Community First Act

This bill sets up a Justice Department grant program to help communities lower the number of people in local jails and the days they spend there. Money can pay for planning and on-the-ground changes like adding pretrial services, using less cash bail, speeding up court cases, making sure people get a lawyer early, training on public defense, and creating diversion options before and after arrest that don’t require a guilty plea and don’t use jail for missed program steps.

Local governments, tribes, territories, and nonprofits can team up to apply. Plans must be public, use five years of local data, and set the least restrictive pretrial conditions needed for safety and return to court. Grantees must work with police, courts, defense, health agencies, and community members; cut the jail population by at least 5% in year one, 10% each later year, and 50% by the end; measure and reduce unfair gaps between groups; hire an outside evaluator; and use savings from fewer jail days to keep the work going. If targets are missed, the grant is audited and can be ended, though targets may be adjusted if a population spike caused the shortfall .

• Who is eligible: Partnerships of at least two of these—local government, a territory, a tribe, or a nonprofit.
• What changes: Grants for planning and for action steps like more pretrial services, less cash bail, faster case processing, early access to a lawyer, training, and diversion programs that don’t rely on jail for noncompliance.
• Required results: Reduce the jail population 5% in year one, 10% in each later year, reaching 50% by the end; track and shrink equity gaps; reinvest savings in community efforts; independent evaluation; audits and possible termination if goals aren’t met.
• Funding and timing: $20M/year for planning and $100M/year for implementation from fiscal years 2026–2030, with 10% of implementation funds set aside for evaluation. Implementation grants run 6 years: $500k–$3M in year one, then smaller each year; the final year is for evaluation and a final report only .
• Who gets priority: Places with the highest jail rates that aren’t already falling; communities seeking to prevent new jail bed expansions; and a focus on smaller metro, micropolitan, or rural areas, with limits on awards to large central metro areas.