Full House
Approves Second Chance Act Reentry Legislation
On November 13th, the full U.S. House of Representatives approved
H.R. 1593, the Second Chance Act of 2007, by a 347 to 62 vote. There were 218 Democratic members and 129 Republican members voting
for passage. Although the Second Chance Act has been introduced during the past two Congresses, this marks the first time that the
legislation has received a vote before the full House. The Senate version of the Second Chance Act, S. 1060, was approved by the
Senate Judiciary Committee in August. The Second Chance Act is expected to be reviewed by the full Senate before the end of the
year.
The Second Chance Act, legislation that seeks to help States
and localities better address the needs of individuals reentering the community from the criminal justice system, was introduced in the House in
March by Representatives Danny Davis (D-IL), Chris Cannon (R-UT), John Conyers (D-MI), Howard Coble (R-NC), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Lamar Smith (R-TX),
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), Randy Forbes (R-VA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX),
Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY). H.R. 1593 currently has 92 bi-partisan
co-sponsors.
The Second Chance Act would reauthorize a Department of Justice
(DOJ) grant program for people returning to the community from incarceration. H.R. 1593 would provide grants to States and local
areas to create or strengthen the systems that help adults and youth transition into the community when they are released from incarceration by
providing drug addiction and mental health treatment services, job training and education opportunities, housing and other necessary services. In
order to receive grant funds, applicants would be required to provide an analysis and identification of regulatory and statutory barriers to an
individual’s reentry into the community. In addition, the legislation has a number of provisions requiring coordination
between various agencies, including State substance abuse, child welfare, and criminal justice agencies. H.R. 1593 would authorize
$55 million in appropriations for these grants each year for the next two fiscal years.
H.R. 1593 would also authorize a number of other grant programs
focused on strengthening drug and alcohol addiction treatment services for incarcerated and reentering individuals. In particular,
H.R. 1593 would authorize:
-
A Department of Justice (DOJ) grant program to States, localities
and Indian tribes to improve the provision of drug addiction treatment to people incarcerated in prisons, jails and juvenile facilities; and to reduce
the use of alcohol and other drugs by individuals with long-term addiction problems; $15 million would be authorized for this program for each of the
2009 and 2010 fiscal years
-
A grant program to States, localities and Indian tribes to 1)
develop, implement or expand comprehensive family-based addiction treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration for parents convicted of
non-violent offenses and 2) to provide prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents; $10 million would be authorized for this
program for each of the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years
-
A grant program through the Department of Justice’s
National Institute of Justice, in consultation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), to evaluate the effectiveness of depot naltrexone
for the treatment of heroin addiction; $5 million would be authorized for each of the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years
(Top)
H.R. 1593 would also authorize a number of grant programs aimed at
improving support for educational and job training and placement services for incarcerated and reentering people. H.R. 1593 would
authorize:
-
A grant program to nonprofit organizations through the Department
of Labor aimed at helping formerly incarcerated people find and retain employment through mentoring, job training and placement services, and other
comprehensive transitional services; the legislation states that grantees could coordinate efforts with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) One-Stop
system; $20 million would be authorized for this grant program for each of the two 2009 and 2010 fiscal years
-
A grant program to States, local governments, Indian tribes and
other public and private entities to evaluate and implement methods to improve academic and vocational education for people in prison, jails and
juvenile facilities; best practices for such educational programs would then be recommended to the Attorney General; $5 million would be authorized
for this program for each of two fiscal years
-
A grant program to States, local units of government and Indian
tribes to establish technology career training programs within prisons, jails and juvenile facilities; $10 million would be authorized for this
program for each of two fiscal years
In addition, H.R. 1593 would require the Attorney General, in
coordination with the Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), to establish a reentry program, subject to the availability of
funding. Under the legislation, the BOP would be required to assess each individual at the beginning of their imprisonment to
identify areas of need and to generate individual skills development plans to monitor skills enhancement. The BOP would also be
required to help reentering individuals in obtaining identification cards, such as driver’s licenses, prior to their release and to implement
programs aimed at increasing the hiring of formerly incarcerated people by educating employers and the WIA one-stop system about existing incentives
for hiring formerly incarcerated people.
It is unclear when the full Senate will vote on the Second Chance
Act, but consideration may occur in the coming weeks. Congress is recessing on November 16th for the Thanksgiving holiday but is
expected to return to session in the beginning of December for two to three weeks. The text and status of both the House and
Senate versions of the Second Chance Act can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/.
(Top)
President
Vetoes Labor HHS Funding Bill, Approves Stopgap Funding Measure; Next Steps in Appropriations Process Unclear
On November 13th, President Bush vetoed the FY 2008 funding
bill for programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. In a White House statement, President
Bush expressed that he vetoed the funding bill because it had exceeded his budget request by $10 billion.
The House is expected to vote on whether to override the
President’s veto on November 15th. It is unclear whether there will be enough votes to override the veto; when the House
and the Senate approved the Labor HHS funding bill last week, both votes were short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a Presidential
veto.
The 2008 fiscal year began on October 1st.
Most federal agencies and programs are currently being funded at FY 2007 levels under a Continuing Resolution (CR) approved by Congress in
September that was due to expire on November 16th. However, this week the President signed into law the Department of Defense
funding bill which contains a new CR, also continuing funding at FY 2007 levels, that will expire on December 14th.
If Congressional attempts to override the veto are unsuccessful,
Congress will likely work to further reduce program funding amounts in order to bring the Labor HHS bill within the President’s spending
cap. However, under the Labor HHS funding bill approved by Congress and vetoed by the President, drug and alcohol education,
prevention, treatment and research programming would receive the following amounts:
The Congressional Thanksgiving recess is scheduled to begin on
November 17th; it is expected that Members will return from recess at the beginning of December and will remain in session for two to three
weeks. More information about the FY 2008 appropriations process can be found at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app08.html.
(Top)
