SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing Robert R. Belair SEARCH General Counsel January 28, 2005 St. Petersburg, Florida

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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% Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

Homeland Security Funding High-threat area grants: $885 million Firefighter grants: $715 million Information analysis and infrastructure protection grants: $761.6 million Robert R. Belair

Homeland Security Funding Passenger screening: $1.45 billion US-VISIT: $340 million Information technology investment and enhancement: $208 million Robert R. Belair

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 Act’s pilots and study for National Child Protection Act background checks for another 12 months (until the fall of 2005) Robert R. Belair

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” Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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” Robert R. Belair

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” Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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 …for…using or improving law enforcement computer systems.” Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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) Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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

DOJ Reauthorization Includes express language authorizing SEARCH’s 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. Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair

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. Robert R. Belair

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 Robert R. Belair