Safer Communities Act of 2019
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
Safer Communities Act of 2019
This bill establishes grants for mental health programs, revises certain prohibitions related to firearms, and revises criminal history reporting systems.
Specifically, it provides grants to expand mental health crisis assistance programs, support comprehensive school mental health programs, and enhance mental health and substance abuse needs of prisoners.
The Department of Health and Human Services must expand research on violence associated with mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must expand the National Violent Death Reporting System to all 50 states and research the causes, mechanisms, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of injuries from gun violence.
Additionally, physicians are not prohibited from asking patients about guns in their homes, speaking to a patient about gun safety, or reporting a patient's threat of violence.
The bill authorizes state grants to remove firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.
The Department of Justice must promptly notify law enforcement agencies when a prohibited person attempts to purchase a firearm.
It also revises the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to
establish procedures to restore firearm ownership rights after a mental health adjudication or commitment,
authorize state grants for the automation and transmittal of mental health and criminal history records, and
require certain annual reports and quarterly updates.
Finally, it reauthorizes through FY2024 the National Criminal History Records Improvement Program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on August 20, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 25, 2019: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
MIKE THOMPSON (D-CA) introduced it on August 20, 2019, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on August 20, 2019, 2578 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2542 days ago, on September 25, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers