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Union Calendar No. 67 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1592 

[Report No. 110–113] 

To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes 

to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2007 

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

SHAYS, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. BONO, 

Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. 

ARCURI, Mr. BACA, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 

BORDALLO, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRALEY of 

Iowa, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 

CARNAHAN, Ms. CARSON, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 

COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. 

DAVIS of California, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. 

DELAURO, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 

EMANUEL, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GERLACH, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. HODES, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. INSLEE, 

Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

of Texas, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KIND, Mr. 

KLEIN of Florida, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. KUHL of New York, Mr. 

LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS

of Georgia, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mrs. 

LOWEY, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. 

MATSUI, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. MILLER of North 

Carolina, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, 

Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 

Ms. NORTON, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PASTOR, 

Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LINDA T. 

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SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. SCHWARTZ, 

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. STARK, Ms. SUTTON, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Mr. TIERNEY, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEINER, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. 

WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

APRIL 30, 2007 

Additional sponsors: Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. 

YARMUTH, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. BEAN, Mr. RUSH, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. SNYDER, Mr. 

PERLMUTTER, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. 

RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 

WALSH of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. 

GILCHREST, Ms. CASTOR, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. 

SARBANES, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. 

HARMAN, Ms. KILPATRICK, and Mr. LANTOS

APRIL 30, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

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

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 20, 2007] 

A BILL 

To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, 

and Indian tribes to prosecute 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 ‘‘Local Law Enforcement 

5 Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The incidence of violence motivated by the 

4 actual or perceived race, color, religion, national ori5 gin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

6 disability of the victim poses a serious national prob7 lem. 

8 (2) Such violence disrupts the tranquility and 

9 safety of communities and is deeply divisive. 

10 (3) State and local authorities are now and will 

11 continue to be responsible for prosecuting the over12 whelming majority of violent crimes in the United 

13 States, including violent crimes motivated by bias. 

14 These authorities can carry out their responsibilities 

15 more effectively with greater Federal assistance. 

16 (4) Existing Federal law is inadequate to ad17 dress this problem. 

18 (5) A prominent characteristic of a violent crime 

19 motivated by bias is that it devastates not just the ac20 tual victim and the family and friends of the victim, 

21 but frequently savages the community sharing the 

22 traits that caused the victim to be selected. 

23 (6) Such violence substantially affects interstate 

24 commerce in many ways, including the following: 

25 (A) The movement of members of targeted 

26 groups is impeded, and members of such groups 

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1 are forced to move across State lines to escape 

2 the incidence or risk of such violence. 

3 (B) Members of targeted groups are pre4 vented from purchasing goods and services, ob5 taining or sustaining employment, or partici6 pating in other commercial activity. 

7 (C) Perpetrators cross State lines to commit 

8 such violence. 

9 (D) Channels, facilities, and instrumental10 ities of interstate commerce are used to facilitate 

11 the commission of such violence. 

12 (E) Such violence is committed using arti13 cles that have traveled in interstate commerce. 

14 (7) For generations, the institutions of slavery 

15 and involuntary servitude were defined by the race, 

16 color, and ancestry of those held in bondage. Slavery 

17 and involuntary servitude were enforced, both prior to 

18 and after the adoption of the 13th amendment to the 

19 Constitution of the United States, through widespread 

20 public and private violence directed at persons be21 cause of their race, color, or ancestry, or perceived 

22 race, color, or ancestry. Accordingly, eliminating ra23 cially motivated violence is an important means of 

24 eliminating, to the extent possible, the badges, inci25 dents, and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude. 

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1 (8) Both at the time when the 13th, 14th, and 

2 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United 

3 States were adopted, and continuing to date, members 

4 of certain religious and national origin groups were 

5 and are perceived to be distinct ‘‘races’’. Thus, in 

6 order to eliminate, to the extent possible, the badges, 

7 incidents, and relics of slavery, it is necessary to pro8 hibit assaults on the basis of real or perceived reli9 gions or national origins, at least to the extent such 

10 religions or national origins were regarded as races 

11 at the time of the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th 

12 amendments to the Constitution of the United States. 

13 (9) Federal jurisdiction over certain violent 

14 crimes motivated by bias enables Federal, State, and 

15 local authorities to work together as partners in the 

16 investigation and prosecution of such crimes. 

17 (10) The problem of crimes motivated by bias is 

18 sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in na19 ture as to warrant Federal assistance to States, local 

20 jurisdictions, and Indian tribes. 

21 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME. 

22 In this Act— 

23 (1) the term ‘‘crime of violence’’ has the meaning 

24 given that term in section 16, title 18, United States 

25 Code; 

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1 (2) the term ‘‘hate crime’’ has the meaning given 

2 such term in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime 

3 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C. 

4 994 note); and 

5 (3) the term ‘‘local’’ means a county, city, town, 

6 township, parish, village, or other general purpose po7 litical subdivision of a State. 

8 SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND 

9 PROSECUTIONS BY STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIB10 AL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS. 

11 (a) ASSISTANCE OTHER THAN FINANCIAL ASSIST12 ANCE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of State, local, 

14 or Tribal law enforcement agency, the Attorney Gen15 eral may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or 

16 any other form of assistance in the criminal inves17 tigation or prosecution of any crime that— 

18 (A) constitutes a crime of violence; 

19 (B) constitutes a felony under the State, 

20 local, or Tribal laws; and 

21 (C) is motivated by prejudice based on the 

22 actual or perceived race, color, religion, national 

23 origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender iden24 tity, or disability of the victim, or is a violation 

25 of the State, local, or Tribal hate crime laws. 

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1 (2) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance under 

2 paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall give pri3 ority to crimes committed by offenders who have com4 mitted crimes in more than one State and to rural 

5 jurisdictions that have difficulty covering the extraor6 dinary expenses relating to the investigation or pros7 ecution of the crime. 

8 (b) GRANTS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 

10 award grants to State, local, and Indian law enforce11 ment agencies for extraordinary expenses associated 

12 with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. 

13 (2) OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS.—In imple14 menting the grant program under this subsection, the 

15 Office of Justice Programs shall work closely with 

16 grantees to ensure that the concerns and needs of all 

17 affected parties, including community groups and 

18 schools, colleges, and universities, are addressed 

19 through the local infrastructure developed under the 

20 grants. 

21 (3) APPLICATION.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State, local, and 

23 Indian law enforcement agency that desires a 

24 grant under this subsection shall submit an ap25 plication to the Attorney General at such time, 

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1 in such manner, and accompanied by or con2 taining such information as the Attorney Gen3 eral shall reasonably require. 

4 (B) DATE FOR SUBMISSION.—Applications 

5 submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be 

6 submitted during the 60-day period beginning on 

7 a date that the Attorney General shall prescribe. 

8 (C) REQUIREMENTS.—A State, local, and 

9 Indian law enforcement agency applying for a 

10 grant under this subsection shall— 

11 (i) describe the extraordinary purposes 

12 for which the grant is needed; 

13 (ii) certify that the State, local govern14 ment, or Indian tribe lacks the resources 

15 necessary to investigate or prosecute the 

16 hate crime; 

17 (iii) demonstrate that, in developing a 

18 plan to implement the grant, the State, 

19 local, and Indian law enforcement agency 

20 has consulted and coordinated with non21 profit, nongovernmental victim services pro22 grams that have experience in providing 

23 services to victims of hate crimes; and 

24 (iv) certify that any Federal funds re25 ceived under this subsection will be used to 

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1 supplement, not supplant, non-Federal 

2 funds that would otherwise be available for 

3 activities funded under this subsection. 

4 (4) DEADLINE.—An application for a grant 

5 under this subsection shall be approved or denied by 

6 the Attorney General not later than 30 business days 

7 after the date on which the Attorney General receives 

8 the application. 

9 (5) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this sub10 section shall not exceed $100,000 for any single juris11 diction in any 1-year period. 

12 (6) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2008, 

13 the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re14 port describing the applications submitted for grants 

15 under this subsection, the award of such grants, and 

16 the purposes for which the grant amounts were ex17 pended. 

18 (7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

20 this subsection $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

21 2008 and 2009. 

22 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 

23 (a) AUTHORITY TO AWARD GRANTS.—The Office of 

24 Justice Programs of the Department of Justice may award 

25 grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attorney 

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1 General may prescribe, to State, local, or Tribal programs 

2 designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles, in3 cluding programs to train local law enforcement officers in 

4 identifying, investigating, prosecuting, and preventing hate 

5 crimes. 

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

7 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec8 essary to carry out this section. 

9 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO 

10 ASSIST STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW EN11 FORCEMENT. 

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Depart13 ment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, in14 cluding the Community Relations Service, for fiscal years 

15 2008, 2009, and 2010 such sums as are necessary to in16 crease the number of personnel to prevent and respond to 

17 alleged violations of section 249 of title 18, United States 

18 Code, as added by section 7 of this Act. 

19 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN HATE CRIME ACTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 

21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘§ 249. Hate crime acts 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

24 ‘‘(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PER25 CEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORImstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 GIN.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of 

2 law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, 

3 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or 

4 incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to 

5 any person, because of the actual or perceived race, 

6 color, religion, or national origin of any person— 

7 ‘‘(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 

8 years, fined in accordance with this title, or 

9 both; and 

10 ‘‘(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of 

11 years or for life, fined in accordance with this 

12 title, or both, if— 

13 ‘‘(i) death results from the offense; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or 

15 an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual 

16 abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated 

17 sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill. 

18 ‘‘(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PER19 CEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEX20 UAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DIS21 ABILITY.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, whether or 

23 not acting under color of law, in any cir24 cumstance described in subparagraph (B), will25 fully causes bodily injury to any person or, 

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1 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive 

2 or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily 

3 injury to any person, because of the actual or 

4 perceived religion, national origin, gender, sex5 ual orientation, gender identity or disability of 

6 any person— 

7 ‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 

8 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, 

9 or both; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term 

11 of years or for life, fined in accordance with 

12 this title, or both, if— 

13 ‘‘(I) death results from the offense; 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(II) the offense includes kid16 naping or an attempt to kidnap, ag17 gravated sexual abuse or an attempt to 

18 commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an 

19 attempt to kill. 

20 ‘‘(B) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For 

21 purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances 

22 described in this subparagraph are that— 

23 ‘‘(i) the conduct described in subpara24 graph (A) occurs during the course of, or as 

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1 the result of, the travel of the defendant or 

2 the victim— 

3 ‘‘(I) across a State line or na4 tional border; or 

5 ‘‘(II) using a channel, facility, or 

6 instrumentality of interstate or foreign 

7 commerce; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the defendant uses a channel, fa9 cility, or instrumentality of interstate or 

10 foreign commerce in connection with the 

11 conduct described in subparagraph (A); 

12 ‘‘(iii) in connection with the conduct 

13 described in subparagraph (A), the defend14 ant employs a firearm, explosive or incen15 diary device, or other weapon that has trav16 eled in interstate or foreign commerce; or 

17 ‘‘(iv) the conduct described in subpara18 graph (A)— 

19 ‘‘(I) interferes with commercial or 

20 other economic activity in which the 

21 victim is engaged at the time of the 

22 conduct; or 

23 ‘‘(II) otherwise affects interstate 

24 or foreign commerce. 

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1 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—No prosecution 

2 of any offense described in this subsection may be under3 taken by the United States, except under the certification 

4 in writing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney 

5 General, the Associate Attorney General, or any Assistant 

6 Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney Gen7 eral that— 

8 ‘‘(1) such certifying individual has reasonable 

9 cause to believe that the actual or perceived race, 

10 color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual ori11 entation, gender identity, or disability of any person 

12 was a motivating factor underlying the alleged con13 duct of the defendant; and 

14 ‘‘(2) such certifying individual has consulted 

15 with State or local law enforcement officials regard16 ing the prosecution and determined that— 

17 ‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction or 

18 does not intend to exercise jurisdiction; 

19 ‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed20 eral Government assume jurisdiction; 

21 ‘‘(C) the State does not object to the Federal 

22 Government assuming jurisdiction; or 

23 ‘‘(D) the verdict or sentence obtained pursu24 ant to State charges left demonstratively 

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1 unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating 

2 bias-motivated violence. 

3 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘explosive or incendiary device’ has 

5 the meaning given such term in section 232 of this 

6 title; 

7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘firearm’ has the meaning given 

8 such term in section 921(a) of this title; and 

9 ‘‘(3) the term ‘gender identity’ for the purposes 

10 of this chapter means actual or perceived gender-re11 lated characteristics. 

12 ‘‘(d) RULE OF EVIDENCE.—In a prosecution for an of13 fense under this section, evidence of expression or associa14 tions of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive 

15 evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to 

16 that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the 

17 rules of evidence governing impeachment of a witness.’’. 

18 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

19 table of sections at the beginning of chapter 13 of title 18, 

20 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

21 following new item: 

‘‘249. Hate crime acts.’’. 

22 SEC. 8. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION. 

23 The United States Sentencing Commission shall study 

24 the issue of adult recruitment of juveniles to commit hate 

25 crimes and shall report the Commission’s findings back to 

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1 the Congress not later than 180 days after the date of the 

2 enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 9. STATISTICS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b)(1) of the first section 

5 of the Hate Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note) is 

6 amended by inserting ‘‘gender and gender identity,’’ after 

7 ‘‘race,’’. 

8 (b) DATA.—Subsection (b)(5) of the first section of the 

9 Hate Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note) is amended 

10 by inserting ‘‘, including data about crimes committed by, 

11 and crimes directed against, juveniles’’ after ‘‘data acquired 

12 under this section’’. 

13 SEC. 10. SEVERABILITY. 

14 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

15 this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment 

16 to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitu17 tional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by 

18 this Act, and the application of the provisions of such to 

19 any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

20 SEC. 11. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

21 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

22 Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct 

23 protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities pro24 tected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First 

25 Amendment to the Constitution. 

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Union Calendar No. 67 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1592 

[Report No. 110

–113] 

A BILL 

To provide Federal assistance to States, local juriscrimes, and for other purposes. dictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate 

APRIL 30, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 

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