Sponsors (16)
The bill preserves federal public-safety funding for jurisdictions that maintain traditional policing and pretrial practices, but does so by penalizing jurisdictions that pursue bail reform or police-budget reductions, shifting costs to local communities and constraining local policymaking.
State and local governments that retain traditional pretrial practices remain eligible for federal public-safety grants, preserving access to federal funding streams tied to criminal-justice policy.
Jurisdictions that did not reduce police funding are prioritized for grants, helping sustain local policing resources and crime-prevention programs in affected communities.
Local governments that implemented cash-bail or other pretrial reforms risk losing Byrne/JAG-style federal grants, reducing funding for courts, diversion programs, and community public-safety initiatives.
Jurisdictions that allow release on personal recognizance for some felony-convicted individuals or pursue diversion approaches may be penalized through grant cuts, constraining local court, bail, and diversion reforms.
Conditioning federal grants on specific criminal-justice and budgeting policies reduces local control and can limit voters' and local officials' ability to pursue reforms tailored to their communities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Conditions certain federal justice grants on local pretrial bail policies and on police budget reductions in urbanized areas, barring awards to jurisdictions that meet specified disqualifying criteria.
Introduced September 30, 2025 by Mark Harris · Last progress September 30, 2025
Prohibits the Attorney General from awarding, renewing, or extending two types of federal justice grants to states or localities that meet specified conditions: (1) jurisdictions that substantially limit cash bail for a defined list of serious or public-disorder offenses or that allow judges to release previously convicted felons on personal recognizance; and (2) urban jurisdictions that reduced a law enforcement agency’s budget in the prior year, unless the cut was part of a proportionate, across-the-board reduction due to an overall budget shortfall. The rule on grant eligibility takes effect in the first fiscal year after the law is enacted. Also establishes an official short title for the law. The changes condition access to federal grants on local pretrial and policing policies and on the size of police budgets in urbanized areas.