Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1772 To amend title 18, United States Code, to penalize false communications to cause an emergency response, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 14, 2019 Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to penalize false communications to cause an emergency response, 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 ‘‘Preserving Safe Com- 4 munities by Ending Swatting Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FALSE COMMUNICATIONS TO CAUSE AN EMER- 6 GENCY RESPONSE. 7 Section 1038 of title 18, United States Code, is 8 amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a)(1), to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1772.IH H1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1772 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever engages in any 1 conduct with intent to convey false or misleading in- 2 formation— 3 ‘‘(A) under circumstances where such in- 4 formation may reasonably be believed and 5 where such information indicates that an activ- 6 ity has taken, is taking, or will take place that 7 would constitute a violation of chapter 2, 10, 8 11B, 39, 40, 44, 111, or 113B of this title, sec- 9 tion 236 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 10 U.S.C. 2284), or section 46502, the second sen- 11 tence of section 46504, section 46505(b)(3) or 12 (c), section 46506 if homicide or attempted 13 homicide is involved, or section 60123(b) of title 14 49; or 15 ‘‘(B) using the mail or any facility or 16 means of interstate or foreign commerce, under 17 circumstances where such information may rea- 18 sonably be expected to cause an emergency re- 19 sponse and the information indicates that con- 20 duct has taken, is taking, or will take place that 21 constitutes a crime under State or Federal law 22 or endangers public health or safety or the 23 health or safety of any person, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1772.IH H1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1772 IH shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not 1 more than 5 years, or both. If serious bodily injury 2 results, the defendant shall be fined under this title 3 or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and 4 if death results, the defendant shall be fined under 5 this title or imprisoned for any number of years up 6 to life, or both.’’; 7 (2) in subsection (b), to read as follows: 8 ‘‘(b) CIVIL ACTION.—Whoever engages in any con- 9 duct with intent to convey false or misleading informa- 10 tion— 11 ‘‘(1) under circumstances where such informa- 12 tion may reasonably be believed and where such in- 13 formation indicates that an activity has taken, is 14 taking, or will take place that would constitute a vio- 15 lation of chapter 2, 10, 11B, 39, 40, 44, 111, or 16 113B of this title, section 236 of the Atomic Energy 17 Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2284), or section 46502, the 18 second sentence of section 46504, section 46505 19 (b)(3) or (c), section 46506 if homicide or attempted 20 homicide is involved, or section 60123(b) of title 49; 21 or 22 ‘‘(2) using the mail or any facility or means of 23 interstate or foreign commerce, under circumstances 24 where such information may reasonably be expected 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1772.IH H1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1772 IH to cause an emergency response and the information 1 indicates that conduct has taken, is taking, or will 2 take place that constitutes a crime under State or 3 Federal law or endangers public health or safety or 4 the health or safety of any person, 5 is liable in a civil action to any party incurring expenses 6 incident to any emergency or investigative response to that 7 conduct, for those expenses.’’; and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘emer- 10 gency response’ means any deployment of personnel or 11 equipment, order or advice to evacuate, or issuance of a 12 warning to the public or a threatened person, organiza- 13 tion, or establishment, by an agency of the United States 14 or a State charged with public safety functions, including 15 any agency charged with detecting, preventing, or inves- 16 tigating crimes or with fire or rescue functions, or by a 17 private not-for-profit organization that provides fire or 18 rescue functions.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1772.IH H1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS