Senate Appropriations Committee Passes FY17 CJS Appropriations Bill
April 26 – Below is an update relating to the FY 17 appropriations bill currently moving through Congress. Thank you to our friends at NCJA for providing specific details on programs that impact so many.
Senate Appropriations Committee Passes FY17 CJS Appropriations Bill
Last Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY17 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill. This followed approval by the CJS subcommittee on Tuesday. The bill maintains roughly level funding for most of the justice assistance grant programs, including Byrne JAG.
Under the Senate bill, the Byrne JAG program would be funded at $384 million. From that, almost $36 million is carved out for other purposes, leaving $348 million for the formula program. This is slightly above the FY16 level of $347 million. The committee report specifies that the Department of Justice “expects state, local, and tribal governments to target funding to programs and activities that conform with evidence-based strategic plans developed through broad stakeholder involvement” and directs DOJ to make technical assistance available to state, local, and tribal governments for the development or update of such plans.
The bill would set the annual cap for disbursements from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Fund at $2.957 billion. This is just under the FY16 cap of $3.042 billion. However, from that is taken $379 million for support of other victim-related programs, leaving $2.578 billion for VOCA-authorized programs, a decrease from the FY16 level of $2.653 billion. A number of other, smaller carve-outs are likely to reduce the total further. The Committee approved an amendment during mark-up offered by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) that would direct 5 percent of VOCA funding to tribal nations. It is unclear if the House will endorse the Senate action.
Below are highlights of other provisions in the Senate bill.
Office of Violence Against Women programs – $481 million, up slightly from $480 million in FY16. This includes level funding of $215 million for the STOP program. The Senate bill includes a one-year exemption for the STOP program from the PREA penalty.
Juvenile justice Title II state formula grants – $63 million, up from $58 million last year.
Youth mentoring grants – $75 million, down from $90 million in FY16.
COPS Hiring grants – level funded at $187 million.
Justice Reinvestment Initiative – $25 million, down from $28 million in FY16.
State Criminal Alien Assistance reimbursement program – $100 million, down from $210 million in FY16.
Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program – $14 million, up from $12 million in FY16
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program – $14 million, up from $13 million in FY16.
Drug Courts – $43 million, up from $42 million in FY16.
Indian Country Grants – bill would authorizes the Department of Justice to direct up to 7 percent of discretionary and formula grants to Indian Country. Funding in FY16 was $30 million.
Prison Rape Elimination Act – $0 for grants to states and local governments to help achieve compliance. Funding in FY16 was $11 million.
Criminal history grants – $75 million, up from $73 million in FY16. This is combined funding for the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), of which $25 million is for grants to improve records in NICS, particularly mental health records.
Rape Kit Backlog – level funding at $45 million.
Anti-Heroin task forces – $10 million, up from $7 million in FY16. This is a discretionary grant program for law enforcement agencies in states with high per capita levels of primary treatment admissions for both heroin and other opioids.
Debbie Smith and other DNA-related grant programs – level funded at $125 million.
Juvenile Accountability Block Grant – $0, as last year.
The next step is for the full Senate to take up the bill on the Senate floor, although the timing for debate is unclear. The House Appropriations Committee has yet to release or take up its version of the bill.