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HR2669119th Congress
Community First Act
Sponsored By: Representative Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would create a Justice Department grant program to help jurisdictions reduce local jail incarceration and cut days people spend behind bars while funding community-led reinvestment.
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- Local governments, courts, and public defenders would get planning grants up to $100,000 for one year and six-year implementation grants that start between $500,000 and $3,000,000 in year one. Grantees would face staged reduction targets starting at 5% in year one and rising over the grant to reach significant cuts by the end of the award.
- People charged and jailed and their families could see more diversion options, less reliance on cash bail, expanded pretrial services and early counsel, and training for indigent defense. Grantees must reinvest savings into sustaining community-based services.
- Eligibility and oversight would push partnerships of at least two local entities or nonprofits, require external evaluation, and give priority to high-incarceration and smaller or rural jurisdictions. Ten percent of appropriated funds would support evaluation.
*Would authorize $20.0 million per year for planning grants and $100.0 million per year for implementation grants for fiscal years 2026–2030, with 10% reserved for evaluation.*
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Five-year funding for local jail reform
If enacted, the government would authorize $20 million each year for planning grants and $100 million each year for implementation grants, for fiscal years 2026–2030. Ten percent of any implementation money later appropriated would be set aside for evaluation. This authorizes funding only; Congress would still need to appropriate the money.
Six-year grants with performance targets
If enacted, planning grants would last 1 year and could be up to $100,000 each. Implementation grants would run 6 years. Year 1 would be $500,000–$3,000,000, based on an approved budget. Year 2 would be 10% less than Year 1; Year 3, 15% less; Year 4, 20% less; Year 5, 25% less. Year 6 money could only fund evaluation and a final report and would stay available until spent. Grantees would need to cut local jail incarceration by at least 5% in year 1, 10% each year after, and 50% by the end.
What grants could fund and who applies
If enacted, grant money could pay to cut cash bail use, reduce revocations of probation or parole, expand pretrial services with community groups, speed case processing, ensure lawyers at first hearings, train public defenders, and expand diversion that avoids guilty pleas and jail for noncompliance. Applications would need five years of arrest and jail data by key demographics or a plan to get missing data in year one, and a plan to use the least restrictive pretrial conditions needed for imminent risks. Eligible partnerships must include at least two of these: a local government, a territory, an Indian tribe, or a nonprofit. Grantees would consult broad local stakeholders, set methods and goals to reduce equity gaps, hire an external evaluator, and plan to reinvest savings from reduced incarceration back into programs and community efforts. The Attorney General would favor places with high, not-yet-declining incarceration rates and projects that prevent adding jail beds, and would spread awards to small metro, micropolitan, and rural areas.
Audits and loss of grants if targets missed
If enacted, the Bureau of Justice Assistance would audit any grantee that misses required incarceration or equity goals in a year. The grantee would need to adopt new strategies found by the audit. If a grantee misses the targets two years in a row, the Attorney General would end the award. If an audit shows population growth caused the miss, targets could be adjusted. Missing the adjusted targets in any two later years would also end the award.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1]
MO • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Cleaver, Emanuel [D-MO-5]
MO • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9]
NY • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Figures, Shomari [D-AL-2]
AL • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10]
NJ • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Jackson, Jonathan L. [D-IL-1]
IL • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Bishop, Sanford D. [D-GA-2]
GA • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Thompson, Bennie G. [D-MS-2]
MS • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
MI • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" [D-GA-4]
GA • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Ivey, Glenn [D-MD-4]
MD • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Ansari, Yassamin [D-AZ-3]
AZ • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Crockett, Jasmine [D-TX-30]
TX • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24]
FL • D
Sponsored 4/7/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov