H.R. 3439 — Defund Cities that Defund the Police Act of 2025

This section defines a "defunding State" as one that either abolishes or disbands a State law enforcement agency with no intention of reconstituting it or significantly reduces such an agency's budget without facing a significant decrease in revenues in the previous fiscal year. The section further defines a "defunding locality" as a political subdivision of a State (other than a rural police department) in an urbanized area, per the Census Bureau, that either abolishes or disbands its police department with no intention of reconstituting it or significantly reduces the department's budget without facing a significant decrease in revenues in the previous fiscal year.

This section prohibits defunding States and localities (as defined in section 2 of the Defund Cities that Defund the Police Act of 2025) from eligibility for Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, with returned funds reallocated to non-defunding recipients. Specifically, for EDA programs, the section: (1) adds to public works and economic development grant criteria (42 U.S.C. 3141(b)) a requirement that the project area is not a defunding State or locality; (2) deems defunding jurisdictions ineligible recipients for planning and administrative expense grants (42 U.S.C. 3143(a)); (3) adds to supplementary grant criteria (42 U.S.C. 3145(a)) a requirement that the project area does not contain a defunding State or locality; and (4) prohibits grant funds for training, research, and technical assistance (42 U.S.C. 3147) from assisting defunding States or localities, requiring defunding States to return funds for reallocation to non-defunding localities within the State. For CDBGs, the section adds a definition of defunding State or locality; conditions grant awards on the grantee not being (or becoming) a defunding State or locality; and prohibits fund obligation or expenditure to such entities, requiring returned State funds to be reallocated to non-defunding localities within the State and returned local funds to be reallocated to non-defunding States or localities (applying relevant allocation formulas with defunding entities excluded). (EDA grants support infrastructure, planning, and technical assistance in economically distressed areas to promote job growth and economic development; CDBGs provide formula block grants to states and localities for housing, community facilities, and economic development activities benefiting low- and moderate-income persons.)