108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1731
AN ACT
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish
penalties for aggravated identity theft, and for
other purposes.
108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1731
AN ACT
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties
for aggravated identity theft, 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 ‘‘Identity Theft Penalty
Enhancement Act’’.
SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding after section 1028, the
following:
‘‘§ 1028A. Aggravated identity theft
‘‘(a) OFFENSES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, during and in re-
lation to any felony violation enumerated in sub-
section (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses,
without lawful authority, a means of identification of
another person shall, in addition to the punishment
provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of 2 years.
‘‘(2) TERRORISM OFFENSE.—Whoever, during
and in relation to any felony violation enumerated in
section 2332b(g)(5)(B), knowingly transfers, pos-
sesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of
identification of another person or a false identifica-
tion document shall, in addition to the punishment
provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of 5 years.
‘‘(b) CONSECUTIVE
SENTENCE.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law—
‘‘(1) a court shall not place on probation any
person convicted of a violation of this section;
‘‘(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no
term of imprisonment imposed on a person under
this section shall run concurrently with any other
term of imprisonment imposed on the person under
any other provision of law, including any term of im-
prisonment imposed for the felony during which the
means of identification was transferred, possessed,
or used;
‘‘(3) in determining any term of imprisonment
to be imposed for the felony during which the means
of identification was transferred, possessed, or used,
a court shall not in any way reduce the term to be
imposed for such crime so as to compensate for, or
otherwise take into account, any separate term of
imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a viola-
tion of this section; and
‘‘(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a per-
son for a violation of this section may, in the discre-
tion of the court, run concurrently, in whole or in
part, only with another term of imprisonment that
is imposed by the court at the same time on that
person for an additional violation of this section,
provided that such discretion shall be exercised in
accordance with any applicable guidelines and policy
statements issued by the Sentencing Commission
pursuant to section 994 of title 28.
‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘felony violation enumerated in subsection (c)’ means
any offense that is a felony violation of—
‘‘(1) section 641 (relating to theft of public
money, property, or rewards), section 656 (relating
to theft, embezzlement, or misapplication by bank
officer or employee), or section 664 (relating to theft
from employee benefit plans);
‘‘(2) section 911 (relating to false personation
of citizenship);
‘‘(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false state-
ments in connection with the acquisition of a fire-
arm);
‘‘(4) any provision contained in this chapter (re-
lating to fraud and false statements), other than this
section or section 1028(a)(7);
‘‘(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (re-
lating to mail, bank, and wire fraud);
‘‘(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (re-
lating to nationality and citizenship);
‘‘(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (re-
lating to passports and visas);
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PRO-
HIBITION.
Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(7)—
(A) by striking ‘‘transfers’’ and inserting
‘‘transfers, possesses,’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘abet,’’ and inserting
‘‘abet, or in connection with,’’;
(2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ‘‘trans-
fer’’ and inserting ‘‘transfer, possession,’’;
(3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘three
years’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’; and
(4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ‘‘fa-
cilitate’’ the following: ‘‘an act of domestic terrorism
(as defined under section 2331(5) of this title) or’’.
SEC. 4. AGGREGATION OF VALUE FOR PURPOSES OF SEC-
TION 641.
The penultimate paragraph of section 641 of title 18
of the United States Code is amended by inserting ‘‘in
the aggregate, combining amounts from all the counts for
which the defendant is convicted in a single case,’’ after
‘‘value of such property’’ .
SEC. 5. DIRECTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES SENTENCING
COMMISSION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to its authority under
section 994(p) of title 28, United States Code, and in ac-
cordance with this section, the United States Sentencing
Commission shall review and amend its guidelines and its
policy statements to ensure that the guideline offense lev-
els and enhancements appropriately punish identity theft
offenses involving an abuse of position.
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out this section,
the United States Sentencing Commission shall do the fol-
lowing:
(1) Amend U.S.S.G. section 3B1.3 (Abuse of
Position of Trust of Use of Special Skill) to apply
to and punish offenses in which the defendant ex-
ceeds or abuses the authority of his or her position
in order to obtain unlawfully or use without author-
ity any means of identification, as defined section
1028(d)(4) of title 18, United States Code.
(2) Ensure reasonable consistency with other
relevant directives, other sentencing guidelines, and
statutory provisions.
(3) Make any necessary and conforming
changes to the sentencing guidelines.
(4) Ensure that the guidelines adequately meet
the purposes of sentencing set forth in section
3553(a)(2) of title 18, United States Code.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
In addition to any other sums authorized to be appro-
priated for this purpose, there is authorized to be appro-
priated to the Department of Justice, for the investigation
and prosecution of identity theft and related credit card
and other fraud cases constituting felony violations of law,
$2,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 and $2,000,000 for each
of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
Passed the House of Representatives June 23, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.