Title: COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
This bill requires a designated officer or employee of the Department of Justice to facilitate the expedited review of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) hate crimes and reports of COVID-19 hate crimes.
It defines COVID-19 hate crime as a violent crime that is motivated by two things: (1) the actual or perceived characteristic (e.g., race) of any person, and (2) the actual or perceived relationship to the spread of COVID-19 of any person because of that characteristic.
The designated officer or employee must periodically report on the status of each case reviewed.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6721 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6721

  To facilitate the expedited review of COVID-19 hate crimes, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2020

Ms. Meng (for herself, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. 
Watson Coleman, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. 
  Hayes, Mr. Engel, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. 
 Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Lynch, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. 
  Suozzi, Ms. Jackson Lee, and Mr. Cisneros) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To facilitate the expedited review of COVID-19 hate crimes, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act''.

SEC. 2. REVIEW OF COVID-19 HATE CRIMES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 14 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall designate an officer 
or employee of the Department of Justice whose sole responsibility 
during the applicable period shall be to facilitate the expedited 
review of COVID-19 hate crimes and reports of any such crime to 
Federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies.
    (b) Report.--On the date that is 30 days after the designation 
under subsection (a), and every 30 days thereafter, the officer or 
employee shall submit to Congress a report on the status of each case 
reviewed under subsection (a), including--
            (1) any resources provided to complainants;
            (2) any actions taken to further the investigation of the 
        incidents; and
            (3) data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic 
        background, of the victim and location of occurrence.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``applicable period'' means the period 
        beginning on the date on which the officer or employee is 
        designated under subsection (a), and ending on the date that is 
        one year after the date on which the emergency period described 
        in subparagraph (B) of section 1135(g)(1) of the Social 
        Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5(g)(1)) ends, except that the 
        Attorney General may extend such period as appropriate.
            (2) The term ``COVID-19 hate crime'' means a crime of 
        violence (as such term is defined under title 18, United States 
        Code) that is motivated by--
                    (A) the actual or perceived race, color, religion, 
                national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender 
                identity, or disability of any person; and
                    (B) the actual or perceived relationship to the 
                spread of COVID-19 of any person because of the 
                characteristic described in subparagraph (A).
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