grants for fiscal year 1981.

Requires the Director of the Office of Justice Assistance, Research, and Statistics and the Administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to establish jointly priority programs for such emergency assistance.

=Title IV: Equal Access to Justice Act= - Equal Access to Justice Act - Excludes from the definition of "party" for purposes of this Act: (1) an individual whose net worth exceeds $1,000,000; and (2) any partnership, corporation, association, organization, or sole owner of an unincorporated business whose net worth exceeds $5,000,000, but includes an agricultural cooperative, as defined in the Agricultural Marketing Act, regardless of its net worth.

Entitles a prevailing party (other than the United States) to be awarded fees and other expenses, including attorney fees, which were incurred by such party in: (1) an administrative adjudication (excluding ratemaking and license application hearings, but including such actions as suspension or modification of a license); or (2) in any civil action, other than a tort, brought by or against the United States, unless the agency conducting such adjudication, or the court having jurisdiction of such action, finds that the position of the agency or the United States was substantially justified or that special circumstances make an award unjust.

Allows the agency or the court to reduce any such award to the extent that the prevailing party unduly and unreasonably protracted the final resolution of the matter in controversy.

Stipulates that such awards in administrative adjudication shall be paid by the particular agency over which the party prevails.

Authorizes a party dissatisfied with such award in an administrative adjudication to petition for leave to appeal the decision in an appropriate Federal court. Permits the court to modify the decision upon a finding that the agency's determination was an abuse of discretion.

Authorizes a court to award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party in any civil action brought by or against the United States or any agency or official of the United States acting in an official capacity, where the court may award such fees in such suits involving private parties (thus applying to Government litigation the common law and statutory exceptions to the "American rule" which requires parties to be responsible for their own attorney fees).

Directs the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to report annually on the amount of fees and expenses awarded during the preceding fiscal year in such agency adjudications and civil actions.

Makes this Act applicable to any civil action pending on, or commencing after, the date of enactment, except for civil tax actions, which shall be subject to this Act six months after enactment.