SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing

1
SEARCH Mid-Year MeetingFederal Legislative
Briefing

• Robert R. Belair
• SEARCH General Counsel
• January 28, 2005
• St. Petersburg, Florida

2
Criminal Justice Funding

• FY 2005 CJS Appropriation provides level funding
  with some decreases
• The Conference Report includes the following
• Byrne Discretionary Grants 170 million
• Byrne Formula Grants 634 million
• COPS 606 million
• COPS Technologies 138.6 million
• DNA Backlog 110 million
• Weed and Seed 62 million
• CITA 28.45 million

3
Criminal Justice Funding

• BJS 34 million
• NIJ 55 million
• RISS 40 million
• LLEBG zeroed out, merged into Byrne
• Missing Children 46.9 million
• NCHIP 25 million
• White Collar Crime 9 million
• Offender Reentry 10 million
• Interoperable Communications 100 million
• Global Justice Info Sharing Initiative 10.5
  million

4
Criminal Justice Funding

• SEARCH received its first ever decrease, from
  2.0 million to 1.75 million
• Number of Byrne earmarks jumped from about 100
  earmarks in 04 to 238 earmarks in 05
• Number of national earmarks jumped from 20 to
  54
• Technology related earmarks reduced in Byrne to
  less than 10

5
Criminal Justice Funding

• Little or no growth is expected for 06 Justice
  Assistance funding
• Earmarking is expected to continue to explode
• Block grant funding is expected to decrease

6
Homeland Security Funding

• In October, Congress approved the DHS
  appropriations bill
• The bill includes
• ODP discretionary grants 3.086 billion
• ODP formula grants 1.1 billion
• Terrorism grants 400 million

7
Homeland Security Funding

• High-threat area grants 885 million
• Firefighter grants 715 million
• Information analysis and infrastructure
  protection grants 761.6 million

8
Homeland Security Funding

• Passenger screening 1.45 billion
• US-VISIT 340 million
• Information technology investment and
  enhancement 208 million

9
Background Check Legislation

• On December 17th, the Congress enacted S. 2845
  (H.R. 10), the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
  Prevention Act of 2004
• Extends the Protect Acts pilots and study for
  National Child Protection Act background checks
  for another 12 months (until the fall of 2005)

10
Background Check Legislation

• Enacts private security officer background
  legislation
• Private security industry authorized to submit
  fingerprints to the ID Bureau in a participating
  state in which the employer is located for a
  state and national criminal record background
  check
• All states deemed to be participating states
  unless the state adopts a law opting-out or the
  governor issues an order opting-out
• All participating states are permitted to assess
  reasonable fees

11
Background Check Legislation

• As originally introduced in the House, H.R. 10
  would have permitted any employer, with state
  authorization, to obtain access to IAFIS for
  background checking
• As amended in the House, H.R. 10 would have
  required the Attorney General to conduct a pilot
  to test the feasibility of employer access to
  IAFIS

12
Background Check Legislation

• As adopted in conference, S. 2845 requires the
  Attorney General to conduct a comprehensive study
  of criminal background check issues. The study
  must address
• All statutory requirements for criminal history
  record checks that are required to be conducted
  by the Department of Justice
• The effectiveness and efficiency of utilizing
  commercially available databases as a supplement
  to IAFIS checks
• Any security concerns created by the existence of
  these commercially available databases
• The effectiveness of utilizing state databases

13
Background Check Legislation

• Any feasibility studies by the Department of
  Justice regarding the resources and structures to
  establish a system to provide criminal history
  information
• Privacy rights and other employee protections
• The scope and means of processing background
  checks for private employers utilizing data
  maintained by the FBI in cases where the
  authority for such checks is not available at the
  state level
• Any restrictions that should be placed on the
  ability of an employer to charge an employee or
  applicant for the check

14
Background Check Legislation

• Requirements that should apply to the handling of
  incomplete records
• The circumstances under which the actual criminal
  history record (rap sheet) should be disseminated
  by the employer
• The type of restrictions that should be imposed
  concerning response times
• Any infrastructure that may need to be developed
  to support these checks, including the means by
  which information and fingerprints are collected
  and submitted and the system capacity needed to
  process such checks at the federal and state level

15
Background Check Legislation

• The Attorney General has only six months to
  complete the study
• After six months, the Attorney General must file
  a report with the House and Senate Judiciary
  Committees conveying recommendations for
  improving, standardizing, and consolidating the
  existing statutory authorization, programs and
  procedures for the conduct of criminal history
  record checks for non-criminal justice purposes

16
Background Check Legislation

• In conducting this study, the Act requires the
  Attorney General to consult with representatives
  of state criminal history repositories, the
  National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact
  Council, appropriate representatives of private
  industry, and representatives of labor, as
  determined by the Attorney General

17
Background Check Legislation

• DOJ study under way at the same time as nearly
  identical SEARCH/BJS Task Force Study and Report
• Explosion in backgrounding and 9/11 concerns are
  motivating Congress to comprehensively reform the
  CHRI background check process

18
Background Check Legislation

• Congress came close to acting preemptively and
  definitively last year
• May be late in 05 or 06 before Congress becomes
  fully engaged

19
DOJ Reauthorization

• March 31, 2004 House passed H.R. 3036
• Eliminates most OJP discretionary grant programs
  merged these programs into new state and local
  block grant programs
• Partially reorganizes OJP including an Office of
  Applied Law Enforcement Technology to provide
  leadership and focus to those grants of the
  Department forusing or improving law
  enforcement computer systems.

20
DOJ Reauthorization

• Creates a Community Capacity Development Office
  within OJP
• Promotes coordination of public and private
  efforts and resources
• Provides information, training and technical
  assistance
• Provides support for inter- and intra-agency task
  forces

21
DOJ Reauthorization

• Reauthorizes COPS but effectively merges OJP and
  COPS
• Strengthens BJS responsibility for criminal
  history improvement NICS improvement and state
  participation in national CHRI programs
• Eliminates BJA
• Reauthorizes Crime Identification Technology Act
  (CITA)

22
DOJ Reauthorization

• Creates a permanent Office of Weed and Seed
  Strategies
• Requires states to upload to CODIS the DNA of all
  persons convicted of a violent felony
• Creates anti-terrorism training grants for state
  and local law enforcement
• Strips DOJ of authority to reorganize OJP without
  first obtaining congressional authorization

23
DOJ Reauthorization

• Senate bill, S. 2863, introduced by Judiciary
  Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Sept.
  29, 2004

24
DOJ Reauthorization

• Includes express language authorizing SEARCHs
  National Technical Assistance and Training
  Program
• Sec. 237. SEARCH, THE NATIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR
  JUSTICE INFORMATION AND STATISTICS.
• (a) IN GENERAL.- Pursuant to subpart 1o of part
  E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and
  Safe Streets Act of 1968, the Director of the
  Bureau of Justice Assistance shall make grants to
  SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice
  Information and Statistics, to carry out the
  operations of the National Technical Assistance
  and Training Program operated by SEARCH under the
  direction of the Office of Justice Programs.
• (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. There are
  authorized to be appropriated in each of fiscal
  years 2005, 2006 and 2007, 4,000,000 to carry
  out this section.

25
DOJ Reauthorization

• Senate bill does not include most of House OJP
  reorganization provisions
• Merges Byrne formula and Local Law Enforcement
  block grants
• Enhances BJS authority for NCHIP and integrated
  CHRI system authority
• Provides authorization for NCPC (McGruff) with a
  30 match
• Provides authorization for Boys and Girls Clubs

26
NICS Legislation

• Bills introduced in 10th Congress aimed at
  forcing states to report to NICS
• Mental health
• Misdemeanor domestic violence
• Felony dispositions
• Carrot and stick approach, including a 250
  million grant program
• Broad agreement that NICS needs improvement. Wide
  fear of bringing gun legislation to floor.

27
Other Legislative Issues

• FBI computer systems
• Uniform biometric
• Breeder documents
• Computer security
• Immigration reform
• Offender reentry
• Access to court records and public records
• Data mining and Matrix