Closing the Law Enforcement Consent Loophole Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 855 To amend title 18, United States Code, to make it a criminal offense for individuals to engage in sexual acts while acting under color of law or with individuals in their custody, to encourage States to adopt similar laws, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to make it a criminal offense for individuals to engage in sexual acts while acting under color of law or with individuals in their custody, to encourage States to adopt similar laws, 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 ‘‘Closing the Law En- 4 forcement Consent Loophole Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 855 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ENGAGING IN SEXUAL ACTS 1 WHILE ACTING UNDER COLOR OF LAW. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2243 of title 18, United 3 States Code, is amended— 4 (1) in the section heading, by adding at the end 5 the following: ‘‘or by any person acting 6 under color of law’’; 7 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 8 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; 9 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(c) OF AN INDIVIDUAL BY ANY PERSON ACTING 12 UNDER COLOR OF LAW.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, acting under 14 color of law, knowingly engages in a sexual act with 15 an individual, including an individual who is under 16 arrest, in detention, or otherwise in the actual cus- 17 tody of any Federal law enforcement officer, shall be 18 fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 19 years, or both. 20 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 21 ‘sexual act’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 22 tion 2246.’’; and 23 (4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by 24 adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 855 IS ‘‘(3) In a prosecution under subsection (c), it is not 1 a defense that the other individual consented to the sexual 2 act.’’. 3 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 2246 of title 18, United 4 States Code, is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 6 end; 7 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(7) the term ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ 12 has the meaning given the term in section 115.’’. 13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14 for chapter 109A of title 18, United States Code, is 15 amended by amending the item related to section 2243 16 to read as follows: 17 ‘‘2243. Sexual abuse of a minor or ward or by any person acting under color of law.’’. SEC. 3. INCENTIVES FOR STATES. 18 (a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Attorney 19 General is authorized to make grants to States that have 20 in effect a law that— 21 (1) makes it a criminal offense for any person 22 acting under color of law of the State to engage in 23 a sexual act with an individual, including an indi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 855 IS vidual who is under arrest, in detention, or otherwise 1 in the actual custody of any law enforcement officer; 2 and 3 (2) prohibits a person charged with an offense 4 described in paragraph (1) from asserting the con- 5 sent of the other individual as a defense. 6 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—A State that re- 7 ceives a grant under this section shall submit to the Attor- 8 ney General, on an annual basis, information on— 9 (1) the number of reports made to law enforce- 10 ment agencies in that State regarding persons en- 11 gaging in a sexual act while acting under color of 12 law during the previous year; and 13 (2) the disposition of each case in which sexual 14 misconduct by a person acting under color of law 15 was reported during the previous year. 16 (c) APPLICATION.—A State seeking a grant under 17 this section shall submit an application to the Attorney 18 General at such time, in such manner, and containing 19 such information as the Attorney General may reasonably 20 require, including information about the law described in 21 subsection (a). 22 (d) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant to a 23 State under this section shall be in an amount that is not 24 greater than 10 percent of the average of the total amount 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 855 IS of funding of the 3 most recent awards that the State re- 1 ceived under the following grant programs: 2 (1) Part T of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con- 3 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10441 4 et seq.) (commonly referred to as the ‘‘STOP Vio- 5 lence Against Women Formula Grant Program’’). 6 (2) Section 41601 of the Violence Against 7 Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12511) (commonly 8 referred to as the ‘‘Sexual Assault Services Pro- 9 gram’’). 10 (e) GRANT TERM.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 12 provide an increase in the amount provided to a 13 State under the grant programs described in sub- 14 section (d) for a 2-year period. 15 (2) RENEWAL.—A State that receives a grant 16 under this section may submit an application for a 17 renewal of such grant at such time, in such manner, 18 and containing such information as the Attorney 19 General may reasonably require. 20 (3) LIMIT.—A State may not receive a grant 21 under this section for more than 4 years. 22 (f) USES OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a grant 23 under this section shall use— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 855 IS (1) 25 percent of such funds for any of the per- 1 missible uses of funds under the grant program de- 2 scribed in paragraph (1) of subsection (d); and 3 (2) 75 percent of such funds for any of the per- 4 missible uses of funds under the grant program de- 5 scribed in paragraph (2) of subsection (d). 6 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 7 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this chapter 8 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 9 SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 10 (a) REPORT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—Not later 11 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 12 each year thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit 13 to Congress a report containing— 14 (1) the information required to be reported to 15 the Attorney General under section 3(b); and 16 (2) information on— 17 (A) the number of reports made during the 18 previous year, to Federal law enforcement agen- 19 cies regarding persons engaging in a sexual act 20 while acting under color of law; and 21 (B) the disposition of each case in which 22 sexual misconduct by a person acting under 23 color of law was reported. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 855 IS (b) REPORT BY GAO.—Not later than 1 year after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, and each year there- 2 after, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 3 submit to Congress a report on any violations of section 4 2243(c) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by 5 section 2, committed during the 1-year period covered by 6 the report. 7 SEC. 5. DEFINITION. 8 In this Act, the term ‘‘sexual act’’ has the meaning 9 given the term in section 2246 of title 18, United States 10 Code. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 Mar 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS