Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1235 To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes to study and make recommendations on the prevention of the commission of hate crimes, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 20, 2021 Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes to study and make recommendations on the prevention of the commission of hate crimes, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hate Crimes Commis- 4 sion Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds as follows: 7 (1) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (re- 8 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘FBI’’) defines a 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1235 IS hate crime as a criminal offense—such as murder, 1 arson, or vandalism—against a person or property 2 motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias 3 against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, 4 ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. 5 (2) Forty-five States and the District of Colum- 6 bia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias- 7 motivated violence or intimidation. 8 (3) Congress has enacted various statutes to 9 address hate crimes since 1968, with the most re- 10 cent statute enacted in 2009. 11 (4) In 2019, hate crimes rose by 2.7 percent. 12 (5) In 2019, 51 deaths from hate crimes were 13 reported, the highest number since the FBI began 14 reporting the statistic in the early 1990s. 15 (6) Hate crimes not only damage the individual 16 victim or victims, but also traumatize entire commu- 17 nities and erode public confidence in their safety. 18 (7) In 2019, hate crimes directed at Latinos in- 19 creased by almost 9 percent from the year before. 20 (8) In 2019, hate crimes based on sexual ori- 21 entation represented 16.7 percent of total hate 22 crimes, and hate crimes based on gender identity 23 represented 2.7 percent of total hate crimes, which 24 was an increase from the year before. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1235 IS (9) In testimony before the Committee on 1 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 2 in September 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray 3 said, ‘‘Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the cat- 4 egory as a whole, racially motivated violent extre- 5 mism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larg- 6 er group. And within the racially motivated violent 7 extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of 8 white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the big- 9 gest chunk of that.’’. 10 (10) The category of hate crime that increased 11 the most in 2019 was anti-Semitic hate crimes, 12 which rose by 14 percent. 13 (11) In October 2018, a shooting at the Tree 14 of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania left 15 11 people dead. 16 (12) In July 2019, a Hindu priest in New York 17 City was hospitalized after a man attacked him and 18 screamed ‘‘this is my neighborhood’’ during the inci- 19 dent. 20 (13) In August 2019, an assailant entered a 21 Walmart in El Paso, Texas to target Hispanics and 22 left 22 people dead. 23 (14) In November 2020, a woman shouted anti- 24 Muslim slurs and attacked a couple in New York 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1235 IS City, leaving one victim needing surgery for facial 1 fractures. 2 (15) In response to the COVID–19 pandemic, 3 Asian Americans have suffered an increasing num- 4 ber of hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 5 2,808 ‘‘hate incidents’’ toward Asian Americans and 6 Pacific Islanders were reported between March 2020 7 and December 2020. 8 (16) Many hate crimes go unreported. In 2019, 9 the number of law enforcement agencies providing 10 hate crimes data to the FBI decreased, as only 14 11 percent of law enforcement agencies in the United 12 States reported 1 or more hate crimes. 13 (17) There is a clear need for stronger action 14 to accurately report and effectively combat hate- 15 based attacks. 16 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 18 United States Commission on Hate Crimes (in this Act 19 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be com- 21 posed of 12 members. Members of the Commission shall 22 be appointed in accordance with the following: 23 (1) Two members shall be appointed by the ma- 24 jority leader of the Senate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1235 IS (2) Two members shall be appointed by the mi- 1 nority leader of the Senate. 2 (3) Two members shall be appointed by the 3 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 4 (4) Two members shall be appointed by the mi- 5 nority leader of the House of Representatives. 6 (5) Two members shall be jointly appointed by 7 the 2 appointing officials under paragraphs (1) 8 through (4) who are members of, or caucus with, the 9 Democratic Party. 10 (6) Two members shall be jointly appointed by 11 the 2 appointing officials under paragraphs (1) 12 through (4) who are members of, or caucus with, the 13 Republican Party. 14 (7) Not more than 6 members may be from the 15 law enforcement community and not more than 6 16 members may be from the civil rights community. 17 (8) Not more than 6 members may be from the 18 same political party. 19 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 20 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘hate 21 crime’’ means an offense under section 249 of title 18, 22 United States Code. 23 (b) INVESTIGATION.—The Commission shall inves- 24 tigate the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1235 IS (1) Whether the number of hate crimes com- 1 mitted has increased during the period beginning on 2 January 1, 2007, and ending on the date that is 60 3 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 4 (2) To the extent that the Commission deter- 5 mines under paragraph (1) that the number of hate 6 crimes committed has increased, the factors that 7 have contributed to the increase. 8 (3) Policies or actions that law enforcement 9 agencies might adopt or engage in to reduce the 10 commission of hate crimes. 11 (4) The impact of underreporting on hate 12 crimes statistics and hate crimes prevention. 13 (5) Community bias prevention responses that 14 are successful and possible through coordination 15 with nonprofit organizations, local education agen- 16 cies, and government entities. 17 SEC. 5. REPORT. 18 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 19 of this Act, the Commission shall submit a report to Con- 20 gress and the President setting forth the results of the 21 investigation conducted under section 4. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1235.IS S1235 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS