In August 2011, Congress passed the Budget Control Act which sought to put a framework in place for reaching a high-level agreement on overall federal spending and deficit reduction. The Budget Control Act (BCA) raised the debt ceiling; set caps on discretionary spending for FY12 and FY13 at levels almost $1 trillion lower than FY10; and established the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Known as the Super Committee, it was tasked with recommending at least $1.2 trillion in reductions from federal spending by November 23, 2011 which would have to be passed into law by December 23, 2011.

The Super Committee did not reach agreement on a plan to recommend to the full Congress. This has triggered cuts in federal spending, known as sequestration, which are set to begin in the second quarter of FY13, or January 2013. Unless Congress makes a change in the law, all of these cuts will be taken from the discretionary portion of the budget which includes the justice assistance programs.  At the same time, Members of Congress need to extend or amend the Bush-era tax cuts, raise the ceiling on the debt again, extend or amend the Alternative Minimum Tax, and extend or amend the Medicare payment rate for physicians.  Together these and other items are referred to as the “fiscal cliff” because if left unaddressed experts believe they could push the economy back into recession.

Currently in a lame duck session, congressional leaders and White House officials are discussing ways for avoiding the fiscal cliff through a combination of spending cuts in discretionary and entitlement spending and tax reform. In the meantime, the FY13 appropriations bills did not pass Congress before the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2012.  Federal agencies and programs are operating on a Continuing Resolution (at roughly FY12 funding levels) through March 27, 2012.

Click here to learn more about Sequestration.

Congress is currently considering the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bills. The House has passed its version of the FY13 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has passed its version which is now awaiting floor action. In both bills, the Byrne JAG program is increased slightly to $392 million, up from $352 million in FY12.

The House bill increases funding for certain programs over the FY12 level, including the Second Chance Act, Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT), drug court, and National Criminal Background Check System (NICS) programs. It reduces or eliminates funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), COPS Hiring, several Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention programs and the Paul Coverdell forensic sciences grant program.

By contrast, the Senate bill increases funding for SCAAP and COPS Hiring and decreases funding for the Second Chance Act program. The Senate bill also increases funding for several OJJPD programs.

Both bills increase the annual cap on the Victims of Crime Fund from the current $705 million to $720 million in the House bill and $775 million in the Senate bill.

• View the House bill, H.R. 5326.
• View the Senate bill, S. 2323.

Congress passes legislation authorizing programs for a set period of years.  These authorization periods often expire before a renewal, or reauthorization, bill is passed.  In most cases, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees continue to fund expired programs in the annual appropriations bills.  New rules in the House, however, require that expired programs may be funded only at or below the level in the previous year’s appropriations bill (in other words, House appropriators may not recommend an increase) and may be reauthorized at or below the level appropriated in the previous year.  While the Senate does not have a similar rule in force, this rule will keep House funding levels low (creating a lower floor going into conference negotiations) and put increasing pressure on the authorizing committees to keep program authorizations current.

At the end of July, 2012, the House Judiciary Committee approved its Byrne JAG reauthorization bill. The bill, H.R. 6062, by Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), extends the Byrne JAG program for five years, through FY17, at a maximum authorized level of $800 million annually. Although this is a drop from the current authorization of $1.095 billion, it is significantly above recent annual appropriated levels. In FY11, funding for Byrne JAG was $425 million. In FY12, it was $352 million.

The bill now goes to the House floor for approval. Its fate in the Senate is less certain. Although Byrne JAG is broadly supported on both sides of the aisle and has the strong support of most members on the Senate Judiciary Committee, several of the most fiscally conservatives members of the Senate routinely slow down any bill which reauthorizes programs above their current appropriated levels. NCJA is working with SAAs and the stakeholder community to educate Members about the need to reauthorize the program before it expires at the end of this fiscal year. As part of this effort, NCJA coordinated a letter of support for the bill which was signed by 39 national criminal justice stakeholder groups. View the stakeholder letters to the House and Senate.

NCJA also supports a few adjustments to the Byrne JAG program to increase accountability and coordination in the field, improve effectiveness of Byrne JAG dollars particularly in rural areas, and strengthen the focus on evidence-based and data-generating programming.  To meet these goals, NCJA supports requiring SAAS to conduct statewide strategic planning using a community engagement model involving the broadest range of stakeholders in the states.  Also, NCJA recommends raising the threshold for the BJA direct awards from $10,000 to $50,000 or higher to ease the administrative burden on the federal agency and improve coordination with the state’s Byrne JAG formula grant awards.

In recent years, Congress has enacted several pieces of legislation for which the penalty for noncompliance is a reduction in a portion of a state or territory’s Byrne JAG grant. 

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248).  It established a mandatory 10 percent penalty on states and territories not substantially implementing SORNA.  To date, only 15 states, two territories, and 29 tribes have substantially implemented SORNA's requirements, and the first penalties will be taken from the FY12 Byrne JAG awards. 

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-79) requires a five percent penalty against any federal grant program used by states to fund prisons. 

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-180) governs administration of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  States are required to digitize and upload all criminal records into the national database in stages according to a timetable established by the Act.  Failure to meet the deadlines could trigger a Byrne JAG penalty at the discretion of the Attorney General.  NCJA and a broad coalition of stakeholder groups oppose the use of Byrne JAG as a penalty for noncompliance with unrelated federal mandates.

NCJA and other state and local criminal justice stakeholder groups strongly oppose using Byrne JAG as the penalty for unrelated federal mandates because it means the withdrawal of strong, evidence-based programs and initiatives from the field which often are the very programs that work to prevent the crime from occurring in the first place.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248), created standards for sex offender registration and notification in states, tribes, and territories.  SORNA requires sex offenders to register regularly and in-person and governs how states must manage their sex offender registries.  Also, SORNA requires juvenile offenders convicted of certain violent sex offenses to register for life (or 25 years, if reduced by a court). 

States and territories which had not “substantially implemented” SORNA by July 27, 2011 are required to forfeit 10 percent of their Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) award annually, beginning in FY12.  Further, a tribe which fails to implement within a “reasonable” time will be forced to cede operation of its sex offender registry to the state in which the tribe resides.  Currently, 15 states, 29 tribes and two territories are in compliance with SORNA. 

The House Judiciary Committee marked up its Adam Walsh Act (AWA) reauthorization bill last week. The bill, H.R. 3796, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), is a simple reauthorization of existing programs for an additional five years. In addition, in response to concerns raised by NCJA and other stakeholder organizations, the bill would modify the juvenile registration provision slightly by reducing the time before a juvenile offender may petition the court to be removed from the registry from 25 to 15 years. While this change alone is unlikely to bring more states into compliance, it suggests a willingness to work with states on compliance requirements.

During mark-up, members voted to approve two amendments suggested to the committee by NCJA. Both codify practices adopted by the SMART Office in order to address the needs of states and territories trying to come into compliance with SORNA. The first allows for the calculation of the Byrne JAG penalty only on that portion of Byrne JAG that remains at the state level (the state formula portion after the calculation of the variable pass through.) This approach means that most states’ penalties are half of the amount if the penalty were taken from the entire state formula award.

The second allows registration jurisdictions the option of deciding whether to place adjudicated juveniles on their public or their law enforcement-only registries.

The committee rejected other amendments by the ranking Democrat on the crime subcommittee, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), that would have given states and territories significant additional flexibilities on juvenile registration and clarified tribal registration responsibilities.

The bill is expected to be approved by the full House this summer. Senate action is less certain because of the short time left in the congressional session. View the introduced version (without adopted amendments) of the bill.

More information about SORNA can be found under the Sex Offender Management section of this website.

In 1994 Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to enhance the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women.  The Act established and authorized funding for three formula grant programs including STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors), SASP (Sexual Assault Services Program), and State Coalitions and 18 smaller discretionary programs to support victims and promote a coordinated community response. Funding is provided to local and state and tribal governments, courts, non-profit organizations, community-based organizations, secondary schools, institutions of higher education, and state and tribal coalitions.

A VAWA reauthorization bill, S. 1925, passed the Senate on April 26, 2012.  A House bill, H.R. 4970, passed the House on May 16, 2012.  Partisan differences over the Senate bill’s handling of protections for same-sex couples and access to the U-Visa program for immigrant women are preventing the bill from reaching conference committee. 

NCJA and the Association of VAWA Administrators (AVA) are advocating for a few changes to the bills which will improve the administration of the STOP grant program.

A bill is pending in Congress to create a blue ribbon panel to study and make recommendations to Congress on the more effective functioning of the nation’s criminal justice system. Under the National Criminal Justice Commission Act (NCJCA), S. 306, the 14-member commission would be required to undertake a comprehensive review of all areas of the criminal justice system, including Federal, State, local, and tribal governments’ criminal justice costs, practices, and policies. Recommendations would address crime prevention, recidivism reduction, cost-effectiveness and policies for ensuring the interests of justice throughout the criminal justice system. The bill failed to win support on the floor of the Senate during the FY12 appropriations process. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), hopes to take the bill to the floor again before this Congress adjourns at the end of the year. If legislation does not prevail, some supporters are encouraging the Obama Administration to create a blue ribbon panel by executive order.

• View the stakeholder letter to the Obama Administration on the creation of a blue ribbon panel.
• View stakeholder letters to House and Senate members in support of creating the National Criminal Justice Commission.

The Senate is considering the reauthorization of the Justice for All Act.  The bill would extend authorization for the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog and Paul Coverdell Grant programs, authorize funding for training and technical assistance for crime labs and law enforcement agencies to better prioritize and test the DNA samples within their possession. The bill also included a provision that would bolster the strategic planning component of the Byrne JAG program.

NCJA is pleased that the bill includes language which would strengthen and codify the strategic planning function in the Byrne JAG program. This would be done by requiring states to establish priorities for Byrne JAG spending by engaging with all segments of the state’s criminal justice system in a community-based strategic planning process. Also, it would authorize training and technical assistance funding to support states and territories’ strategic planning efforts.

Click below to learn more about the Justice for All Act:

• Full text of bill S. 250
• Section-by-section summary of the bill as introduced
• NCJA's letter support of the bill