I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 156 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties 
for the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 
information with the intent to trigger an emergency response. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2019 
Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, 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 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 
enhanced penalties for the transmission of misleading 
or inaccurate caller identification information with the 
intent to trigger an emergency response. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-Swatting Act of 
2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE 
CALLER ID INFORMATION WITH INTENT TO 
TRIGGER EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 
Section 227(e)(5) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(5)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘Any per-
son’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subpara-
graph (C), any person’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR VIOLA-
TION WITH INTENT TO TRIGGER EMERGENCY 
RESPONSE.— 
‘‘(i) CRIMINAL VIOLATION.—Any per-
son who violates this subsection with the 
intent to trigger an emergency response in 
the absence of circumstances requiring 
such a response shall— 
‘‘(I) be fined under title 18, 
United States Code, or imprisoned not 
more than 5 years, or both; or 
‘‘(II) if serious bodily injury re-
sults, be fined under title 18, United 
States Code, or imprisoned not more 
than 20 years, or both. 
‘‘(ii) REIMBURSEMENT.— 
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‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The court, in 
imposing a sentence on a defendant 
who has been convicted of an offense 
under clause (i), shall order the de-
fendant to reimburse any entity de-
scribed in subclause (I), (II), or (III) 
of clause (iii) that incurs expenses in 
making or incident to the response de-
scribed in clause (i) for such expenses. 
‘‘(II) LIABILITY.—A person or-
dered to make reimbursement under 
this clause shall be jointly and sever-
ally liable for such expenses with each 
other person, if any, who is ordered to 
make reimbursement under this clause 
for the same expenses. 
‘‘(III) 
CIVIL
JUDGMENT.—An 
order of reimbursement under this 
clause shall, for the purposes of en-
forcement, be treated as a civil judg-
ment. 
‘‘(iii) EMERGENCY
RESPONSE
DE-
FINED.—In this subparagraph, the term 
‘emergency response’ means any action to 
protect life, health, or property by— 
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‘‘(I) a law enforcement agency of 
the United States, a State, or a polit-
ical subdivision of a State; 
‘‘(II) an agency of the United 
States, a State, or a political subdivi-
sion of a State, or a private not-for- 
profit organization, that provides fire, 
rescue, or emergency medical services; 
or 
‘‘(III) a public safety answering 
point (as defined in section 222).’’. 
Æ 
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