Stop HATE Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1934 To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to prepare and submit periodic reports to Congress on the role of telecommunications in hate crimes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 27, 2019 Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. LAW- RENCE, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information to prepare and submit periodic reports to Congress on the role of telecommunications in hate crimes. 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 ‘‘Stop Harmful and 4 Abusive Telecommunications Expression Act of 2019’’ or 5 the ‘‘Stop HATE Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1934.IH H1934 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1934 IH SEC. 2. REPORTS ON THE ROLE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS 1 IN HATE CRIMES. 2 (a) PERIODIC REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 3 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 4 not less frequently than every 5 years thereafter, the As- 5 sistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 6 Information, with the assistance of the Attorney General, 7 shall prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional 8 committees a report on the role of telecommunications in 9 violent acts and the commission of crimes of hate, as de- 10 scribed in the Hate Crime Statistics Act (34 U.S.C. 11 41305), against individuals or groups of individuals on the 12 basis of race, gender and gender identity, religion, dis- 13 ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, color, or national ori- 14 gin. 15 (b) SCOPE OF REPORTS.—A report required by sub- 16 section (a) shall— 17 (1) analyze information on the use of tele- 18 communications, including broadcast television and 19 radio, cable television, public access television, com- 20 puter bulletin boards, and other electronic media, to 21 advocate and encourage violent acts and the commis- 22 sion of crimes of hate, as described in the Hate 23 Crime Statistics Act (34 U.S.C. 41305), against in- 24 dividuals or groups of individuals on the basis of 25 race, gender and gender identity, religion, disability, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1934.IH H1934 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1934 IH sexual orientation, ethnicity, color, or national ori- 1 gin; 2 (2) include in the analysis required by para- 3 graph (1) an analysis of— 4 (A) the role that such telecommunications 5 are playing in giving groups that advocate and 6 encourage such violent acts and the commission 7 of such crimes of hate a platform to spread 8 their messages and to organize across the 9 United States; and 10 (B) how such use and role of telecommuni- 11 cations have changed due to the evolution of 12 new forms of communication on the internet 13 and other electronic media since the submission 14 of the previous report under subsection (a) (or, 15 in the case of the first report submitted under 16 such subsection, the report submitted under 17 section 155 of the National Telecommunications 18 and Information Administration Organization 19 Act); and 20 (3) include any recommendations, consistent 21 with the First Amendment to the Constitution, that 22 the Assistant Secretary considers appropriate and 23 necessary to address such use and such role of tele- 24 communications. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1934.IH H1934 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1934 IH (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 1 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- 2 sional committees’’ means— 3 (1) the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 4 the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee 5 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; 6 and 7 (2) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 8 Transportation, the Committee on the Judiciary, 9 and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1934.IH H1934 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS