H.R. 886 would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide grants and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal governments to develop and maintain veteran treatment court programs to provide assistance to defendants who are military veterans. Currently there are about 600 such programs, but DOJ does not provide funding or assistance to all of them.
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be enacted in fiscal year 2020. Under that assumption, the agency could incur some costs in 2020, but CBO expects that most of the costs would be incurred in 2021 and later.
Using information from DOJ about the number of courts the department supports and the typical size of those grants, CBO estimates that implementing the act would cost about $20 million a year over the 2021-2024 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Estimated outlays are based on historical spending patterns for similar grant programs.
