Securing Commerce and Protecting Businesses Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4425 To amend title 18, United States Code, to create a Federal crime of destruction of property and looting of certain commercial entities. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 4, 2020 Mrs. LOEFFLER 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 create a Federal crime of destruction of property and looting of certain commercial entities. 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 ‘‘Securing Commerce 4 and Protecting Businesses Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AND LOOTING. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 102 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2101 8 the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Aug 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4425.IS S4425 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4425 IS ‘‘§ 2101A. Destruction of property and looting 1 ‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful to obstruct, 2 delay, or affect commerce or the movement of any article 3 or commodity in commerce, through the destruction of the 4 property of or looting of a business or other commercial 5 enterprise in connection with or during a riot. 6 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 7 (a) shall be fined $10,000, imprisoned for not more than 8 1 year, or both. 9 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 10 tion shall be construed as— 11 ‘‘(1) indicating an intent on the part of Con- 12 gress to prevent any State, any possession or Com- 13 monwealth of the United States, or the District of 14 Columbia, from exercising jurisdiction over any of- 15 fense over which it would have jurisdiction in the ab- 16 sence of this section; or 17 ‘‘(2) depriving State and local law enforcement 18 authorities of responsibility for prosecuting acts that 19 may be violations of this section and that are viola- 20 tions of State and local law.’’. 21 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2102 of title 18, United 22 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Aug 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4425.IS S4425 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4425 IS ‘‘(c) As used in this chapter, the term ‘looting’ means 1 the unlawful taking or theft of goods or property during 2 a riot.’’. 3 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 4 The table of sections for chapter 102 of title 18, United 5 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat- 6 ing to section 2101 the following: 7 ‘‘2101A. Destruction of property and looting.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Aug 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4425.IS S4425 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS