What the Changes in the 112^th Congress Mean for Corrections

By Eric Schultz

The 111^th Congress has now concluded and the 112^th Congress is in full swing. The make-up, of course, has changed considerably. In the House of Representatives, Republicans gained 63 seats, thus controlling the majority. In the Senate, Democrats were able to maintain their majority, but lost six seats in the process. Having only 53 Democrats in the upper chamber will make it extremely difficult for them to move legislation without serious compromise with their counterparts across the aisle. Because of the rules of the Senate, 60 votes are paramount on any piece of legislation in order for it to pass not just a simple majority of 51. The House consists of 242 Republicans and 193 Democrats and is lead by the new speaker John Boehner of Ohio, and new majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia. The Democrats are maintaining their same leadership team, despite losing the speakership (former majority whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is serving in an assistant minority leader position, while Maryland’s Steny Hoyer is serving on as Democratic whip and Nancy Pelosi is the leader).

With Republican control of the House, chairmanships have all changed hands. The Judiciary Committee is led by Lamar Smith of Texas, while the Crime Subcommittee is chaired by Louis Gohmert, also of Texas. John Conyers and Bobby Scott are the ranking members of those committees, respectively.

A new Congress not only brings new leadership, but new committee membership structures and many new faces as well. In the Senate, there are 16 new faces. Four of the outgoing senators were members of the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Committee — Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Sam Brownback of Kansas, George Voinovich of Ohio and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. Similarly, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Ted Kaufman of Delaware were members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Their replacements, Pat Toomey and Chris Coons may be appointed to the Judiciary Committee, but it is uncertain. Meanwhile, former Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a Republican who retired to run for governor, was lost. He was a champion of the Second Chance Act and its key Republican sponsor in the Senate.

In the House, Rick Boucher of Virginia was not re-elected. He served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet — the committee with primary jurisdiction over the Safe Prisons Communications Act, which addresses cell phone jamming in prisons. That committee will now be taken over, presumably, by Cliff Stearns, who was elected to his 12th term. Alan Mollohan also lost re-election. He had been serving as chairman of the House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee. Frank Wolf of Virginia has taken over as the new chairman.

Other significant losses were Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, a former sheriff, who ran for Senate and lost; Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, who ran for governor but lost in the primary; Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, who lost his re-election; Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, who retired; and Bart Stupak, a former state trooper and chairman of the law enforcement caucus who retired. Ellsworth was active in correctional issues and co-chaired the Correctional Officers Caucus. Hoekstra was an avid opponent of prison industries and fought repeatedly to eliminate its competitive advantages. Delahunt was the House Democratic sponsor of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act. Patrick Kennedy was a champion for the mentally ill and big supporter of the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment and Crime Reduction Act.

As the 111^th Congress came to an end, so too did any legislation still pending before the country’s legislature. Per the rules, all bills die within the Congress during which they were introduced if they are not passed into law. Unfortunately for correctional administrators, the House never passed or even considered the Safe Prisons Communications Act despite its strong support in the Senate and its passage in October of last year. Jurisdiction was split between the Judiciary and the Energy and Commerce committees and neither took action or held hearings. It is presumed they decided to wait for the release of a comprehensive report of the available technologies to be released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in concert with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Safe Prisons Communications Act would allow the FCC to consider petitions from correctional facilities to allow for the use of cellular jamming devises.

The Deaths in Custody Reporting Act, passed in the House with a near unanimous vote last year, yet it too will die given the inaction by the Senate. It would require states to quarterly report certain information regarding deaths of any person who was detained, arrested or incarcerated. Failure to report would result in a 10 percent reduction in the amount of criminal justice assistance grants. The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act did not pass either chamber but has support and may be one of the few corrections-related bills that will see action throughout the 112^th Congress.

The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation act, which provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by states or local governments, is most adversely affected by the new Congress given Republican control of the House. The National Criminal Justice Commission Act that was introduced by Sen. Webb found its way through the House of Representatives but was not brought up for consideration by the Senate. The Webb Commission bill has bipartisan support but is a low-priority item. The cell phone jamming bill also has bipartisan support but will continue to suffer from the strong opposition posed by the industry. These and other bills will be reintroduced in the 112^th Congress, but with divided control of the legislature, action and passage of each is uncertain.

Eric Schultz is ACA’s director of government affairs.

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