Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2017

Summary: Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2017 This bill establishes the United States Commission on Hate Crimes to investigate and report on:   whether hate crimes have increased;  factors that contributed to an increase in hate crimes, if one is determined to exist;  policies or actions by law enforcement agencies to reduce hate crimes; and  the impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics and prevention. 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hate Crimes Commission Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a ``hate 
        crime'' to be a criminal offense--such as murder, arson, or 
        vandalism--against a person or property motivated in whole or 
        in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, 
        disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender 
        identity.
            (2) Forty-five States and the District of Columbia have 
        statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence 
        or intimidation.
            (3) The Federal Government has had hate crimes statutes 
        since 1968, with the most recent law enacted in 2009.
            (4) The impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics 
        hinders hate crimes prevention.
            (5) According to multiple, nonpartisan studies, hate crimes 
        have increased sharply over the past year, with over 900 new 
        hate incidents reported since November 2016.
            (6) The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that in 2016, 
        there was a 6.7-percent increase in reported hate crimes since 
        the prior year, one of the largest one-year increases in over a 
        decade.
            (7) In May 2017, the FBI found that White supremacists and 
        rightwing extremist groups were responsible for 49 deaths in 26 
        incidents between 2000 and 2016, the most of any domestic 
        extremist group. The same report found that White supremacists 
        and rightwing extremist groups were the largest threat of 
        domestic terror, and were likely to continue to pose a lethal 
        threat over the next year.
            (8) In February 2017, a White supremacist entered a bar in 
        Kansas and shot at two Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and 
        Alok Madasani while shouting racial epithets. Srinivas later 
        died of his injuries.
            (9) The nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate and 
        Extremism documented 55 instances of anti-Semitism between 
        January and March 2017 in New York City alone, a 189-percent 
        increase from the same time period in 2016, and close to 100 
        bomb threats have been received by Jewish Community Centers and 
        Schools.
            (10) Since January, there have been at least five attacks 
        on LGBT centers across the country.
            (11) The White nationalist and neo-Nazi protests in 
        Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11-13, 2017, which 
        resulted in 1 death and 20 injuries from a White nationalist 
        driving his car into a group of counterprotesters, show the 
        need for increased action to combat hate-based attacks.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

    (a)  Establishment.--There is established the United States 
Commission on Hate Crimes (hereinafter in this act referred to as the 
``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--The Commission shall be composed of 12 members. 
Membership of the Commission shall be appointed in accordance with the 
following:
            (1) Two members shall be appointed by the majority leader 
        of the Senate.
            (2) Two members shall be appointed by the minority leader 
        of the Senate.
            (3) Two members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 
        House of Representatives.
            (4) Two members shall be appointed by the minority leader 
        of the House of Representatives.
            (5) Two members shall be jointly appointed by the two 
        appointing officials under paragraphs (1) through (4) who are 
        members of, or caucus with, the Democratic Party.
            (6) Two members shall be jointly appointed by the two 
        appointing officials under paragraphs (1) through (4) who are 
        members of, or caucus with, the Republican Party.
            (7) Not more than 6 members of the Commission shall be from 
        the law enforcement community and not more than 6 members of 
        the Commission shall be of the civil rights community.
            (8) Not more than six of the members shall be of the same 
        political party.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    The Commission shall investigate the following:
            (1) If there has been an increase in hate crimes during the 
        period beginning January 1, 2007, and ending 60 days after the 
        date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) To the extent that any increase in the commission in 
        hate crimes is determined to exist, what factors have 
        contributed to such increase.
            (3) What policies or actions law enforcement agencies might 
        adopt or engage in to reduce the commission of hate crimes.
            (4) The impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics 
        and hate crimes prevention.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Commission shall submit a report to Congress and the President setting 
forth the results of the investigation under section 4.

SEC. 6. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``hate crime'' means an offense under section 
249 of title 18, United States Code.