I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2684 

To establish grant programs to provide for the establishment of a national 

hate crime hotline and a hate crime information and assistance website, 

to provide training and education to local law enforcement to prevent 

hate crimes, and to provide assistance to victims of hate crimes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2009 

Mr. ISRAEL (for himself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, and Mr. SERRANO) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish grant programs to provide for the establishment 

of a national hate crime hotline and a hate crime information and assistance website, to provide training and 

education to local law enforcement to prevent hate 

crimes, and to provide assistance to victims of hate 

crimes. 

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 ‘‘National Hate Crimes 

5 Hotline Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) On December 7, 2008, Jose Sucuzhan ̃ay, an 

4 Ecuadorian-born real estate agent and father of two, 

5 was beaten to death in Brooklyn while walking with 

6 his brother, who was visiting from Ecuador. Three 

7 men with baseball bats attacked the brothers while 

8 shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. 

9 (2) Marcelo Lucero, 37 years of age, came to 

10 the United States from Ecuador in 1993. He settled 

11 in Patchogue, New York, a middle-class village in 

12 central Long Island. He worked in a dry cleaning 

13 store and sent his savings home to his mother, a 

14 cancer survivor, whom he had not seen since he left 

15 16 years ago. On the night of November 8, 2008, 

16 shortly before midnight, seven teenagers got out of 

17 their car and taunted Lucero with racist slurs as he 

18 walked home. They then beat and murdered Marcelo 

19 Lucero. According to the indictment, the boys set 

20 out that night to find someone of Hispanic heritage 

21 to assault. 

22 (3) The number of hate groups in the United 

23 States has increased by 54 percent over the past 8 

24 years. 


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1 (4) In 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investiga2 tion reported a 6 percent rise in the number of hate 

3 crimes against gay, lesbian, and transgender people. 

4 (5) According to the Federal Bureau of Inves5 tigation, attacks on Hispanics grew 40 percent from 

6 2003 to 2007, even though the Hispanic population 

7 only grew 16 percent in the same time period and 

8 the total number of hate crimes has remained 

9 steady. 

10 SEC. 3. NATIONAL HATE CRIME HOTLINE AND HATE CRIME 

11 INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE WEBSITE. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award 

13 one or more grants to private, nonprofit entities— 

14 (1) to provide for the establishment and oper15 ation of a national, toll-free telephone hotline to pro16 vide information and assistance to victims of hate 

17 crimes (hereafter in this section referred to as the 

18 ‘‘national hate crime hotline’’; and 

19 (2) to provide for the establishment and oper20 ation of a highly secure Internet website to provide 

21 that information and assistance to such victims 

22 (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘hate 

23 crime information and assistance website’’). 

24 (b) DURATION.—A grant under this section may ex25 tend over a period of not more than 5 years. 


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1 (c) ANNUAL APPROVAL.—The provision of payments 

2 under a grant awarded under this section shall be subject 

3 to annual approval by the Attorney General and subject 

4 to the availability of appropriations for each fiscal year 

5 to make the payments. 

6 (d) HOTLINE ACTIVITIES.—An entity that receives a 

7 grant under this section for activities described, in whole 

8 or in part, in subsection (a)(1) shall use funds made avail9 able through the grant to establish and operate a national 

10 hate crime hotline. In establishing and operating the hot11 line, the entity shall— 

12 (1) contract with a carrier for the use of a toll13 free telephone line; 

14 (2) employ, train, (including technology train15 ing), and supervise personnel to answer incoming 

16 calls and provide counseling and referral services to 

17 callers on a 24-hour-a-day basis; 

18 (3) assemble and maintain a current database 

19 of information relating to services for victims of hate 

20 crimes to which callers throughout the United States 

21 may be referred; 

22 (4) publicize the national hate crime hotline to 

23 potential users throughout the United States; and 

24 (5) be prohibited from asking hotline callers 

25 about their citizenship status. 


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1 (e) SECURE WEBSITE ACTIVITIES.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—An entity that receives a 

3 grant under this section for activities described, in 

4 whole or in part, in subsection (a)(2) shall use funds 

5 made available through the grant to provide grants 

6 for startup and operational costs associated with es7 tablishing and operating a hate crime information 

8 and assistance website. 

9 (2) AVAILABILITY.—The hate crime informa10 tion and assistance website shall be available to the 

11 entity operating the national hate crime hotline. 

12 (3) INFORMATION.—The hate crime informa13 tion and assistance website shall provide accurate in14 formation that describes the services available to vic15 tims of hate crimes, including health care and men16 tal health services, social services, transportation, 

17 and other relevant services. 

18 (4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

19 section shall be construed to require any shelter or 

20 service provider, whether public or private, to be 

21 linked to the hate crime information and assistance 

22 website or to provide information to the recipient of 

23 the grant described in paragraph (1) or to the 

24 website. 


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1 (f) APPLICATION.—The Attorney General may not 

2 award a grant under this section unless the Attorney Gen3 eral approves an application for such grant. To be ap4 proved by the Attorney General under this subsection an 

5 application shall— 

6 (1) contain such agreements, assurances, and 

7 information, be in such form, and be submitted in 

8 such manner, as the Attorney General shall pre9 scribe through notice in the Federal Register; 

10 (2) in the case of an application for a grant to 

11 carry out activities described in subsection (a)(1), in12 clude a complete description of the applicant’s plan 

13 for the operation of a national hate crime hotline, in14 cluding descriptions of— 

15 (A) the training program for hotline per16 sonnel, including technology training to ensure 

17 that all persons affiliated with the hotline are 

18 able to effectively operate any technological sys19 tems used by the hotline; 

20 (B) the hiring criteria for hotline per21 sonnel; 

22 (C) the methods for the creation, mainte23 nance, and updating of a resource database; 

24 (D) a plan for publicizing the availability 

25 of the hotline; 


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1 (E) a plan for providing service to non2 English speaking callers, including service 

3 through hotline personnel who speak Spanish; 

4 and 

5 (F) a plan for facilitating access to the 

6 hotline by persons with hearing impairments; 

7 (3) in the case of an application for a grant to 

8 carry out activities described in subsection (a)(2)— 

9 (A) include a complete description of the 

10 applicant’s plan for the development, operation, 

11 maintenance, and updating of information and 

12 resources of the hate crime information and as13 sistance website; 

14 (B) include a certification that the appli15 cant will implement a high level security system 

16 to ensure the confidentiality of the website, tak17 ing into consideration the safety of hate crime 

18 victims; and 

19 (C) include an assurance that, after the 

20 third year of the website project, the recipient 

21 of the grant will develop a plan to secure other 

22 public or private funding resources to ensure 

23 the continued operation and maintenance of the 

24 website; 


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1 (4) demonstrate that the applicant has recog2 nized expertise in the area of hate crimes and a 

3 record of high quality service to victims of hate 

4 crimes, including a demonstration of support from 

5 advocacy groups; 

6 (5) demonstrate that the applicant has a com7 mitment to diversity, and to the provision of services 

8 to ethnic, racial, religious, and non-English speaking 

9 minorities, in addition to older individuals, individ10 uals with disabilities, and individuals of various gen11 der, gender identity, and sexual orientation; and 

12 (6) contain such other information as the Attor13 ney General may require. 

14 (g) HATE CRIME DEFINED.—For purposes of this 

15 Act, the term ‘‘hate crime’’ means a crime in which the 

16 defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of 

17 a property crime, the property that is the object of the 

18 crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, reli19 gion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, 

20 disability, or sexual orientation of any person. 

21 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

23 appropriated to carry out this section $3,500,000 for 

24 each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 


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1 (2) WEBSITE.—Of the amounts appropriated 

2 pursuant to paragraph (1) for a year, not less than 

3 10 percent shall be used for purposes of carrying out 

4 subsection (a)(2). 

5 (3) AVAILABILITY.—Funds authorized to be ap6 propriated under paragraph (1) may remain avail7 able until expended. 

8 SEC. 4. LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT EDUCATION AND 

9 TRAINING GRANT PROGRAM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award 

11 grants to eligible State and local law enforcement entities 

12 for educational and training programs on solving hate 

13 crimes (as defined in section 1(g)) and establishing com14 munity dialogues with groups whose members are at-risk 

15 of being victims of such hate crimes. 

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

17 under subsection (a), a State or local law enforcement en18 tity must be in compliance with reporting requirements 

19 applicable to such entity pursuant to the Hate Crimes Sta20 tistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note). 

21 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

23 such sums as are necessary for fiscal year 2010 and each 

24 succeeding fiscal year. 


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1 SEC. 5. LOCAL RESOURCES TO COMBAT HATE CRIMES 

2 GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab4 lish a grant program within the Office for Victims of 

5 Crime in the Office of Justice Programs, under which the 

6 Attorney General may award grants to local community 

7 based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and faith8 based organizations to establish or expand local programs 

9 and activities that serve targeted areas and that provide 

10 legal, health (including physical and mental health), and 

11 other support services to victims of hate crimes (as defined 

12 in section (1)(g)). Grant funds may be used for activities 

13 including hiring counselors and providing training, re14 sources, language support services, and information to 

15 such victims. 

16 (b) TARGETED AREA DEFINED.—For purposes of 

17 this section, the term ‘‘targeted area’’ means an area with 

18 a demonstrated lack of resources, as determined by the 

19 Attorney General, for victims of hate crimes. 

20 (c) FUNDING RESTRICTION.—None of the funds from 

21 a grant made under this section may be used— 

22 (1) by an organization that discriminates 

23 against an individual on the basis of religion; or 

24 (2) for purposes of promoting religious beliefs 

25 or views. 


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1 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 such sums as are necessary for fiscal year 2010 and each 

4 succeeding fiscal year. 

Æ 


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