Two U.S. Congressmen Friday introduced federal legislation that would fund creation of HOPE programs around the country.

The bill was authored by Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ted Poe, R-Texas. Although based on Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement, the federal program is called "Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement."

The federal HOPE program "builds on the success of the Hawaii program," Schiff said in a news release.

The legislation would "create a new competitive grant program for state and local courts" to establish HOPE programs, the news release said.

"Innovative approaches like HOPE help reduce drug use and crime by rehabilitating offenders before long, costly jail sentences are necessary," Schiff said.

Poe, a former judge and prosecutor, said the HOPE legislation "gives judges more authority to impose stricter conditions of supervision on law violators and hold them more accountable to the law and the community."