I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3563

To coordinate cargo theft crime data collection and to amend title 18, United 

States Code, to make improvements relating to cargo theft prevention, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2003

Mr. STEARNS (for himself and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL

To coordinate cargo theft crime data collection and to amend 

title 18, United States Code, to make improvements relating to cargo theft prevention, 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 ‘‘Cargo Theft Preven5 tion Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. CARGO THEFT DATA COLLECTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall, with3 in 18 months of enactment of this Act, issue regulations 

4 to—

5 (1) allow for the reporting of cargo theft of6 fenses to the Attorney General by a carrier, facility, 

7 or cargo owner promptly after such carrier, facility, 

8 or cargo owner becomes aware of the offense, with 

9 such reports to contain information regarding the of10 fense as specified in regulations, including the origin 

11 and destination of the shipment, the commodities 

12 stolen, the time and location of the theft, and other 

13 information regarding cargo theft, to the extent such 

14 information is available to the reporting party; 

15 (2) create a database to contain the reports 

16 made under paragraph (1) and integrate them, to 

17 the extent feasible, with other noncriminal justice 

18 and intelligence data; 

19 (3) prescribe procedures for access to the data20 base created under paragraph (2) by appropriate 

21 Federal, State, and local governmental agencies, 

22 while protecting the privacy of the information in ac23 cordance with other applicable Federal laws; and 

24 (4) share the results and analysis of the infor25 mation collected in paragraphs (1) and (2) with the 

26 appropriate Federal, State, and local government 
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1 agencies, for the purpose of assisting in the inves2 tigation of cargo theft and in the arrest and pros3 ecution of the perpetrators of cargo theft. 

4 (b) CREATION OF DATABASES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—United States Government 

6 agencies with significant regulatory or law enforce7 ment responsibilities with respect to cargo theft, to 

8 the extent feasible, modify their information data9 bases to ensure the collection and retrievability of 

10 data relating to crime and terrorism and related ac11 tivities affecting cargo transportation. 

12 (2) DESIGNATION OF COVERED AGENCIES.—

13 The Attorney General, after consultation with the 

14 Secretary of Homeland Security, shall designate the 

15 agencies included within the requirement of para16 graph (1). 

17 (c) OUTREACH PROGRAM.—The Attorney General, in 

18 consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Sec19 retary of Transportation, the National Maritime Security 

20 Advisory Committee established under section 70112 of 

21 title 46, United States Code, and appropriate Federal and 

22 State agencies, shall establish an outreach program to—

23 (1) work with State and local law enforcement 

24 officials to harmonize the reporting of data on cargo 
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1 theft among the States, localities and with the 

2 United States Government’s reports; and 

3 (2) disseminate cargo theft information to ap4 propriate law enforcement officials. 

5 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Attorney General shall 

6 submit an annual report on the implementation of this sec7 tion to the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and 

8 the House of Representatives. 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

11 and Transportation Security Administration of the De12 partment of Homeland Security such sums as are nec13 essary for each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2007 to 

14 carry out the requirements of this section, such sums to 

15 remain available until expended. 

16 (f) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE OF REPORTS AND

17 DATA.—Any reports made pursuant to section 1(a)(1) and 

18 the data contained in the database created under section 

19 1(a)(2) shall be exempt from disclosure under the Free20 dom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). 

21 SEC. 3. THEFT OF INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN SHIPMENTS 

22 OR VESSELS. 

23 (a) THEFT OF INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN SHIP24 MENTS.—Section 659 of title 18, United States Code, is 

25 amended—
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1 (1) in the first undesignated paragraph—

2 (A) by inserting ‘‘trailer,’’ after 

3 ‘‘motortruck,’’; 

4 (B) by inserting ‘‘air cargo container,’’ 

5 after ‘‘aircraft,’’; and 

6 (C) by inserting ‘‘, or from any intermodal 

7 container, trailer, container freight station, 

8 warehouse, or freight consolidation facility,’’ 

9 after ‘‘air navigation facility’’; 

10 (2) in the fifth undesignated paragraph, by 

11 striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘3 years’’; and 

12 (3) by inserting after the first sentence in the 

13 eighth undesignated paragraph the following: ‘‘For 

14 purposes of this section, goods and chattel shall be 

15 construed to be moving as an interstate or foreign 

16 shipment at all points between the point of origin 

17 and the final destination (as evidenced by the waybill 

18 or other shipping document of the shipment), re19 gardless of any temporary stop while awaiting trans20 shipment or otherwise.’’. 

21 (b) STOLEN VESSELS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2311 of title 18, 

23 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

24 end the following: 
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1 ‘‘‘Vessel’ means any watercraft or other contrivance 

2 used or designed for transportation or navigation on, 

3 under, or immediately above water.’’. 

4 (2) TRANSPORTATION AND SALE OF STOLEN

5 VESSELS.—Sections 2312 and 2313 of title 18, 

6 United States Code, are each amended by striking 

7 ‘‘motor vehicle or aircraft’’ and inserting ‘‘motor ve8 hicle, vessel, or aircraft’’. 

9 (c) REVIEW OF SENTENCING GUIDELINES.—Pursu10 ant to section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the 

11 United States Sentencing Commission shall review the 

12 Federal Sentencing Guidelines to determine whether sen13 tencing enhancement is appropriate for any offense under 

14 section 659 or 2311 of title 18, United States Code, as 

15 amended by this Act. 

16 (d) ANNUAL REPORT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AC17 TIVITIES.—By December 31, 2006, and annually there18 after, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re19 port, which shall include an evaluation of law enforcement 

20 activities relating to the investigation and prosecution of 

21 offenses under section 659 of title 18, United States Code, 

22 as amended by this Act. The Attorney General’s report 

23 shall include an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

24 cargo theft data collection program provided for in section 

25 1 thereof. 
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1 (e) REPORTING OF CARGO THEFT.—The Attorney 

2 General shall take the steps necessary to ensure that re3 ports of cargo theft collected by Federal, State, and local 

4 officials are reflected as a separate category in the Uni5 form Crime Reporting System, or any successor system, 

6 by no later than December 31, 2005.

Æ