I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3401 

To reduce Federal overcriminalization, protect Americans from unjust punishment, and uphold the role of Congress by clarifying mens rea requirements for all Federal criminal offenses, creating an inventory of Federal 

offenses that carry a criminal penalty, and providing that no rule of 

the executive branch which may be enforced by criminal penalties can 

take effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2015 

Mr. ROONEY of Florida (for himself and Mr. RICHMOND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on Rules, 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 reduce Federal overcriminalization, protect Americans 

from unjust punishment, and uphold the role of Congress 

by clarifying mens rea requirements for all Federal criminal offenses, creating an inventory of Federal offenses 

that carry a criminal penalty, and providing that no 

rule of the executive branch which may be enforced by 

criminal penalties can take effect unless a joint resolution 

of approval is enacted into law. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Over-Crim3 inalization Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this Act is to reduce the size, scope 

6 and complexity of the Federal criminal code. In order to 

7 ensure that honest mistakes by individuals who are not 

8 morally blameworthy do not result in criminal charges, the 

9 Act establishes a default criminal state of mind require10 ment for all Federal criminal offenses, and allows a mis11 take of law defense for situations in which the defendant 

12 did not know, and a reasonable person would not have 

13 known, that the action was a crime. Currently, Federal 

14 crimes, including executive rules that carry criminal pen15 alties are scattered throughout the Federal code and reg16 ister. To enable all Americans to access and view Federal 

17 crimes, the Act requires the creation of a Federal inven18 tory that lists all Federal criminal offenses, including 

19 agency rules that define criminal offenses. To uphold the 

20 role of Congress in defining what constitutes a Federal 

21 crime, the Act holds that no rule of the executive branch 

22 defining or establishing a criminal offense shall have force 

23 or effect unless approved by both branches of Congress. 


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1 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF DEFAULT MENS REA FOR FED2 ERAL OFFENSES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 28. Default mens rea requirement 

7 ‘‘(a) KNOWING STATE OF MIND GENERALLY RE8 QUIRED.—For the purposes of a Federal offense, unless 

9 otherwise specifically provided in the provision of law de10 fining the offense, the state of mind required for a convic11 tion is knowing as to each element of the offense. 

12 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR REGULATORY AND SIMILAR

13 OFFENSES.—In addition, in the case of an offense, such 

14 as a regulatory offense, where a defendant might reason15 ably be unaware the conduct could be criminally punished, 

16 the Government must prove the defendant had reason to 

17 know the defendant’s conduct was unlawful.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

19 at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 18, United States 

20 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

21 item: 

‘‘28. Establishing a default mens rea for Federal offenses.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. REQUIRING AN INVENTORY OF ALL FEDERAL 

2 CRIMINAL OFFENSES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of title 28, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 530E. Inventory of Federal criminal offenses 

7 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT AND AVAILABILITY.— 

8 ‘‘(1) INITIALLY.—Not later than one year after 

9 the enactment of this section, the Attorney General 

10 shall develop and make available to the public, online 

11 and through other appropriate means, an inventory 

12 of all Federal criminal offenses, including violations 

13 of agency rules that carry criminal penalties. 

14 ‘‘(2) UPDATING.—The Attorney General shall 

15 update the inventory following the subsequent enact16 ment or amendment (or the creation by agency rule17 making) of any Federal criminal offenses in order to 

18 keep the inventory as up to date as practicable. 

19 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION OF PROSECUTION OF NON-INVEN20 TORIED OFFENSES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) GENERALLY.—Except as provided in para22 graph (2), it is a defense against a prosecution for 

23 any Federal offense that the offense is not listed in 

24 the inventory as required by this section. 

25 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not 

26 apply if— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Government demonstrates beyond 

2 a reasonable doubt that a reasonable person 

3 would have known the conduct that person en4 gaged in was criminal in nature; or 

5 ‘‘(B) the conduct of the defendant resulted 

6 in an imminent and foreseeable risk of death or 

7 bodily injury to another.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of chapter 31 of title 28, United States 

10 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

11 item: 

‘‘530E. Inventory of Federal criminal offenses.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. PRESERVING THE ROLE OF CONGRESS IN DEFIN13 ING FEDERAL CRIMES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 8 of title 5, United 

15 States Code, is amended— 

16 (1) by inserting before section 801 the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW 

19 GENERALLY’’; 

20 and 

21 (2) by inserting after section 808 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER II—RULES WITH CRIMINAL 

2 PENALTIES 

3 ‘‘§ 811. New rules with criminal penalties 

4 ‘‘(a) LIMITATION ON TAKING EFFECT.—A new rule 

5 with criminal penalties shall not take effect except upon 

6 the enactment of a joint resolution under this subchapter, 

7 the matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: 

8 ‘That Congress approves the rules submitted by the 

9 lllllll relating to llllll.’. (The blank 

10 spaces being appropriately filled in). 

11 ‘‘(b) PROPOSED RULES TO BE SUBMITTED TO CON12 GRESS.—Upon proposing a rule to which subsection (a) 

13 applies, the agency proposing the rule shall submit to Con14 gress— 

15 ‘‘(1) a copy of the rule, a concise general state16 ment relating to the rule, and the proposed effective 

17 date of the rule; 

18 ‘‘(2) a justification for providing criminal pen19 alties, including— 

20 ‘‘(A) an estimate of the number of ex21 pected prosecutions annually over a 10-year pe22 riod; 

23 ‘‘(B) the anticipated cost of prosecuting 

24 and punishing, including by incarceration, of25 fenders; 


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1 ‘‘(C) a cost-benefit analysis of punishing 

2 offenses as crimes, rather than lesser violations, 

3 including the effect on rule compliance, impact 

4 on total Federal spending, and the impact of in5 carceration and other punishments under the 

6 rule on communities. 

7 ‘‘(3) a criminal rule report for such rule. Such 

8 a rule may not take effect prior to the final disposi9 tion date for such criminal rule report. 

10 ‘‘(c) REFERRAL OF SUBMISSION.—Upon receipt of a 

11 submission under this section, each House of Congress 

12 shall provide copies of the submission to the chairman and 

13 ranking member of each standing committee with the ju14 risdiction to report a bill to amend the provision of law 

15 under which the rule is issued. 

16 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR REPORTING BY COMMITTEES.— 

17 If, not later than 15 legislative days after the referral in 

18 one of the Houses of Congress, no committee to which a 

19 submission is referred under subsection (c) reports out, 

20 either favorably or unfavorably, a joint resolution approv21 ing the rule, the committee to which the submission is re22 ferred is automatically discharged of the resolution of ap23 proval. 

24 ‘‘(e) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—(1) In the 

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1 scribed in subsection (d), it is at any time in order for 

2 a motion to proceed to the consideration of a joint resolu3 tion described in subsection (a). 

4 ‘‘(2) In the House of Representatives, all points of 

5 order against a joint resolution described in subsection (a) 

6 shall be considered waived. The joint resolution shall be 

7 debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by 

8 the chairman and ranking minority member of the com9 mittee of referral. The previous question shall be consid10 ered as ordered on the resolution to final passage without 

11 intervening motion, except one motion to recommit with12 out instructions. 

13 ‘‘(f) AUTOMATIC DISCHARGE.—In the Senate, if the 

14 committee to which is referred a joint resolution described 

15 in subsection (a) has not reported such joint resolution 

16 (or an identical joint resolution) after the 15-day period 

17 described in subsection (d), such committee shall be dis18 charged from further consideration of such joint resolution 

19 and such joint resolution shall be placed on the calendar. 

20 ‘‘(g) MOTION TO PROCEED AND DEBATE.—(1) In 

21 the Senate, when the committee to which a joint resolution 

22 is referred has reported, or when a committee is dis23 charged (under subsection (f)) from further consideration 

24 of a joint resolution described in subsection (a), it is at 

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1 tion to the same effect has been disagreed to) for a motion 

2 to proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution, and 

3 all points of order against the joint resolution (and against 

4 consideration of the joint resolution) are waived. The mo5 tion is not subject to amendment, or to a motion to post6 pone, or to a motion to proceed to the consideration of 

7 other business. A motion to reconsider the vote by which 

8 the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in 

9 order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of the 

10 joint resolution is agreed to, the joint resolution shall re11 main the unfinished business of the Senate until disposed 

12 of. 

13 ‘‘(2) In the Senate, debate on the joint resolution, 

14 and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection 

15 therewith, shall be limited to not more than 5 hours, which 

16 shall be divided equally between those favoring and those 

17 opposing the joint resolution. A motion further to limit 

18 debate is in order and not debatable. An amendment to, 

19 or a motion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the 

20 consideration of other business, or a motion to recommit 

21 the joint resolution is not in order. 

22 ‘‘(3) In the Senate, immediately following the conclu23 sion of the debate on a joint resolution described in sub24 section (a), and a single quorum call at the conclusion of 

25 the debate if requested in accordance with the rules of the 


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1 Senate, the vote on final passage of the joint resolution 

2 shall occur. 

3 ‘‘(4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating 

4 to the application of the rules of the Senate to the proce5 dure relating to a joint resolution described in subsection 

6 (a) shall be decided without debate. 

7 ‘‘(h) CONSIDERATION BY THE OTHER HOUSE.—If, 

8 before the passage by one House of a joint resolution of 

9 that House described in subsection (a), that House re10 ceives from the other House a joint resolution described 

11 in subsection (a), then the following procedures shall 

12 apply: 

13 ‘‘(1) The joint resolution of the other House 

14 shall not be referred to a committee. 

15 ‘‘(2) With respect to a joint resolution described 

16 in subsection (a) of the House receiving the joint 

17 resolution— 

18 ‘‘(A) the procedure in that House shall be 

19 the same as if no joint resolution had been re20 ceived from the other House; but 

21 ‘‘(B) the vote on final passage shall be on 

22 the joint resolution of the other House. 

23 ‘‘(i) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWER.—This sec24 tion is enacted by Congress— 


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1 ‘‘(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

2 the Senate and House of Representatives, respec3 tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules 

4 of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 

5 respect to the procedure to be followed in that 

6 House in the case of a joint resolution described in 

7 subsection (a), and it supersedes other rules only to 

8 the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and 

9 ‘‘(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

10 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 

11 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 

12 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 

13 the case of any other rule of that House. 

14 ‘‘§ 812. Definition 

15 ‘‘In this subchapter, the term ‘new rule with criminal 

16 penalties’ means a rule or provision of a rule, or an 

17 amendment to such a rule or provision, that— 

18 ‘‘(1) if violated, may be punished by criminal 

19 penalties; and 

20 ‘‘(2) is proposed after the date of enactment of 

21 this section.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.— 

23 (1) REFERENCES TO CHAPTER CONFORMED.— 

24 Sections 801 through 808 of such title are amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘chapter’’ each place such term appears, 

2 and inserting ‘‘subchapter’’. 

3 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 

4 for chapter 8 of such title is amended as follows: 

5 (A) before the item pertaining to section 

6 801, insert the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER I. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW GENERALLY’’; 

7 and 

8 (B) after the item pertaining to section 

9 808, insert the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER II. RULES WITH CRIMINAL PENALTIES

‘‘811. Agency reviews of rules with criminal penalties. 

‘‘812. Definitions.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. NONAPPLICATION OF ACT TO UNIFORM CODE OF 

11 MILITARY JUSTICE. 

12 Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this 

13 Act applies to any existing or future statute or regulation 

14 enacted in, or prescribed under, the Uniform Code of Mili15 tary Justice. 

Æ 


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