I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5067 

To reauthorize the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2016 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Ms. NORTON, 

Mr. RUSH, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. LEE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. BISHOP

of Georgia, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, 

and Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime 

Act of 2007. 

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 ‘‘Emmett Till Unsolved 

5 Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTIGATION OF UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS 

7 CRIMES. 

8 The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act 

9 of 2007 (28 U.S.C. 509 note) is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 2— 

2 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

3 the end; 

4 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe5 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

6 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(3) coordinate the sharing of information be9 tween the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the civil 

10 rights community, and other entities; 

11 ‘‘(4) hold accountable individuals who were per12 petrators of, or accomplices in, unsolved civil rights 

13 murders; 

14 ‘‘(5) express the condolences of the authority to 

15 the communities affected by unsolved civil rights 

16 murders, and to the families of the victims of such 

17 murders; and 

18 ‘‘(6) comply with requests for information re19 ceived pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United 

20 States Code (commonly known as the ‘Freedom of 

21 Information Act’).’’; 

22 (2) in section 3— 

23 (A) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘oc2 curred not later than December 31, 1969, 

3 and’’; 

4 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting be5 fore the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 

6 and eligible entities’’; and 

7 (iii) by adding after paragraph (2) the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(3) REVIEW OF CLOSED CASES.—The Deputy 

10 Chief shall reopen and review any case involving a 

11 violation described in paragraph (1) that was closed 

12 prior to the date of the enactment of the Emmett 

13 Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization 

14 Act of 2016 without an in-person investigation con15 ducted by an officer or employee of the Criminal 

16 Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Depart17 ment of Justice or by an agent of the Federal Bu18 reau of Investigation. 

19 ‘‘(4) TASK FORCE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Chief 

21 shall establish a task force that includes rep22 resentatives from the Federal Bureau of Inves23 tigation, the Community Relations Service of 

24 the Department of Justice, State and local law 

25 enforcement agencies, and eligible entities to 


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1 conduct a thorough investigation of, and make 

2 recommendations to the Deputy Chief regard3 ing, the cases involving violations described in 

4 paragraph (1). 

5 ‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA6 TIONS.—In addition to amounts made available 

7 to carry out this Act under section 6, there is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney 

9 General $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2016 and 

10 each subsequent fiscal year to carry out this 

11 paragraph.’’; and 

12 (B) in subsection (c)— 

13 (i) in paragraph (1)— 

14 (I) in subparagraph (A), by strik15 ing ‘‘that occurred not later than De16 cember 31, 1969’’; 

17 (II) in subparagraph (F), by 

18 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

19 (III) in subparagraph (G), by 

20 striking the period at the end and in21 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (IV) by inserting after subpara23 graph (G) the following: 

24 ‘‘(H) the number of cases referred by an 

25 eligible entity or a State or local law enforceVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 May 03, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5067.IH H5067

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1 ment agency or prosecutor to the Department 

2 within the study period, the number of such 

3 cases that resulted in Federal charges being 

4 filed, the date the charges were filed, and if the 

5 Department declines to prosecute or participate 

6 in an investigation of a case so referred, the 

7 fact that it did so.’’; and 

8 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting be9 fore the period at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘and a description of the activities con11 ducted under subsection (b)(3)’’; 

12 (3) in section 4(b)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘oc14 curred not later than December 31, 1969, 

15 and’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 

17 the period at the end the following: ‘‘, and eligi18 ble entities’’; 

19 (4) in section 5— 

20 (A) in subsection (a)— 

21 (i) by inserting after ‘‘local law en22 forcement agencies’’ the following: ‘‘, or el23 igible entities,’’; and 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘occurred not later 

25 than December 31, 1969, and’’; and 


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1 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘each of 

2 the fiscal years 2008 through 2017’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘fiscal year 2016 and each subsequent fis4 cal year’’; 

5 (5) in section 6— 

6 (A) in subsection (a)— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘each of the fiscal 

8 years 2008 through 2017’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘fiscal year 2016 and each subsequent fis10 cal year’’; and 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘occurred not later 

12 than December 31, 1969, and’’; and 

13 (B) by amending subsection (b) to read as 

14 follows: 

15 ‘‘(b) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE DE16 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—Subject to the availability of ap17 propriations, the Community Relations Service of the De18 partment of Justice shall provide technical assistance by 

19 bringing together law enforcement agencies and commu20 nities in the investigation of violations described in section 

21 4(b).’’; 

22 (6) in section 7— 

23 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘DEFINI24 TION OF ‘CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STAT25 UTES’’’ and inserting ‘‘DEFINITIONS’’; 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘In this Act, the term’’ 

2 and inserting: ‘‘In this Act: 

3 ‘‘(1) CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES.—The 

4 term’’; and 

5 (C) by inserting at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en7 tity’ means an organization whose primary purpose 

8 is to promote civil rights, an institution of higher 

9 education, or another entity, determined by the At10 torney General to be appropriate.’’; and 

11 (7) by striking section 8. 

Æ 


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