I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 785
To coordinate cargo theft crime data collection and to amend title 18, United 
States Code, to make improvements relating to cargo theft prevention, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2005
Mr. STEARNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To coordinate cargo theft crime data collection and to amend 
title 18, United States Code, to make improvements re-
lating to cargo theft prevention, 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 ‘‘Cargo Theft Preven-
tion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CARGO THEFT DATA COLLECTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall, with-
in 18 months of enactment of this Act, issue regulations 
to—
(1) allow for the reporting of cargo theft of-
fenses to the Attorney General by a carrier, facility, 
or cargo owner promptly after such carrier, facility, 
or cargo owner becomes aware of the offense, with 
such reports to contain information regarding the of-
fense as specified in regulations, including the origin 
and destination of the shipment, the commodities 
stolen, the time and location of the theft, and other 
information regarding cargo theft, to the extent such 
information is available to the reporting party; 
(2) create a database to contain the reports 
made under paragraph (1) and integrate them, to 
the extent feasible, with other noncriminal justice 
and intelligence data; 
(3) prescribe procedures for access to the data-
base created under paragraph (2) by appropriate 
Federal, State, and local governmental agencies, 
while protecting the privacy of the information in ac-
cordance with other applicable Federal laws; and 
(4) share the results and analysis of the infor-
mation collected in paragraphs (1) and (2) with the 
appropriate Federal, State, and local government 
agencies, for the purpose of assisting in the inves-
tigation of cargo theft and in the arrest and pros-
ecution of the perpetrators of cargo theft.
(b) CREATION OF DATABASES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—United States Government 
agencies with significant regulatory or law enforce-
ment responsibilities with respect to cargo theft, to 
the extent feasible, modify their information data-
bases to ensure the collection and retrievability of 
data relating to crime and terrorism and related ac-
tivities affecting cargo transportation. 
(2) DESIGNATION
OF
COVERED
AGENCIES.—
The Attorney General, after consultation with the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, shall designate the 
agencies included within the requirement of para-
graph (1). 
(c) OUTREACH PROGRAM.—The Attorney General, in 
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Sec-
retary of Transportation, the National Maritime Security 
Advisory Committee established under section 70112 of 
title 46, United States Code, and appropriate Federal and 
State agencies, shall establish an outreach program to—
(1) work with State and local law enforcement 
officials to harmonize the reporting of data on cargo 
theft among the States, localities and with the 
United States Government’s reports; and 
(2) disseminate cargo theft information to ap-
propriate law enforcement officials.
(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Attorney General shall 
submit an annual report on the implementation of this sec-
tion to the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and 
the House of Representatives. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 
and Transportation Security Administration of the De-
partment of Homeland Security such sums as are nec-
essary for each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2007 to 
carry out the requirements of this section, such sums to 
remain available until expended. 
(f) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE OF REPORTS AND 
DATA.—Any reports made pursuant to section 1(a)(1) and 
the data contained in the database created under section 
1(a)(2) shall be exempt from disclosure under the Free-
dom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). 
SEC. 3. THEFT OF INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN SHIPMENTS 
OR VESSELS. 
(a) THEFT
OF INTERSTATE
OR FOREIGN SHIP-
MENTS.—Section 659 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended—
(1) in the first undesignated paragraph—
(A) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘trailer,’’ 
after 
‘‘motortruck,’’;
(B) by inserting ‘‘air cargo container,’’ 
after ‘‘aircraft,’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘, or from any intermodal 
container, trailer, container freight station, 
warehouse, or freight consolidation facility,’’ 
after ‘‘air navigation facility’’; 
(2) in the fifth undesignated paragraph, by 
striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘3 years’’; and 
(3) by inserting after the first sentence in the 
eighth undesignated paragraph the following: ‘‘For 
purposes of this section, goods and chattel shall be 
construed to be moving as an interstate or foreign 
shipment at all points between the point of origin 
and the final destination (as evidenced by the waybill 
or other shipping document of the shipment), re-
gardless of any temporary stop while awaiting trans-
shipment or otherwise.’’. 
(b) STOLEN VESSELS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 2311 of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘ ‘Vessel’ means any watercraft or other contrivance 
used or designed for transportation or navigation on, 
under, or immediately above water.’’.
(2) TRANSPORTATION
AND
SALE
OF
STOLEN 
VESSELS.—Sections 2312 and 2313 of title 18, 
United States Code, are each amended by striking 
‘‘motor vehicle or aircraft’’ and inserting ‘‘motor ve-
hicle, vessel, or aircraft’’. 
(c) REVIEW OF SENTENCING GUIDELINES.—Pursu-
ant to section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the 
United States Sentencing Commission shall review the 
Federal Sentencing Guidelines to determine whether sen-
tencing enhancement is appropriate for any offense under 
section 659 or 2311 of title 18, United States Code, as 
amended by this Act. 
(d) ANNUAL REPORT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AC-
TIVITIES.—By December 31, 2006, and annually there-
after, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re-
port, which shall include an evaluation of law enforcement 
activities relating to the investigation and prosecution of 
offenses under section 659 of title 18, United States Code, 
as amended by this Act. The Attorney General’s report 
shall include an assessment of the effectiveness of the 
cargo theft data collection program provided for in section 
1 thereof. 
(e) REPORTING OF CARGO THEFT.—The Attorney 
General shall take the steps necessary to ensure that re-
ports of cargo theft collected by Federal, State, and local
officials are reflected as a separate category in the Uni-
form Crime Reporting System, or any successor system, 
by no later than December 31, 2005.
Æ