I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3079 
To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2023 
Mr. BACON (for himself, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CARL, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. 
LATTA, Mr. BARR, Mr. AMODEI, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Ohio, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. JACKSON of Texas, Mr. 
D’ESPOSITO, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. LALOTA, and Mr. HUDSON) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Back the Blue Act 
of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 
(a) KILLING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.— 
(1) OFFENSE.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
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‘‘§ 1123. Killing of law enforcement officers 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the terms ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ 
and ‘United States judge’ have the meanings given 
those terms in section 115; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘federally funded public safety of-
ficer’ means a public safety officer or judicial officer 
for a public agency that— 
‘‘(A) receives Federal financial assistance; 
and 
‘‘(B) is an agency of an entity that is a 
State of the United States, the District of Co-
lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, or any territory or possession of the 
United States, an Indian tribe, or a unit of 
local government of that entity; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 
serving as an official recognized or designated mem-
ber of a legally organized volunteer fire department 
and an officially recognized or designated public em-
ployee member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew; 
‘‘(4) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 
other officer or employee of a court, including pros-
ecutors, court security, pretrial services officers, 
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court reporters, and corrections, probation, and pa-
role officers; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 
an individual, with statutory arrest powers, involved 
in crime or juvenile delinquency control or reduction 
or enforcement of the laws; 
‘‘(6) the term ‘public agency’ includes a court 
system, the National Guard of a State to the extent 
the personnel of that National Guard are not in 
Federal service, and the defense forces of a State 
authorized by section 109 of title 32; and 
‘‘(7) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 
individual serving a public agency in an official ca-
pacity, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, 
as a chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or 
ambulance crew. 
‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 
to— 
‘‘(1) commit, or attempt to or conspire to com-
mit, murder (within the meaning of section 1111(a)) 
or manslaughter (within the meaning of section 
1112(a)) against— 
‘‘(A) a United States judge; 
‘‘(B) a Federal law enforcement officer; or 
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