Senate Panel Approves Bill Requiring U.S. Attorneys to Reside in their Districts

Key provision is part of FY 2008 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill

June 28, 2007 -- Washington, DC – The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved the FY 2008 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill, which includes a provision requiring that U.S. attorneys live in the districts they are appointed to serve, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced.

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The U.S attorney language in the bill, added by Senator Feinstein, would reverse a provision, inserted into the 2006 PATRIOT Act reauthorization at the request of the Justice Department, that enabled U.S. attorneys to live outside their districts if assigned by the Attorney General to other responsibilities.

The bill also provides millions of dollars for projects vital to California – including reimbursements to state and local governments for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens; grants to state and local law enforcement to fight gangs and methamphetamine; and funding of efforts to fight ocean pollution and protect marine wildlife.

Top Justice Department officials have acknowledged that the provision was added to the PATRIOT Act reauthorization to ensure that Montana U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer could continue to simultaneously work in Washington, DC, as a top deputy to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, without being in violation of the law. Last week, Mercer asked President Bush to withdraw his nomination for Associate Attorney General in the Justice Department. The provision has also been used by the Department to allow several other U.S. attorneys to hold full-time jobs in Washington, DC, instead of staying in their home districts.

“The change last year to the PATRIOT Act deprived the citizens of Montana, and other states, the full commitment and focus of their top federal prosecutor. U.S. attorneys are critical in the fight against crime and terrorism. We cannot allow them to serve in full-time Justice Department posts hundreds or thousands of miles from their home districts. Today’s action by the Appropriations Committee will ensure that this dubious practice is brought to an end -- and that Americans will benefit from the full, undistracted energies of their local federal prosecutors,” Senator Feinstein said.

The overall bill funds the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, NASA, and the National Science Foundation.

Key elements include:

* $660 million for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program -- a boost of nearly 26 percent over last year’s funding level, plus $190 million in Byrne discretionary grants. The Byrne/JAG programs, named after a New York City police officer slain in the line of duty in 1988, allow state and local governments to support a wide range of activities to prevent and fight crime;
* $370 million for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides federal payments to state and local governments that have incurred costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens;
* $90 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund;
* $80 million for Methamphetamine Grants to local law enforcement, including $20 million for the DEA to reimburse state and local law enforcement for removal and disposal of hazardous waste at methamphetamine labs;
* $30 million for Southwest border prosecutors; and
* $500,000 for the Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute at NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with UC Santa Cruz.

“The bill approved today will provide vital funding for law enforcement in California. It will help the fight against the scourge of methamphetamine and gangs, and it will help defray the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.

“The Byrne/JAG grants, administered by the Justice Department, have proven their effectiveness over the course of more than 20 years. These grants help fund multi-jurisdictional task forces, and are an especially important source of funding for smaller and rural law-enforcement agencies. I am pleased that efforts undertaken to build support for increased Byrne/JG funding in FY 2008 were successful.

“California bears a particularly heavy burden for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens. It costs California more than $715 million a year to house these aliens. Securing our borders is a federal responsibility, so I believe the federal government should reimburse these costs.

“The money approved in this bill for reimbursing states for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens is clearly well short of what is needed. But it is a help, and I will continue to fight to ensure that the federal government provides California with the reimbursement that it deserves.

“This bill also includes funding for an array of programs that are important to California, including $90 million to continue assistance to the Pacific states to restore salmon fisheries and habitat. It also recognizes the vital importance of the coast and ocean to California, providing funding for four marine sanctuaries along the California coast, and $1 million for the City of San Diego’s efforts to monitor the waters off Point Loma for sewage pollution.

“And by funding the Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View – a program run in conjunction with the University of California, Santa Cruz – the Committee recognizes California’s place as the nation’s leading innovator in science and technology.”

Additional funding in the bill of programs and projects important to California:

Department of Justice

* $60 million for the Regional Information Sharing Systems
* $25 million for Drug Courts
* $25 million for Victim Notification
* $13.1 million to increase FBI intellectual property crime enforcement efforts
* $400,000 for the City of Los Angeles Community Law Enforcement and Recovery and Gang Reduction Programs
* $300,000 for the California Department of Justice to combat methamphetamine production and distribution in the State
* $300,000 for the City of Fresno Police Department for law enforcement technology upgrades
* $150,000 for the City of Modesto and Stanislaus County for interoperable communications upgrades
* $100,000 for the Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) in Los Angeles County

Oceans and Science

* $50 million for the National Marine Sanctuary Program, which includes four sanctuaries on the California coast
* $1 million for the City of San Diego’s Point Loma Enhanced Ocean Monitoring Program
* $750,000 for a Gulf of the Farallones exhibit at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in San Mateo County
* $500,000 for Monterey Bay Aquarium to conduct a blue-fin tuna tagging program
* $150,000 for the Central California Air Quality Study

Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein