H.R. 5107 - Justice for All Act of 2004 1. Modified closed rule.
2. Provides one hour of debate in the House equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
3. Waives all points of order against consideration of the bill.
4. Provides for consideration of the amendment printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution, if offered by Representative Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin or his designee, which shall be considered as read, shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question, and shall be separately debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent.
5. Waives all points of order against the amendment printed in the report.
6. Provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
--------- RESOLUTION Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 5107) to protect crime victims' rights, to eliminate the substantial backlog of DNA samples collected from crime scenes and convicted offenders, to improve and expand the DNA testing capacity of Federal, State, and local crime laboratories, to increase research and development of new DNA testing technologies, to develop new training programs regarding the collection and use of DNA evidence, to provide post-conviction testing of DNA evidence to exonerate the innocent, to improve the performance of counsel in State capital cases, and for other purposes. The bill shall be considered as read for amendment. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate on the bill equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary; (2) the amendment printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, if offered by Representative Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin or his designee, which shall be in order without intervention of any point of order or demand for division of the question, shall be considered as read, and shall be separately debatable for twenty minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent; and (3) one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
SUMMARY OF AMENDMENTS MADE IN ORDER
(summaries derived from information provided by sponsors) Sensenbrenner #1
Managers Amendment. . Changes provisions to allow a victim a right to bring a motion to enforce the right to be heard in plea and sentence and also allows a victim to be heard at a parole proceeding. Allows for a five year time period to file a motion for a DNA test and then provides for a rebuttable presumption against the test after that. Changes the standard for getting a new trial from a Apreponderance of the evidence standard to a Acompelling evidence@ standard. Reduces the amount authorized for capital representation and prosecution grants by $25 million and limits the amount that may be used for training and effective systems at the appellate level. Increases the penalties for misuse of DNA samples. (20 minutes)
TEXT OF THE AMENDMENTS(.pdf)
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