34 U.S.C. § 40301 — State grant program for criminal justice identification, information, and communication

(a) In general. Subject to Congress providing the money, the Office of Justice Programs — relying mainly on the Bureau of Justice Statistics — must give each state a grant. States use this money, together with local governments, courts, other states, or combinations of these, to build or upgrade identification and information systems that (1) upgrade criminal history and criminal justice record systems, including those run by police and courts; (2) improve how criminal defendants are identified; (3) make national, state, and local systems work together for (A) criminal justice, (B) checking gun eligibility, (C) identifying people convicted of crimes punishable by more than a year in prison, (D) identifying sex offenders, (E) identifying domestic violence offenders, and (F) background checks for other approved, non-criminal-justice purposes; and (4) gather information for research and statistics to improve how criminal justice is run. (b) Use of grant amounts. States can use these grants to build, improve, or upgrade: (1) statewide computer systems for adult and juvenile criminal records, including arrests and case outcomes; (2) fingerprint identification systems that work with national FBI standards and its Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System; (3) systems to scan and share fingerprints electronically, following national standards; (4) programs to fully join the FBI's Interstate Identification Index; (5) systems to join any compact tied to that Index; (6) systems to fully join the national instant gun background-check system, including efforts to pre-check felony and domestic-violence records so checks go faster, and steps needed to meet an implementation plan under section 40917; (7) integrated systems connecting police, courts, prosecutors, and corrections agencies; (8) non-criminal record systems relevant to gun eligibility checks, so they can be used by the national instant check system; (9) court-based systems that (A) report case outcomes to state repositories and the FBI, and (B) work well with other criminal justice systems; (10) ballistics identification systems that connect with the National Integrated Ballistics Network; (11) forensic science and medical examiner programs, including accreditation efforts and DNA analysis; (12) sex offender identification and registration systems; (13) domestic violence offender identification systems; (14) fingerprint-based background check programs for non-criminal-justice jobs, like youth service workers and volunteers, where a federal or state law allows it; (15) systems that can produce statistics and research, including reporting systems compatible with the National Incident-Based Reporting System and uniform crime reports; (16) communication systems letting states share routine and emergency information with federal, state, and local police; (17) ways for the criminal justice system to give timely, accurate, complete criminal history information to child welfare agencies assessing risk to children, including protecting against sexual abuse and placing children in foster care; and (18) — despite subsection (c) — antiterrorism purposes tied to any other use in this section, or other antiterrorism programs. (c) Assurances. (1) In general. To get a grant, a state must promise the Attorney General that it can contribute information to the national instant gun background-check system. (2) Information sharing. This promise must include a plan showing the state is building, or will build, information-sharing systems to improve the criminal justice system, especially integrating law enforcement, courts, prosecution, corrections, and probation/parole. The state develops this plan after talking with state and local officials, especially those who oversee information technology, and the plan must include: (A) a definition and review of what "integration" means for that state and its localities; (B) an assessment of criminal justice resources going to information technology; (C) how the state will coordinate technology with federal, regional, and local partners; (D) proof the state consulted all branches of state government, including the state's top court, when writing the application; (E) what state and local resources are needed; (F) the state's priorities for planning and building these systems; and (G) a plan to coordinate this funding with other federally funded technology programs, including local programs like the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program and the M.O.R.E. program. (d) Matching funds. The federal government usually cannot pay more than 90% of a funded program's cost — the state covers the rest — unless the state has met an implementation plan under section 40917, or the Attorney General waives this rule in whole or part. (e) Authorization of appropriations. (1) Congress can spend up to $250,000,000 a year on this program for fiscal years 2018 through 2022. (2) Of that yearly amount: (A) no more than 3% can go to the Attorney General's own salaries and administrative costs; (B) no more than 5% can go to technical assistance, training, evaluation, and studies by the Bureau of Justice Statistics; and (C) the Attorney General must make sure the money is spread fairly across the country. (f) Grants to Indian tribes. Despite anything else in this section, the Attorney General can use this money to give grants to Indian tribes, to be used the same way as state grants.