I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1592 

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. 

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, 

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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 

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 Enforce5 ment Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The incidence of violence motivated by the 

9 actual or perceived race, color, religion, national ori10 gin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or 

11 disability of the victim poses a serious national prob12 lem. 

13 (2) Such violence disrupts the tranquility and 

14 safety of communities and is deeply divisive. 

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

16 continue to be responsible for prosecuting the over17 whelming majority of violent crimes in the United 

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1 States, including violent crimes motivated by bias. 

2 These authorities can carry out their responsibilities 

3 more effectively with greater Federal assistance. 

4 (4) Existing Federal law is inadequate to ad5 dress this problem. 

6 (5) A prominent characteristic of a violent 

7 crime motivated by bias is that it devastates not just 

8 the actual victim and the family and friends of the 

9 victim, but frequently savages the community shar10 ing the traits that caused the victim to be selected. 

11 (6) Such violence substantially affects interstate 

12 commerce in many ways, including the following: 

13 (A) The movement of members of targeted 

14 groups is impeded, and members of such groups 

15 are forced to move across State lines to escape 

16 the incidence or risk of such violence. 

17 (B) Members of targeted groups are pre18 vented from purchasing goods and services, ob19 taining or sustaining employment, or partici20 pating in other commercial activity. 

21 (C) Perpetrators cross State lines to com22 mit such violence. 

23 (D) Channels, facilities, and instrumental24 ities of interstate commerce are used to facili25 tate the commission of such violence. 

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1 (E) Such violence is committed using arti2 cles that have traveled in interstate commerce. 

3 (7) For generations, the institutions of slavery 

4 and involuntary servitude were defined by the race, 

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

6 and involuntary servitude were enforced, both prior 

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

8 the Constitution of the United States, through wide9 spread public and private violence directed at per10 sons because of their race, color, or ancestry, or per11 ceived race, color, or ancestry. Accordingly, elimi12 nating racially motivated violence is an important 

13 means of eliminating, to the extent possible, the 

14 badges, incidents, and relics of slavery and involun15 tary servitude. 

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

17 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United 

18 States were adopted, and continuing to date, mem19 bers of certain religious and national origin groups 

20 were and are perceived to be distinct ‘‘races’’. Thus, 

21 in order to eliminate, to the extent possible, the 

22 badges, incidents, and relics of slavery, it is nec23 essary to prohibit assaults on the basis of real or 

24 perceived religions or national origins, at least to the 

25 extent such religions or national origins were remstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 garded as races at the time of the adoption of the 

2 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitu3 tion of the United States. 

4 (9) Federal jurisdiction over certain violent 

5 crimes motivated by bias enables Federal, State, and 

6 local authorities to work together as partners in the 

7 investigation and prosecution of such crimes. 

8 (10) The problem of crimes motivated by bias 

9 is sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in 

10 nature as to warrant Federal assistance to States, 

11 local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME. 

13 In this Act— 

14 (1) the term ‘‘crime of violence’’ has the mean15 ing given that term in section 16, title 18, United 

16 States Code; 

17 (2) the term ‘‘hate crime’’ has the meaning 

18 given such term in section 280003(a) of the Violent 

19 Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 

20 (28 U.S.C. 994 note); and 

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

22 township, parish, village, or other general purpose 

23 political subdivision of a State. 

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1 SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND 

2 PROSECUTIONS BY STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIB3 AL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS. 

4 (a) ASSISTANCE OTHER THAN FINANCIAL ASSIST5 ANCE.— 

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

7 local, or Tribal law enforcement agency, the Attor8 ney General may provide technical, forensic, prosecu9 torial, or any other form of assistance in the crimi10 nal investigation or prosecution of any crime that— 

11 (A) constitutes a crime of violence; 

12 (B) constitutes a felony under the State, 

13 local, or Tribal laws; and 

14 (C) is motivated by prejudice based on the 

15 actual or perceived race, color, religion, national 

16 origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender iden17 tity, or disability of the victim, or is a violation 

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

19 (2) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance under 

20 paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall give pri21 ority to crimes committed by offenders who have 

22 committed crimes in more than one State and to 

23 rural jurisdictions that have difficulty covering the 

24 extraordinary expenses relating to the investigation 

25 or prosecution of the crime. 

26 (b) GRANTS.— 

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

2 award grants to State, local, and Indian law enforce3 ment agencies for extraordinary expenses associated 

4 with the investigation and prosecution of hate 

5 crimes. 

6 (2) OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS.—In imple7 menting the grant program under this subsection, 

8 the Office of Justice Programs shall work closely 

9 with grantees to ensure that the concerns and needs 

10 of all affected parties, including community groups 

11 and schools, colleges, and universities, are addressed 

12 through the local infrastructure developed under the 

13 grants. 

14 (3) APPLICATION.— 

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

16 Indian law enforcement agency that desires a 

17 grant under this subsection shall submit an ap18 plication to the Attorney General at such time, 

19 in such manner, and accompanied by or con20 taining such information as the Attorney Gen21 eral shall reasonably require. 

22 (B) DATE FOR SUBMISSION.—Applications 

23 submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall 

24 be submitted during the 60-day period beginmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 ning on a date that the Attorney General shall 

2 prescribe. 

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

4 Indian law enforcement agency applying for a 

5 grant under this subsection shall— 

6 (i) describe the extraordinary pur7 poses for which the grant is needed; 

8 (ii) certify that the State, local gov9 ernment, or Indian tribe lacks the re10 sources necessary to investigate or pros11 ecute the hate crime; 

12 (iii) demonstrate that, in developing a 

13 plan to implement the grant, the State, 

14 local, and Indian law enforcement agency 

15 has consulted and coordinated with non16 profit, nongovernmental victim services 

17 programs that have experience in providing 

18 services to victims of hate crimes; and 

19 (iv) certify that any Federal funds re20 ceived under this subsection will be used to 

21 supplement, not supplant, non-Federal 

22 funds that would otherwise be available for 

23 activities funded under this subsection. 

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

25 under this subsection shall be approved or denied by 

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1 the Attorney General not later than 30 business 

2 days after the date on which the Attorney General 

3 receives the application. 

4 (5) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this sub5 section shall not exceed $100,000 for any single ju6 risdiction in any 1-year period. 

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

8 2008, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress 

9 a report describing the applications submitted for 

10 grants under this subsection, the award of such 

11 grants, and the purposes for which the grant 

12 amounts were expended. 

13 (7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

14 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

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

16 2008 and 2009. 

17 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM. 

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

19 Justice Programs of the Department of Justice may 

20 award grants, in accordance with such regulations as the 

21 Attorney General may prescribe, to State, local, or Tribal 

22 programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by 

23 juveniles, including programs to train local law enforce24 ment officers in identifying, investigating, prosecuting, 

25 and preventing hate crimes. 

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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

3 necessary to carry out this section. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO 

5 ASSIST STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW EN6 FORCEMENT. 

7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De8 partment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, 

9 including the Community Relations Service, for fiscal 

10 years 2008, 2009, and 2010 such sums as are necessary 

11 to increase the number of personnel to prevent and re12 spond to alleged violations of section 249 of title 18, 

13 United States Code, as added by section 7 of this Act. 

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

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

16 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘§ 249. Hate crime acts 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PER21 CEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORI22 GIN.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of 

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

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

25 incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to 

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

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

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

4 years, fined in accordance with this title, or 

5 both; and 

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

7 years or for life, fined in accordance with this 

8 title, or both, if— 

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

10 ‘‘(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or 

11 an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual 

12 abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated 

13 sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill. 

14 ‘‘(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PER15 CEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEX16 UAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DIS17 ABILITY.— 

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

19 not acting under color of law, in any cir20 cumstance described in subparagraph (B), will21 fully causes bodily injury to any person or, 

22 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explo23 sive or incendiary device, attempts to cause 

24 bodily injury to any person, because of the ac25 tual or perceived religion, national origin, genmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 der, sexual orientation, gender identity or dis2 ability of any person— 

3 ‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more 

4 than 10 years, fined in accordance with 

5 this title, or both; and 

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

7 of years or for life, fined in accordance 

8 with this title, or both, if— 

9 ‘‘(I) death results from the of10 fense; or 

11 ‘‘(II) the offense includes kid12 naping or an attempt to kidnap, ag13 gravated sexual abuse or an attempt 

14 to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or 

15 an attempt to kill. 

16 ‘‘(B) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For 

17 purposes of subparagraph (A), the cir18 cumstances described in this subparagraph are 

19 that— 

20 ‘‘(i) the conduct described in subpara21 graph (A) occurs during the course of, or 

22 as the result of, the travel of the defendant 

23 or the victim— 

24 ‘‘(I) across a State line or na25 tional border; or 

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

2 instrumentality of interstate or for3 eign commerce; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the defendant uses a channel, fa5 cility, or instrumentality of interstate or 

6 foreign commerce in connection with the 

7 conduct described in subparagraph (A); 

8 ‘‘(iii) in connection with the conduct 

9 described in subparagraph (A), the defend10 ant employs a firearm, explosive or incen11 diary device, or other weapon that has 

12 traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; 

13 or 

14 ‘‘(iv) the conduct described in sub15 paragraph (A)— 

16 ‘‘(I) interferes with commercial 

17 or other economic activity in which 

18 the victim is engaged at the time of 

19 the conduct; or 

20 ‘‘(II) otherwise affects interstate 

21 or foreign commerce. 

22 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—No prosecu23 tion of any offense described in this subsection may be 

24 undertaken by the United States, except under the certifi25 cation in writing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Atmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 torney General, the Associate Attorney General, or any 

2 Assistant Attorney General specially designated by the At3 torney General that— 

4 ‘‘(1) such certifying individual has reasonable 

5 cause to believe that the actual or perceived race, 

6 color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual ori7 entation, gender identity, or disability of any person 

8 was a motivating factor underlying the alleged con9 duct of the defendant; and 

10 ‘‘(2) such certifying individual has consulted 

11 with State or local law enforcement officials regard12 ing the prosecution and determined that— 

13 ‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction 

14 or does not intend to exercise jurisdiction; 

15 ‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed16 eral Government assume jurisdiction; 

17 ‘‘(C) the State does not object to the Fed18 eral Government assuming jurisdiction; or 

19 ‘‘(D) the verdict or sentence obtained pur20 suant to State charges left demonstratively 

21 unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating 

22 bias-motivated violence. 

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

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

2 has the meaning given such term in section 232 of 

3 this title; 

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

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

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

7 of this chapter means actual or perceived gender-re8 lated characteristics. 

9 ‘‘(d) RULE OF EVIDENCE.—In a prosecution for an 

10 offense under this section, evidence of expression or asso11 ciations of the defendant may not be introduced as sub12 stantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically 

13 relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section 

14 affects the rules of evidence governing impeachment of a 

15 witness.’’. 

16 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

17 The analysis for chapter 13 of title 18, United States 

18 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘249. Hate crime acts.’’. 

19 SEC. 8. STATISTICS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b)(1) of the first sec21 tion of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 

22 note) is amended by inserting ‘‘gender and gender iden23 tity,’’ after ‘‘race,’’. 

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

25 the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note) is 

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1 amended by inserting ‘‘, including data about crimes com2 mitted by, and crimes directed against, juveniles’’ after 

3 ‘‘data acquired under this section’’. 

4 SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY. 

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

6 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend7 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti8 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made 

9 by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such 

10 to any person or circumstance shall not be affected there11 by. 

Æ 

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