Federal Legislative Update, July, 2009

The House passed H.R. 2847, making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for fiscal year 2010 on June 16, 2009 by a vote of 259-157.  This measure has been placed on the Senate calendar.  The House also passed H.R.2892, making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2010 on June 26 by a vote of 389-37.  This update will focus on the main provisions in these bills impacting law enforcement in California. 

Highlights of H.R. 2847:

• The Public Safety Officers Benefits program was funded below the 2009 level.  We are working to ensure that the program is provided such sums as necessary, as it has in the past.
• The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is funded at $400,000,000, less than we requested, but more than included in the Administration request (which was $0 and the Committee passed bill).  An amendment to increase funding by $100,000 passed the House.  The Senate bill contains $228,000,000.
• Funding for protective vests for officers, including puncture resistant vests, was funded at $25,000,000 in the House Bill and $30,000 in the Senate Bill.
• Report language on private prisons requires an assessment of using closed military facilities to house criminal alien offenders rather than contracting with the private sector.
• In total, the bill provides $3,423,988,000 for State and local law enforcement and crime prevention grant programs, which is $196,888,000 more than the fiscal year 2009 funding level and $670,500,000 above the budget request.

Highlights of H.R. 2892:

• In this bill, the Committee directs ICE to use $1.5 billion of its budget to expand efforts to locate and remove criminal aliens who have proved they are a threat to our communities.
• Report language urges ICE to make greater use of the Secure Communities program rather than delegating authority to local law enforcement

• Increases funding for the Southwest Border Initiative
• Increases funding for grants to state and local governments

Public Safety Officers Benefits
The Public Safety Officers Benefits (PSOB) program provides benefits to public safety officers who are severely injured in the line of duty and to the families and survivors of public safety officers whose death was the direct and proximate result of an injury sustained in the line of duty.

The Committee includes $70,100,000 for PSOB, which is $49,000,000 below the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and equal to the request. Within funds provided, $61,000,000 is for death benefits for survivors, an amount estimated by the Congressional Budget Office that is considered mandatory for scorekeeping purposes. The Committee also recommends $9,100,000, as requested, for disability and education benefits for injured officers.

State Criminal Alien Assistance Program
State criminal alien assistance program (SCAAP).--The Committee recommends $300,000,000 for reimbursement to States and localities for their costs for incarcerating criminal aliens, a decrease of $100,000,000 below the fiscal year 2009 level. The Administration proposed the elimination of the program. Congressman Mollohan authored an amendment to increase funding by $100,000 and this amendment passed the House by a vote of 405 to 1.  The Senate bill includes $228,000,000.

Protective Vests
Bulletproof vests.--The Committee provides $25,000,000 to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in purchasing bullet and stab resistant vests, equal to the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and the request. The Senate bill provides $30,000,000.

Contracting with Private Prison
Privately-contracted prison facilities.--Based on cost data provided by BOP, the cost of contracting with private sector companies for the use and operation of low security prison facilities appears to cost more than operating BOP low security facilities when discounting BOP's cost of inmate programming, which is not provided in most private facilities. The Committee directs BOP to submit a report, by March 1, 2010, on its long term strategy for minimizing the cost of incarcerating low security criminal alien offenders, including an assessment of the potential for closed military facilities to be converted to low security prisons operated by BOP.

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for confining offenders in the controlled environments of prisons and community-based facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient and appropriately secure, and for providing work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens upon release. The Committee recommends $6,077,231,000 for the salaries and expenses of the Federal Prison System, which is $481,477,000 over the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and $97,400,000 above the budget request.

COPS
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was established to assist State and local law enforcement agencies through grants, training and technical assistance to prevent and combat crime in communities across the Nation. The Committee recommends $802,000,000 for COPS programs, which is $251,500,000 over the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and $41,000,000 above the request.

COPS Hiring Program.--The Committee recommends $298,000,000 for the COPS universal hiring program. These grants are available to State, local, and tribal governments for the hiring and rehiring of additional career law enforcement officers for deployment in community-oriented policing across the nation. An additional $1,000,000,000 was provided for this program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Byrne Grant
Edward Byrne memorial justice assistance grant program.--The Committee recommends $529,000,000 for activities under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program. The funding level for this account is $10,000,000 above the fiscal year 2009 level and the request. An additional $2,000,000,000 was provided for this program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, P.L. 111-5.  Funding under this program is authorized for law enforcement programs; prosecution and court programs; prevention and education programs; corrections programs, including community corrections; drug treatment and enforcement programs; planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and crime victim and witness programs, other than compensation.

Southwest Border
Southwest border prosecutions.--The Committee recommends $30,000,000, equal to the fiscal year 2009 level and the budget request, to provide assistance to State and local law enforcement (including prosecutors, probation officers, courts, and detention facilities) along the southwest border related to the investigation and prosecution of drug and alien cases referred from Federal arrests.

Prison Drug Treatment
Residential substance abuse treatment.--The Committee recommendation includes $30,000,000 for State prison substance abuse treatment programs, an increase of $20,000,000 above the fiscal year 2009 level and equal to the request. This program helps State and local governments develop, implement, and improve residential substance abuse treatment programs in correctional facilities, and establish and maintain community-based aftercare services for probationers and parolees.

Mentally Ill Offender
Mentally Ill Offender Act- Mentally Ill Offender Act funding helps State and local governments design and implement programs, including mental health courts, that improve the response of the criminal justice system to offenders with mental illness. The Committee recommendation includes $12,000,000 for Mentally Ill Offender Act activities for fiscal year 2010, an increase of $2,000,000 above the fiscal year 2009 level.

Prison Rape
Prison rape prevention and prosecution.--The Committee provides $15,000,000 for grants to prevent, respond to and prosecute prison rape, including training, education and services to victims. The recommended funding level is an increase of $2,500,000 above the fiscal year 2009 level and the Administration request.

Sex Offender Training for Probation and Parole Officers
Training program to assist probation and parole officers.--For training and technical assistance to State, local, and tribal jurisdictions to establish comprehensive strategies to manage sex offenders under community supervision, the Committee recommends $3,500,000, equal to the fiscal year 2009 level and the request.

Funds to Combat Gangs
Violent gangs and gun crimes.--The Committee recommends $15,000,000 for competitive grants to State and local law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime, with special emphasis on areas plagued by violent gangs. This amount is equal to the fiscal year 2009 level and the request.

Juvenile Crime
Juvenile accountability block grants.--The Committee provides $55,000,000 for grants to support State and local government efforts to combat serious and violent juvenile crime. This funding level is equal to the budget request and the fiscal year 2009 level.

Technology
Law enforcement technologies and interoperable communications.--The Committee includes $123,000,000 for grants to State, local, and tribal law enforcement to develop and acquire effective technologies and interoperable communications that assist in the prevention and response to crime.

Immigration Enforcement:   Removing Criminal Aliens
Immigration Enforcement.--In fiscal year 2008, DHS's immigration agencies set several new records: deporting the most people in any year in U.S. history (369,409); holding more people in immigration detention per day than ever before (30,429); and initiating 1,191 worksite enforcement investigations that resulted in 6,287 arrests, the largest numbers since the formation of DHS. These figures reflect the billions of dollars the Committee has invested in immigration enforcement activities since 2003. But rather than simply rounding up as many illegal immigrants as possible, which is sometimes achieved by targeting the easiest and least threatening among the undocumented population, DHS must ensure that the government's huge investments in immigration enforcement are producing the maximum return in actually making our country safer. A closer examination of the data may give some pause:

Since 2002, ICE has increased the deportation of non-criminals by 400 percent, while criminal deportations have only gone up 60 percent.

Of the nearly 370,000 deported by ICE in fiscal year 2008, less than a third, or 114,358, were ever convicted of a criminal offense. This, despite the fact that up to 450,000 criminals eligible for deportation are in penal custody in any given year, according to ICE estimates.

Less than one-quarter of those interdicted by ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams last year were actually convicted of criminal offenses.

Over three-quarters of those arrested in ICE worksite enforcement raids last year were not charged with any crime.

Since 2007, the Committee has emphasized how ICE should have no higher immigration enforcement priority than deporting those who have proved their intent to do harm and have been convicted of serious crimes. In fiscal year 2008, ICE received $200 million to identify incarcerated criminal aliens and remove them once judged deportable. In fiscal year 2009, ICE was directed to use $1 billion of its resources to identify and remove aliens convicted of crimes, whether in custody or at large, and the Congress mandated this be ICE's number one mission. In this bill, the Committee directs ICE to use $1.5 billion of its budget to expand efforts to locate and remove those criminal aliens who have proved they are a threat to our communities.

Over the past 18 months, ICE has developed a promising collaborative approach, working with State and local law enforcement agencies to streamline the identification of individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes and who may be in the country illegally. Known as `Secure Communities,' this program allows local law enforcement agencies to check the fingerprints of individuals booked on criminal charges against both national criminal and immigration databases. It is planned for nation-wide deployment by 2011. When individuals are identified as illegally present in the United States, ICE can take appropriate steps to ensure the most dangerous of these criminals are deported upon completion of their jail sentences, while those convicted of lesser crimes are identified and deported as resources allow. This approach respects the traditional separation of local law enforcement responsibilities from the Federal role of enforcing immigration law, and requires no specialized training in Federal immigration law for local officials. The Committee is optimistic that Secure Communities will eventually prove more effective than many of the agreements ICE has established to delegate immigration enforcement authority to local patrol officers. The Committee also encourages ICE to ensure it is consistently measuring the results of Secure Communities deployments and other State and local partnerships so that these different approaches can be adequately evaluated in the future.

Southwest Border Initiative
Initiated in fiscal year 2009 through the reprogramming of existing funds, the Southwest Border Initiative is an effort involving DHS, the Department of State, and the Justice Department, which attacks the organizations and resources of the Mexican drug cartels. The initiative also supports the Mexican government's efforts to go after the cartels where they are based, and it provides additional resources to the communities along the border whose authorities are playing a role in the crack-down.

The bill includes $26,100,000, as requested, for an additional 65 CBP Officers and mission support staff, as well as security infrastructure such as license plate readers to cover the outbound lanes at ports of entry where no such enforcement capacity now exists. It also provides for 44 new Border Patrol agents and mission support staff to enhance outbound and other security operations on the Southwest Border. The bill funds the full costs of the planned target staffing level of 20,019 Border Patrol agents, of whom over 17,000 will be based on the Southwest Border--an increase of 6,000, or more than 50 percent, since 2006.

The Committee also provides $97,809,000 for ICE programs that support the Southwest Border Initiative, $27,809,000 more than requested. These funds will support expansion of critical ICE efforts to target the cartels, such as the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) initiative; Southwest Border intelligence analysis; criminal gang, drug, weapons smuggling and human trafficking investigations; and Mexico-based investigatory agents who will coordinate U.S. efforts with Mexican law enforcement agencies.

The bill also includes $732,000,000 for the Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology (BSFIT) appropriation, of which $692,000,000 is for Southwest Border investments. This will bring total BSFIT funding for the Southwest Border to $4.3 billion since the program began in 2006.

Grants to State and Local Governments
The Committee strengthens the commitment to State and local partners by providing $3,959,000,000 for comparable grant programs, including an increase of $15,000,000 for Emergency Management Performance Grants, the one true all-hazards preparedness grant program. The Committee also requires FEMA to post changes to policies online in order to afford State and local partners the opportunity for input. FEMA's National Advisory Council, which is comprised of various emergency management stakeholders, must also review all policy changes.