I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4527 
To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
Information to prepare and submit periodic reports to Congress on the 
role of telecommunications in hate crimes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 1, 2017 
Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. CLARK of Massachu-
setts, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. KILMER, and Mr. SABLAN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu-
nications and Information to prepare and submit periodic 
reports to Congress on the role of telecommunications 
in hate crimes. 
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 ‘‘Stop Harmful and 
Abusive Telecommunications Expression Act of 2017’’ or 
the ‘‘Stop HATE Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. REPORTS ON THE ROLE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
IN HATE CRIMES. 
(a) PERIODIC REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 
1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
not less frequently than every 5 years thereafter, the As-
sistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
Information, with the assistance of the Attorney General, 
shall prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the role of telecommunications in 
violent acts and the commission of crimes of hate, as de-
scribed in the Hate Crime Statistics Act (34 U.S.C. 
41305), against individuals or groups of individuals on the 
basis of race, gender and gender identity, religion, dis-
ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, color, or national ori-
gin. 
(b) SCOPE OF REPORTS.—A report required by sub-
section (a) shall— 
(1) analyze information on the use of tele-
communications, including broadcast television and 
radio, cable television, public access television, com-
puter bulletin boards, and other electronic media, to 
advocate and encourage violent acts and the commis-
sion of crimes of hate, as described in the Hate 
Crime Statistics Act (34 U.S.C. 41305), against in-
dividuals or groups of individuals on the basis of 
race, gender and gender identity, religion, disability, 
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sexual orientation, ethnicity, color, or national ori-
gin; 
(2) include in the analysis required by para-
graph (1) an analysis of— 
(A) the role that such telecommunications 
are playing in giving groups that advocate and 
encourage such violent acts and the commission 
of such crimes of hate a platform to spread 
their messages and to organize across the 
United States; and 
(B) how such use and role of telecommuni-
cations have changed due to the evolution of 
new forms of communication on the internet 
and other electronic media since the submission 
of the previous report under subsection (a) (or, 
in the case of the first report submitted under 
such subsection, the report submitted under 
section 155 of the National Telecommunications 
and Information Administration Organization 
Act); and 
(3) include any recommendations, consistent 
with the First Amendment to the Constitution, that 
the Assistant Secretary considers appropriate and 
necessary to address such use and such role of tele-
communications. 
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(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation and the Committee on Appropria-
tions of the Senate. 
Æ 
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