,i  #aacth ,,congress  #ast ,session    
,h4 ,r4 #hh  ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of    
,,representatives  ,january #c1 #bjac   
,ms4 ,jackson ,lee introduced the       
following bill2 which was referred to   
the ,committee on the ,judiciary  ,a    
,,bill  ,to increase the evidentiary    
standard required to convict a person   
for a drug offense1 to require screening
 of law enforcement officers or others  
acting under color of law participating 
in drug task forces1 and for other      
purposes4  #a4 ,short title ,this ,act  
may be cited as the ,no ,more ,tulias3  
,drug ,law ,enforcement ,evidentiary    
,standards ,improvement ,act of #bjac4  
#b4 ,findings2 sense of ,congress  7a7  
,findings ,congress finds the following3
  7#a7 ,in recent years it has become   
clear that programs funded by the       
,edward ,byrne ,memorial ,justice       
,assistance ,grant program 7referred to 
in this ,act as the ,byrne grants       
program7 have perpetuated racial        
disparities1 corruption in law          

enforcement1 and the commission of civil
 rights abuses across the country4 ,this
 is especially the case when it comes to
 the program's funding of hundreds of   
regional antidrug task forces because   
the grants for these antidrug task      
forces have been dispensed to ,state    
governments with very little ,federal   
oversight and have been prone to misuse 
and corruption4  7#b7 ,numerous         
,government ,accountability ,office     
reports have found that the ,department 
of ,justice has inadequately monitored  
grants provided under the ,byrne grants 
program4 ,a #bjja ,general ,accounting  
,office report found that one-third of  
the grants did not contain required     
monitoring plans4 ,seventy percent of   
files on such grants did not contain    
required progress reports4 ,forty-one   
percent of such files did not contain   
financial reports covering the full     
grant period4 ,a #bjjb report by the    
,heritage ,foundation reported that     
there is virtually no evidence that the 

,byrne grants program has been          
successful in reducing crime and that   
the program lacks adequate measures of  
performance4  7#c7 ,a #bjjb report by   
the ,american ,civil ,liberties ,union  
of ,texas identified #ag recent scandals
 involving antidrug task forces in      
,texas that receive funds under the     
,byrne grants program4 ,such scandals   
include cases of the falsification of   
government records1 witness tampering1  
fabricating evidence1 false             
imprisonment1 stealing drugs from       
evidence lockers1 selling drugs to      
children1 large-scale racial profiling1 
sexual harassment1 and other abuses of  
official capacity4 ,recent scandals in  
other ,states include the misuse of     
millions of dollars in ,byrne grants    
program money in ,kentucky and          
,massachusetts1 wrongful convictions    
based on police perjury in ,missouri1   
and negotiations with drug offenders to 
drop or lower their charges in exchange 
for money or vehicles in ,alabama1      

,arkansas1 ,georgia1 ,massachusetts1    
,new ,york1 ,ohio1 and ,wisconsin4  7#d7
 ,the most well-known ,byrne-funded task
 force scandal occurred in ,tulia1      
,texas1 where dozens of                 
,african-,american residents 7totaling  
over #af percent of the town's          
,african-,american population7 were     
arrested1 prosecuted1 and sentenced to  
decades in prison1 based solely on the  
uncorroborated testimony of one         
undercover officer whose background     
included past allegations of misconduct1
 sexual harassment1 unpaid debts1 and   
habitual use of a racial epithet4 ,the  
undercover officer was allowed to work  
alone1 and not required to provide      
audiotapes1 video surveillance1 or      
eyewitnesses to corroborate his         
allegations4 ,despite the lack of       
physical evidence or corroboration1 the 
charges were vigorously prosecuted4     
,after the first few trials resulted in 
convictions and lengthy sentences1 many 
defendants accepted plea bargains4      

,suspicions regarding the legitimacy of 
the charges eventually arose after two  
of the accused defendants were able to  
produce convincing alibi evidence to    
prove that they were out of ,state or at
 work at the time of the alleged drug   
purchases4 ,texas ,governor ,rick ,perry
 eventually pardoned the ,tulia         
defendants 7after four years of         
imprisonment71 but these kinds of       
scandals continue to plague ,byrne grant
 program spending4  7#e7 ,a case arose  
in a ,federal court in ,waco1 ,texas1   
concerning the wrongful arrests of #bh  
,african-,americans out of #d1ejj other 
residents of ,hearne1 ,texas4 ,in       
,november #bjjj1 these individuals were 
arrested on charges of possession or    
distribution of crack cocaine1 and they 
subsequently filed a case against the   
county government4 ,on ,may #aa1 #bjje1 
a magistrate judge found sufficient     
evidence that a ,byrne-funded antidrug  
task force had routinely targeted       
,african-,americans to hold the county  

liable for the harm suffered by the     
plaintiffs4 ,plaintiffs in that lawsuit 
alleged that for the past #ae years1    
based on the uncorroborated tales of    
informants1 task force members annually 
raided the ,african-,american community 
in eastern ,hearne to arrest the        
residents identified by the confidential
 informants1 resulting in the arrest and
 prosecution of innocent citizens       
without cause4 ,on the eve of trial the 
counties involved in the ,hearne task   
force scandal settled the case1 agreeing
 to pay financial damages to the        
plaintiffs4  7#f7 ,scandals related to  
the ,byrne grants program have grown so 
prolific that the ,texas legislature has
 passed several reforms in response to  
them1 including outlawing racial        
profiling and changing ,texas law to    
prohibit drug offense convictions based 
solely on the word of an undercover     
informant4 ,the ,criminal ,jurisprudence
 ,committee of the ,texas ,house of     
,representatives issued a report in     

#bjjd recommending that all of the      
,state's federally funded antidrug task 
forces be abolished because they are    
inherently prone to corruption4 ,the    
,committee reported1 ,continuing to     
sanction task force operations as       
stand-alone law enforcement             
entities--with widespread authority to  
operate at will across multiple         
jurisdictional lines--should not        
continue4 ,the current approach violates
 practically every sound principle of   
police oversight and accountability     
applicable to narcotics interdiction4   
,the ,texas legislature passed a law    
that ends the ability of a narcotics    
task force to operate as an entity with 
no clear accountability4 ,the           
legislation transfers authority for     
multicounty drug task forces to the     
,department of ,public ,safety and      
channels one-quarter of asset forfeiture
 proceeds received by the task forces to
 a special fund to support drug abuse   
prevention programs1 drug treatment1 and

 other programs designed to reduce drug 
use in the county where the assets are  
seized4  7#g7 ,texas's corroboration law
 was passed thanks to a coalition of    
,christian conservatives and civil      
rights activists4 ,as one ,texas        
preacher related1 requiring             
corroboration puts a protective hedge   
around the ninth commandment1 ,you shall
 not bear false witness against your    
neighbor4 ,as long as people bear false 
witness against their neighbors1 this   
,biblical law will not be outdated4     
7#h7 ,during floor debate1 conservative 
,texas legislators pointed out that     
,mosaic law requires corroboration3 ,one
 witness shall not rise up against a man
 for any iniquity1 or for any sin1 in   
any sin that he sinneth3 at the mouth of
 two witnesses1 or at the mouth of three
 witnesses1 shall the matter be         
established4 ,deuteronomy #ai3ae4 ,jesus
 concurred with the corroboration rule3 
,if thy brother shall trespass against  
thee1 go and tell him his fault between 

thee and him alone4 ''' ,but if he will 
not hear thee1 then take with thee one  
or two more1 that in the mouth of two or
 three witnesses every word may be      
established4 ,matthew #ah3ae-af4  7#i7  
,texas's corroboration law had an       
immediate positive impact4 ,once        
prosecutors needed more than just the   
word of one person to convict someone of
 a drug offense they began scrutinizing 
law enforcement tactics4 ,this new      
scrutiny led to the uncovering of       
massive corruption and civil rights     
abuse by the ,dallas police force4 ,in  
what became known nationally as the     
,sheetrock scandal1 ,dallas police      
officers and undercover informants were 
found to have set up dozens of innocent 
people1 mostly ,mexican immigrants1 by  
planting fake drugs on them consisting  
of chalk-like material used in          
,sheetrock and other brands of          
wallboard4 ,the revelations led to the  
dismissal of over #dj cases 7although   
some of those arrested were already     

deported74 ,in ,april #bjje1 a former   
,dallas narcotics detective was         
sentenced to five years in prison for   
his role in the scheme4 ,charges against
 others are pending4  7#aj7 ,many       
regional antidrug task forces receive up
 to #ge percent of their funding from   
the ,byrne grant program4 ,as such1 the 
,united ,states ,government is          
accountable for corruption and civil    
rights abuses inherent in their         
operation4  7b7 ,sense of ,congress ,it 
is the sense of ,congress that--  7#a7  
grants under the ,byrne grants program  
should be prohibited for ,states that do
 not exercise effective control over    
antidrug task forces2  7#b7 at a        
minimum1 no ,state that fails to        
prohibit criminal convictions based     
solely on the testimony of a law        
enforcement officer or informants should
 receive a grant under such program2 and
  7#c7 corroborative evidence1 such as  
video or audio tapes1 drugs1 and money1 
should always be required for such      

criminal convictions to be sustained4   
#c4 ,limitation on receipt of ,byrne    
grant funds and other ,department of    
,justice law enforcement assistance  7a7
 ,limitation ,for any fiscal year1 a    
,state shall not receive any amount that
 would otherwise be allocated to that   
,state under section #eje7;a7 of the    
,omnibus ,crime ,control and ,safe      
,streets ,act of #aifh 7#db ,u4,s4,c4   
#cgee7;a771 or any amount from any other
 law enforcement assistance program of  
the ,department of ,justice1 unless the 
,state--  7#a7 does not fund any        
antidrug task forces for that fiscal    
year2 or  7#b7 has in effect throughout 
the ,state laws that ensure--  7,a7 a   
person is not convicted of a drug       
offense unless the fact that a drug     
offense was committed1 and the fact that
 the person committed that offense1 are 
each supported by evidence other than   
the eyewitness testimony of a law       
enforcement officer or an individual    
acting on behalf of a law enforcement   

officer2 and  7,b7 a law enforcement    
officer does not participate in an      
antidrug task force unless the honesty  
and integrity of that officer is        
evaluated and found to be at an         
appropriately high level4  7b7          
,regulations ,the ,attorney ,general    
shall prescribe regulations to carry out
 subsection 7a74  7c7 ,reallocation     
,amounts not allocated by reason of     
subsection 7a7 shall be reallocated to  
,states not disqualified by failure to  
comply with such subsection4  #d4       
,collection of data  7a7 ,in ,general ,a
 ,state that receives ,federal funds    
pursuant to eligibility under section   
#c7;a77#b71 with respect to a fiscal    
year1 shall collect data1 for the most  
recent year for which funds were        
allocated to such ,state1 with respect  
to the--  7#a7 racial distribution of   
charges made during that year2  7#b7    
nature of the criminal law specified in 
the charges made2 and  7#c7 city or law 
enforcement jurisdiction in which the   

charges were made4  7b7 ,report ,as a   
condition of receiving ,federal funds   
pursuant to section #c7;a77#b71 a ,state
 shall submit to ,congress the data     
collected under subsection 7a7 by not   
later than the date that is #ahj days   
prior to the date on which such funds   
are awarded for a fiscal year4