In the Senate of the United States,

June 26, 1996.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 3525) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend title 18, United

States Code, to clarify the Federal jurisdiction over offenses

relating to damage to religious property.’’, do pass with the

following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Church Arson Preven3 tion Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds the following:

6 (1) The incidence of arson or other destruction or

7 vandalism of places of religious worship, and the in8 cidence of violent interference with an individual’s

9 lawful exercise or attempted exercise of the right of re-
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1 ligious freedom at a place of religious worship pose

2 a serious national problem.

3 (2) The incidence of arson of places of religious

4 worship has recently increased, especially in the con5 text of places of religious worship that serve predomi6 nantly African-American congregations.

7 (3) Changes in Federal law are necessary to deal

8 properly with this problem.

9 (4) Although local jurisdictions have attempted

10 to respond to the challenges posed by such acts of de11 struction or damage to religious property, the problem

12 is sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in

13 scope to warrant Federal intervention to assist State

14 and local jurisdictions.

15 (5) Congress has authority, pursuant to the

16 Commerce Clause of the Constitution, to make acts of

17 destruction or damage to religious property a viola18 tion of Federal law.

19 (6) Congress has authority, pursuant to section

20 2 of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, to make

21 actions of private citizens motivated by race, color, or

22 ethnicity that interfere with the ability of citizens to

23 hold or use religious property without fear of attack,

24 violations of Federal criminal law.
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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF VIOLENT INTERFERENCE WITH

2 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

3 Section 247 of title 18, United States Code, is amend4 ed—

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection (c)

6 of this section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’;

7 (2) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e),

8 as subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively;

9 (3) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the

10 following:

11 ‘‘(b) The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are

12 that the offense is in or affects interstate or foreign com13 merce.

14 ‘‘(c) Whoever intentionally defaces, damages, or de15 stroys any religious real property because of the race, color,

16 or ethnic characteristics of any individual associated with

17 that religious property, or attempts to do so, shall be pun18 ished as provided in subsection (d).’’;

19 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated—

20 (A) in paragraph (2)—

21 (i) by inserting ‘‘to any person, includ22 ing any public safety officer performing du23 ties as a direct or proximate result of con24 duct prohibited by this section,’’ after ‘‘bod25 ily injury’’; and
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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘ten years’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘20 years’’;

3 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and

4 (3) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively;

5 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol6 lowing:

7 ‘‘(2) if bodily injury results to any person, in8 cluding any public safety officer performing duties as

9 a direct or proximate result of conduct prohibited by

10 this section, and the violation is by means of fire or

11 an explosive, a fine under this title or imprisonment

12 for not more that 40 years, or both;’’;

13 (5) in subsection (f), as redesignated—

14 (A) by striking ‘‘religious property’’ and in15 serting ‘‘religious real property’’ both places it

16 appears; and

17 (B) by inserting ‘‘, including fixtures or re18 ligious objects contained within a place of reli19 gious worship’’ before the period; and

20 (6) by adding at the end the following new sub21 section:

22 ‘‘(g) No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished

23 for any noncapital offense under this section unless the in24 dictment is found or the information is instituted not later
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1 than 7 years after the date on which the offense was com2 mitted.’’.

3 SEC. 4. LOAN GUARANTEE RECOVERY FUND.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Using amounts described in

6 paragraph (2), the Secretary of Housing and Urban

7 Development (referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall

8 make guaranteed loans to financial institutions in

9 connection with loans made by such institutions to

10 assist organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of

11 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that have been

12 damaged as a result of acts of arson or terrorism in

13 accordance with such procedures as the Secretary

14 shall establish by regulation.

15 (2) USE OF CREDIT SUBSIDY.—Notwithstanding

16 any other provision of law, for the cost of loan guar17 antees under this section, the Secretary may use not

18 more than $5,000,000 of the amounts made available

19 for fiscal year 1996 for the credit subsidy provided

20 under the General Insurance Fund and the Special

21 Risk Insurance Fund.

22 (b) TREATMENT OF COSTS.—The costs of guaranteed

23 loans under this section, including the cost of modifying

24 loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of the Congressional

25 Budget Act of 1974.
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1 (c) LIMIT ON LOAN PRINCIPAL.—Funds made avail2 able under this section shall be available to subsidize total

3 loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed, not

4 to exceed $10,000,000.

5 (d) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The Secretary shall—

6 (1) establish such terms and conditions as the

7 Secretary considers to be appropriate to provide loan

8 guarantees under this section, consistent with section

9 503 of the Credit Reform Act; and

10 (2) include in the terms and conditions a re11 quirement that the decision to provide a loan guaran12 tee to a financial institution and the amount of the

13 guarantee does not in any way depend on the pur14 pose, function, or identity of the organization to

15 which the financial institution has made, or intends

16 to make, a loan.

17 SEC. 5. COMPENSATION OF VICTIMS; REQUIREMENT OF IN18 CLUSION IN LIST OF CRIMES ELIGIBLE FOR

19 COMPENSATION.

20 Section 1403(d)(3) of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984

21 (42 U.S.C. 10602(d)(3)) is amended by inserting ‘‘crimes,

22 whose victims suffer death or personal injury, that are de23 scribed in section 247 of title 18, United States Code,’’ after

24 ‘‘includes’’.
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO

2 ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE3 MENT.

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Depart5 ment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, in6 cluding the Community Relations Service, in fiscal years

7 1996 and 1997 such sums as are necessary to increase the

8 number of personnel, investigators, and technical support

9 personnel to investigate, prevent, and respond to potential

10 violations of sections 247 and 844 of title 18, United States

11 Code.

12 SEC. 7. REAUTHORIZATION OF HATE CRIMES STATISTICS

13 ACT.

14 The first section of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (28

15 U.S.C. 534 note) is amended—

16 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘for the cal17 endar year 1990 and each of the succeeding 4 cal18 endar years’’ and inserting ‘‘for each calendar year’’;

19 and

20 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘1994’’ and in21 serting ‘‘2002’’.

22 SEC. 8. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

23 The Congress—

24 (1) commends those individuals and entities that

25 have responded with funds to assist in the rebuilding
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1 of places of worship that have been victimized by

2 arson; and

3 (2) encourages the private sector to continue

4 these efforts so that places of worship that are victim5 ized by arson, and their affected communities, can

6 continue the rebuilding process with maximum finan7 cial support from private individuals, businesses,

8 charitable organizations, and other non-profit enti9 ties.

Attest:

Secretary.
104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3525

AMENDMENT