S 659 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To establish a grant program within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to award grants to States that require the recording of all child welfare interviews with children and adults, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill establishes a grant program within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to award grants to states that require child protective services agencies to record all child welfare interviews. States must record interviews through audio, body camera, or other reasonable means and retain recordings for at least 5 years with secure storage and access controls. Recordings may only be released to those investigating allegations, except caregivers and guardians can access recordings in judicial proceedings unless the court orders otherwise, with penalties imposed for unauthorized release. Grant funds must be used exclusively for costs of conducting and retaining these recordings for 5 years. Grants are funded from existing OJJDP appropriations.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
Actions (2)
- Feb 20, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Feb 20, 2025 Introduced in Senate
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 20, 2025
Mrs. Blackburn introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a grant program within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to award grants to States that require the recording of all child welfare interviews with children and adults, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Generate Recordings of All Child protective Interviews Everywhere Act” or the “GRACIE Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICE INTERVIEW RECORDING GRANTS.
(a) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Child welfare interview.—The term “child welfare interview” means a documented interview with all relevant parties, including a child and an adult, conducted by a child protective services agency of a State in order to elicit information regarding concerns of abuse, neglect, or exposure to violence.
(2) Director.—The term “Director” means the Director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice.
(3) Eligible entity.—The term “eligible entity” means a child protective services agency of a State that has in effect a statute, ordinance, policy, or practice that requires—
(A) any child welfare interview conducted by a child protective services agency of the State to be recorded through—
(i) electronic audio recording;
(ii) body camera video; or
(iii) any other reasonable means of recording; and
(B) the retention and storage of a recording described in subparagraph (A)—
(i) for not less than 5 years; and
(ii) in a manner consistent with the protocols established by the State for such recordings, which shall include that—
(I) a copy of such a recording— (aa) subject to item (bb), may only be released to those investigating an allegation; and (bb) upon a request by a caregiver or guardian in connection with a judicial proceeding, shall be made available to the caregiver or guardian, unless the court orders otherwise;
(II) a penalty is imposed for a violation of a limitation described in subclause (I); and
(III) the retention systems of the child protective services agency securely manage the storage and distribution of such a recording with access controls and role-based permission management.
(4) State.—The term “State” means—
(A) each of the several States;
(B) the District of Columbia;
(C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and
(D) any territory or possession of the United States.
(b) Grants.—The Director may award a grant to an eligible entity for the purpose of recording and storing all child welfare interviews conducted by the eligible entity.
(c) Application.—An eligible entity seeking a grant under this section shall submit to the Director an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may require.
(d) Use of Funds.—Amounts received under a grant under this section shall be used exclusively for costs directly associated with conducting and retaining for 5 years the recording of all child welfare interviews by a child protective services agency of a State, including initial interviews conducted during a family assessment.
(e) Funding.—The Director shall carry out this section using amounts otherwise available to the Director. <all>
Comments