I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1834 

To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes to study and 

make recommendations on the prevention of the commission of hate 

crimes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Ms. MENG, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. VAN DREW, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mrs. CAROLYN B. 

MALONEY of New York, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. CARSON, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. 

SCANLON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. CICILLINE, and Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes 

to study and make recommendations on the prevention 

of the commission of hate crimes, 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 ‘‘Hate Crimes Commis5 sion Act of 2021’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines 

4 ‘‘hate crime’’ to be a criminal offense—such as mur5 der, arson, or vandalism—against a person or prop6 erty motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s 

7 bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual ori8 entation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. 

9 (2) Forty-five States and the District of Colum10 bia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias11 motivated violence or intimidation. 

12 (3) The Federal Government has implemented 

13 crimes statutes since 1968, with the most recent law 

14 enacted in 2009. 

15 (4) In 2019, hate crimes rose by 2.7 percent. 

16 (5) In 2019, there were 51 reported deaths 

17 from hate crimes, which is the highest number since 

18 the FBI began reporting on this statistic in the 

19 early 1990s. 

20 (6) Hate crimes not only damage the individual 

21 victim or victims, but also traumatize entire commu22 nities and erode public confidence in their safety. 

23 (7) In 2019, hate crimes directed at Latinos in24 creased by almost 9 percent from the year before. 

25 (8) In 2019, hate crimes based on sexual ori26 entation represented 16.7% of total hate crimes that 

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1 year, and gender identity based hate crimes rep2 resented 2.7% of total hate crimes, which was an in3 crease from the year before. 

4 (9) In a September 2020 House Homeland Se5 curity Committee testimony, FBI Director Chris6 topher Wray said: ‘‘Within the domestic terrorism 

7 bucket, the category as a whole, racially motivated 

8 violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket 

9 within that larger group. And within the racially mo10 tivated violent extremist bucket, people subscribing 

11 to some kind of White supremacist-type ideology is 

12 certainly the biggest chunk of that.’’. 

13 (10) The largest increase within the 2019 hate 

14 crime data was found in anti-Semitic hate crimes, 

15 which rose by 14 percent. 

16 (11) In August 2019, an assailant entered a 

17 Walmart in El Paso, Texas, to target Hispanics and 

18 left 22 dead. 

19 (12) In October 2018, a shooting at the Tree 

20 of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left 

21 11 dead. 

22 (13) In July 2019, a Hindu priest in New York 

23 City was hospitalized after a man attacked him and 

24 screamed ‘‘this is my neighborhood’’ during the inci25 dent. 

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1 (14) In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, 

2 Asian Americans have suffered an increasing num3 ber of hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 

4 2,808 ‘‘hate incidents’’ toward AAPIs were reported 

5 between March and December 2020. 

6 (15) In November 2020, a woman shouted anti7 Muslim slurs and attacked a couple in New York 

8 City, leaving one victim needing surgery for facial 

9 fractures. 

10 (16) Many hate crimes go unreported. In 2019, 

11 there was a decrease in the number of police agen12 cies providing this data to the FBI, with only 14 

13 percent of police agencies in the country reporting 

14 one or more hate crimes that year. 

15 (17) There is a clear need for stronger action 

16 to accurately report and effectively combat hate17 based attacks. 

18 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

20 United States Commission on Hate Crimes (hereinafter 

21 in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

22 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be com23 posed of 12 members. Membership of the Commission 

24 shall be appointed in accordance with the following: 

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1 (1) Two members shall be appointed by the ma2 jority leader of the Senate. 

3 (2) Two members shall be appointed by the mi4 nority leader of the Senate. 

5 (3) Two members shall be appointed by the 

6 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

7 (4) Two members shall be appointed by the mi8 nority leader of the House of Representatives. 

9 (5) Two members shall be jointly appointed by 

10 the two appointing officials under paragraphs (1) 

11 through (4) who are members of, or caucus with, the 

12 Democratic Party. 

13 (6) Two members shall be jointly appointed by 

14 the two appointing officials under paragraphs (1) 

15 through (4) who are members of, or caucus with, the 

16 Republican Party. 

17 (7) Not more than 6 members of the Commis18 sion shall be from the law enforcement community 

19 and not more than 6 members of the Commission 

20 shall be of the civil rights community. 

21 (8) Not more than 6 of the members shall be 

22 of the same political party. 

23 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

24 The Commission shall investigate the following: 

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1 (1) If there has been an increase in hate crimes 

2 during the period beginning January 1, 2007, and 

3 ending 60 days after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act. 

5 (2) To the extent that any increase in the com6 mission of hate crimes is determined to exist, what 

7 factors have contributed to such increase. 

8 (3) What policies or actions law enforcement 

9 agencies might adopt or engage in to reduce the 

10 commission of hate crimes. 

11 (4) The impact of underreporting on hate 

12 crimes statistics and hate crimes prevention. 

13 (5) What community bias prevention responses 

14 are successful and possible through coordination 

15 with nonprofits, local education agencies, and gov16 ernment entities. 

17 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

18 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, the Commission shall submit a report to Con20 gress and the President setting forth the results of the 

21 investigation under section 4. 

22 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

23 In this Act, the term ‘‘hate crime’’ means an offense 

24 under section 249 of title 18, United States Code. 

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