I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1731

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties for aggravated 

identity theft, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2003

Mr. CARTER (for himself and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties 

for aggravated identity theft, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identity Theft Penalty 

5 Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding after section 1028, the 

9 following: 
2

•HR 1731 IH 

1 ‘‘§ 1028A. Aggravated identity theft 

2 ‘‘(a) OFFENSES.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, during and in re4 lation to any felony violation enumerated in sub5 section (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, 

6 without lawful authority, a means of identification of 

7 another person shall, in addition to the punishment 

8 provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of 

9 imprisonment of 2 years. 

10 ‘‘(2) TERRORISM OFFENSE.—Whoever, during 

11 and in relation to any felony violation enumerated in 

12 section 2332b(g)(5)(B), knowingly transfers, pos13 sesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of 

14 identification of another person shall, in addition to 

15 the punishment provided for such felony, be sen16 tenced to a term of imprisonment of 5 years. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE.—Notwithstanding 

18 any other provision of law—

19 ‘‘(1) a court shall not place on probation any 

20 person convicted of a violation of this section; 

21 ‘‘(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no 

22 term of imprisonment imposed on a person under 

23 this section shall run concurrently with any other 

24 term of imprisonment imposed on the person under 

25 any other provision of law, including any term of im26 prisonment imposed for the felony during which the 
3

•HR 1731 IH 

1 means of identification was transferred, possessed, 

2 or used; 

3 ‘‘(3) in determining any term of imprisonment 

4 to be imposed for the felony during which the means 

5 of identification was transferred, possessed, or used, 

6 a court shall not in any way reduce the term to be 

7 imposed for such crime so as to compensate for, or 

8 otherwise take into account, any separate term of 

9 imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a viola10 tion of this section; and 

11 ‘‘(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a per12 son for a violation of this section may, in the discre13 tion of the court, run concurrently, in whole or in 

14 part, only with another term of imprisonment that 

15 is imposed by the court at the same time on that 

16 person for an additional violation of this section, 

17 provided that such discretion shall be exercised in 

18 accordance with any applicable guidelines and policy 

19 statements issued by the Sentencing Commission 

20 pursuant to section 994 of title 28. 

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

22 term ‘felony violation enumerated in subsection (c)’ means 

23 any offense that is a felony violation of—

24 ‘‘(1) section 664 (relating to theft from em25 ployee benefit plans); 
4

•HR 1731 IH 

1 ‘‘(2) section 911 (relating to false personation 

2 of citizenship); 

3 ‘‘(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false state4 ments in connection with the acquisition of a fire5 arm); 

6 ‘‘(4) any provision contained in this chapter (re7 lating to fraud and false statements), other than this 

8 section or section 1028(a)(7); 

9 ‘‘(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (re10 lating to mail, bank, and wire fraud); 

11 ‘‘(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (re12 lating to nationality and citizenship); 

13 ‘‘(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (re14 lating to passports and visas); 

15 ‘‘(8) section 523 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley 

16 Act (15 U.S.C. 6823) (relating to obtaining cus17 tomer information by false pretenses); 

18 ‘‘(9) section 243 or 266 of the Immigration and 

19 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253 and 1306) (relating 

20 to willfully failing to leave the United States after 

21 deportation and creating a counterfeit alien registra22 tion card); 

23 ‘‘(10) any provision contained in chapter 8 of 

24 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
5

•HR 1731 IH 

1 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) (relating to various immigra2 tion offenses); or 

3 ‘‘(11) section 208, 1107(b), or 1128B(a) of the 

4 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408, 1307(b), and 

5 1320a–7b(a)) (relating to false statements relating 

6 to programs under the Act).’’. 

7 (b) AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The table 

8 of sections for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, 

9 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

10 1028 the following new item:

‘‘1028A. Aggravated identity theft.’’.

11 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PRO12 HIBITION. 

13 Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is 

14 amended—

15 (1) in subsection (a)(7)—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘transfers’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘transfers, possesses,’’; and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘abet,’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘abet, or in connection with,’’; 

20 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ‘‘trans21 fer’’ and inserting ‘‘transfer, possession,’’; 

22 (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘three 

23 years’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’; and 
6

•HR 1731 IH 

1 (4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ‘‘fa2 cilitate’’ the following: ‘‘an act of domestic terrorism 

3 (as defined under section 2331(5) of this title) or’’.

Æ