S. 3077 — Safer Supervision Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings on federal supervised release, including that over 110,000 individuals were on supervised release as of December 2024; federal probation officers' caseloads can exceed 100 cases per officer; and early terminations accounted for 29% of successful supervised release closures in the 12 months ending December 2024. The findings affirm supervised release as a discretionary tool for courts to protect the public and promote rehabilitation while noting that excessive supervision of low-risk individuals may increase recidivism and that early termination, when consistent with public safety, reduces burdens on officers and courts.

This section revises supervised release provisions under 18 U.S.C. §3583 as follows: (1) requires courts to conduct an individualized assessment of relevant factors and state reasons on the record before imposing a term of supervised release, except when required by statute; (2) makes compliance with Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requirements a permissive rather than mandatory explicit condition of supervised release; (3) expands early termination options by eliminating the prior one-year minimum service requirement, requiring the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to provide notice of termination opportunities after the lesser of one year or 50% of the term, establishing a presumption of termination after 50% of the term (or 66.6% for crimes of violence under 18 U.S.C. §16(a)) if the defendant shows good conduct and no public safety risk, affording the government and crime victims procedural rights, authorizing court-appointed counsel, and clarifying that no extraordinary conduct is needed; and (4) narrows mandatory revocation grounds by limiting controlled substance possession triggers to cases involving intent to distribute or penalties exceeding one year imprisonment (from any unlawful possession), retaining willful refusal to comply with drug testing, eliminating prior additional grounds, and updating related cross-references.

This section directs the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, to submit to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, not later than 180 days after enactment, a report containing a legislative proposal and implementation considerations to provide law enforcement availability pay—equal to that provided to criminal investigators under 5 U.S.C. 5545a—to Federal probation officers and pretrial services officers. (Law enforcement availability pay provides a 25% premium on basic pay to criminal investigators who are generally available for unscheduled duty based on agency needs.)

This section authorizes the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to release prisoners not sentenced to a term of supervised release up to 12 months early based on earned time credits under the First Step Act's risk and needs assessment system (18 U.S.C. §3632) and makes conforming amendments to 18 U.S.C. §3624(g), including removing multiple references to "supervised" release. (Previously, subsection (g) permitted such early prerelease custody only for prisoners subject to supervised release.)

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to initiate, not later than one year after the date of enactment, a study on federal post-release supervision and reentry services and to submit a report to Congress containing findings and potential recommendations on (1) the number of individuals placed on federal probation or supervised release since 2019; (2) the process for transitioning individuals from Bureau of Prisons custody to the Office of Probation and Pretrial Services or United States Marshals Service custody; (3) federal programs and funding sources assisting such individuals with reentry—including mental health and substance use counseling, housing, medical care, education, and job placement—and any changes since 2019; (4) a workforce assessment of judicial districts, including officer numbers, caseloads, and overtime hours in the most recent two years for which data are available, as well as the system for tracking such overtime; and (5) the funding formula for probation offices, including its effects on incentives for recommending early termination of supervised release.