IB 

Union Calendar No. 432 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1865 

[Report No. 115–572, Part I] 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that section 230 

of such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and 

users of interactive computer services of Federal and State criminal 

and civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex trafficking, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2017 

Mrs. WAGNER (for herself, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. 

CLARKE of New York, Mr. POE of Texas, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

of New York, Mr. ROYCE of California, Mrs. ROBY, Mr. KINZINGER, and 

Ms. JENKINS of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

Energy and Commerce, 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 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1865 RH

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 

Additional sponsors: Mr. SMUCKER, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

FLEISCHMANN, Mr. LANCE, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. 

ROUZER, Ms. MOORE, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. TURNER, Ms. 

ROSEN, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GARRETT, Mr. KATKO, Ms. 

KELLY of Illinois, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. COFFMAN, 

Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. CRIST, 

Mr. CARBAJAL, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 

THOMAS J. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. SMITH of 

Missouri, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. MACARTHUR, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, Mr. WALKER, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. HARRIS, 

Mr. MESSER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BRAT, Mr. POLIQUIN, Mr. 

VALADAO, Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California, Mr. GIBBS, Ms. HERRERA

BEUTLER, Mr. LONG, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. BASS, Ms. 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. HANABUSA, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. LOVE, Mr. 

CLAY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Ms. PLASKETT, Ms. 

ADAMS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. BOST, Ms. 

TENNEY, Mr. HUDSON, Mrs. HANDEL, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. COLE, Mr. 

BILIRAKIS, Mrs. NOEM, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, 

Mr. ROSS, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. DONOVAN, Ms. KUSTER of New 

Hampshire, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PALMER, Mr. DAVIDSON, Ms. FOXX, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. FASO, 

Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. 

REED, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. STEWART, 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. RUSH, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. 

O’HALLERAN, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr. POSEY, Mr. JENKINS of 

West Virginia, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 

Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. 

ESPAILLAT, Mr. KEATING, Mr. NOLAN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. SEAN PATRICK

MALONEY of New York, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. CURBELO

of Florida, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. HULTGREN, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. 

LAMALFA, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. OLSON, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 

WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. COHEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. 

BRADY of Texas, Mr. FLORES, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH, Mr. 

BYRNE, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Miss 

RICE of New York, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. 

SENSENBRENNER, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. 

KUSTOFF of Tennessee, Mr. LUCAS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 

CULBERSON, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. COSTA, 

Mr. CALVERT, and Mr. YOHO

Deleted sponsor: Mr. MCNERNEY (added September 13, 2017; deleted 

September 25, 2017 ) 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1865 RH

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 

The Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be 

printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 3, 2017] 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1865 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that 

section 230 of such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and users of interactive computer 

services of Federal and State criminal and civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex trafficking, 

and for other purposes. 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1865 RH

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 ‘‘Allow States and Vic5 tims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) section 230 of the Communications Act of 

9 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230; commonly known as the ‘‘Com10 munications Decency Act of 1996’’) was never in11 tended to provide legal protection to websites that un12 lawfully promote and facilitate prostitution and con13 tribute to sex trafficking; 

14 (2) websites that promote and facilitate prostitu15 tion have been reckless in allowing the sale of sex traf16 ficking victims and have done nothing to prevent the 

17 trafficking of children and victims of force, fraud, and 

18 coercion; and 

19 (3) clarification of such section is warranted to 

20 ensure that such section does not provide such protec21 tion to such websites. 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1865 RH

1 SEC. 3. PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION AND RECKLESS DIS2 REGARD OF SEX TRAFFICKING. 

3 (a) PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION.—Chapter 117 of 

4 title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

5 section 2421 the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 2421A. Promotion or facilitation of prostitution 

7 and reckless disregard of sex trafficking 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever uses or operates a facility 

9 or means of interstate or foreign commerce or attempts to 

10 do so with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitu11 tion of another person shall be fined under this title, impris12 oned for not more than 10 years, or both. 

13 ‘‘(b) AGGRAVATED VIOLATION.—Whoever uses or oper14 ates a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce 

15 with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of 

16 another person and— 

17 ‘‘(1) promotes or facilitates the prostitution of 5 

18 or more persons; or 

19 ‘‘(2) acts in reckless disregard of the fact that 

20 such conduct contributed to sex trafficking, in viola21 tion of 1591(a), 

22 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 

23 25 years, or both. 

24 ‘‘(c) CIVIL RECOVERY.—Any person injured by reason 

25 of a violation of section 2421A(b) may recover damages and 

26 reasonable attorneys’ fees in an action before any approVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Feb 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1865.RH H1865

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1865 RH

1 priate United States district court. Consistent with section 

2 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), 

3 a defendant may be held liable, under this subsection, where 

4 promotion or facilitation of prostitution activity includes 

5 responsibility for the creation or development of all or part 

6 of the information or content provided through any inter7 active computer service. 

8 ‘‘(d) MANDATORY RESTITUTION.—Notwithstanding 

9 sections 3663 or 3663A and in addition to any other civil 

10 or criminal penalties authorized by law, the court shall 

11 order restitution for any offense under this section. 

12 ‘‘(e) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It shall be an affirma13 tive defense to a charge of violating subsection (a) where 

14 the defendant proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, 

15 that the promotion or facilitation of prostitution is legal 

16 in the jurisdiction where the promotion or facilitation was 

17 targeted.’’. 

18 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

19 such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating 

20 to section 2421 the following: 

‘‘2421A. Promotion or facilitation of prostitution and reckless disregard of sex 

trafficking.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT. 

22 Section 230(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

23 U.S.C. 230(e)) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 1865 RH

1 ‘‘(5) NO EFFECT ON STATE LAWS CONFORMING

2 TO 18 U.S.C. 1591(A) OR 2421A.—Nothing in this section 

3 shall be construed to impair or limit any charge in 

4 a criminal prosecution brought under State law— 

5 ‘‘(A) if the conduct underlying the charge 

6 constitutes a violation of section 2421A of title 

7 18, United States Code, and promotion or facili8 tation of prostitution is illegal in the jurisdic9 tion where the defendant’s promotion or facilita10 tion of prostitution was targeted; or 

11 ‘‘(B) if the conduct underlying the charge 

12 constitutes a violation of section 1591(a) of title 

13 18, United States Code.’’. 

14 SEC. 5. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

15 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

16 Act shall be construed to limit or preempt any civil action 

17 or criminal prosecution under Federal law or State law (in18 cluding State statutory law and State common law) filed 

19 before or after the day before the date of enactment of this 

20 Act that was not limited or preempted by section 230 of 

21 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), as such 

22 section was in effect on the day before the date of enactment 

23 of this Act. 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS

lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 432 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1865 

[Report No. 115–572, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarother purposes. ploitation of children or sex trafficking, and for State criminal and civil law relating to sexual ex- interactive computer services of Federal and the enforcement against providers and users of ify that section 230 of such Act does not prohibit 

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an 

amendment 

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 

The Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; 

the State of the Union and ordered to be printed committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS