Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2030 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 JUNE 15, 2023 Mrs. GILLIBRAND 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 2023’’. 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 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 2030 IS hate crime as a criminal offense—such as murder, 1 arson, or vandalism—against a person or property 2 motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias 3 against a race, color, national origin, religion, dis- 4 ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gen- 5 der identity. 6 (2) Forty-six States and the District of Colum- 7 bia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias- 8 motivated violence or intimidation. 9 (3) Congress has enacted various statutes to 10 address hate crimes since 1968, with the most re- 11 cent statute, the COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act (Pub- 12 lic Law 117–113; 135 Stat. 265), enacted in 2021. 13 (4) In 2021, the FBI reported 10,840 single- 14 bias incidents, an increase of nearly 12 percent from 15 2020. 16 (5) Hate crimes not only damage the individual 17 victim or victims, but also traumatize entire commu- 18 nities and erode public confidence in their safety. 19 (6) In 2021— 20 (A) 64.5 percent of victims were targeted 21 because of the offender’s race, ethnicity, or an- 22 cestry bias; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 2030 IS (B) 15.9 percent of victims were targeted 1 because of the offender’s sexual orientation 2 bias; 3 (C) 14.1 percent of victims were targeted 4 because of the offender’s religious bias; 5 (D) 3.2 percent of victims were targeted 6 because of the offender’s gender identity bias; 7 (E) 1.4 percent of victims were targeted 8 because of the offender’s disability bias; and 9 (F) 1 percent of victims were targeted be- 10 cause of the offender’s gender bias. 11 (7) In testimony before the Committee on 12 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 13 in September 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray 14 said, ‘‘Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the cat- 15 egory as a whole, racially motivated violent extre- 16 mism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larg- 17 er group. And within the racially motivated violent 18 extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of 19 white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the big- 20 gest chunk of that.’’. 21 (8) In August 2012, a shooting at the gurdwara 22 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, left 6 people dead, and a 23 seventh victim of the shooting succumbed to his in- 24 juries in 2020. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 2030 IS (9) In October 2018, a shooting at the Tree of 1 Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left 11 2 people dead. 3 (10) In July 2019, a Hindu priest in New York 4 City was hospitalized after a man attacked him and 5 screamed ‘‘this is my neighborhood’’ during the inci- 6 dent. 7 (11) In August 2019, an assailant entered a 8 Walmart in El Paso, Texas, to target Hispanic im- 9 migrants and left 22 people dead. 10 (12) In November 2020, a woman shouted anti- 11 Muslim slurs and attacked a couple in New York 12 City, leaving one victim needing surgery for facial 13 fractures. 14 (13) In March 2021, a gunman targeted 3 spas 15 across Atlanta, Georgia, killing 8 people, 6 of whom 16 were Asian women. 17 (14) In May 2022, a gunman injured 3 people 18 after entering a Korean-owned business in Dallas, 19 Texas, and firing 13 rounds before fleeing. 20 (15) In May 2022, a gunman targeted a Tops 21 supermarket located in a predominantly Black 22 neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 peo- 23 ple and injuring 3 others. Of the 13 victims, 11 were 24 Black. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 2030 IS (16) In November 2022, a gunman killed 5 peo- 1 ple and wounded 25 others after opening fire on an 2 LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 3 (17) In response to the COVID–19 pandemic, 4 Asian Americans have suffered an increasing num- 5 ber of hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 6 nearly 11,500 ‘‘hate incidents’’ toward Asian Ameri- 7 cans and Pacific Islanders were reported between 8 March 2020 and March 2022. 9 (18) The Anti-Defamation League (commonly 10 known as the ‘‘ADL’’) annually surveys and reports 11 anti-Semitic hate incidents across the country. In 12 2022, the ADL reported a 36-percent increase in 13 anti-Semitic incidents compared to 2021. 14 (19) In the original 2021 Hate Crime Statistics 15 published by the FBI in December 2022, the FBI 16 acknowledged the significant discrepancy in report- 17 ing from local law enforcement agencies as a result 18 of transitioning to the National Incident-Based Re- 19 porting System. Due to the lack of reporting by local 20 enforcement agencies, the FBI acknowledged that 21 the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics cannot be compared 22 reliably across years. 23 (20) In March 2023, the FBI released supple- 24 mental data for the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 2030 IS sisting of data collected through the Summary Re- 1 porting System by local law enforcement agencies. 2 (21) There is a clear need for stronger action 3 to accurately report and effectively combat hate- 4 based attacks. 5 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 7 United States Commission on Hate Crimes (in this Act 8 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 9 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 10 (1) SIZE OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 11 shall be composed of 12 members. 12 (2) APPOINTMENT.—Members of the Commis- 13 sion shall be appointed in accordance with the fol- 14 lowing: 15 (A) Two members shall be appointed by 16 the majority leader of the Senate. 17 (B) Two members shall be appointed by 18 the minority leader of the Senate. 19 (C) Two members shall be appointed by 20 the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 21 (D) Two members shall be appointed by 22 the minority leader of the House of Representa- 23 tives. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 2030 IS (E) Two members shall be appointed by 1 the Attorney General. 2 (F) Two members shall be appointed by 3 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 4 (3) LIMITATIONS.—Not more than 5 members 5 of the Commission may be from the law enforcement 6 community and not more than 5 members of the 7 Commission may be from the civil rights community. 8 (4) DEADLINE.—Each member of the Commis- 9 sion shall be appointed not later than 60 days after 10 the date of enactment of this Act. 11 (c) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall hold its first 12 meeting not later than 90 days after the date as of which 13 all members of the Commission have been appointed under 14 subsection (b)(2). 15 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 16 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘hate 17 crime’’ means an offense under section 249 of title 18, 18 United States Code. 19 (b) INVESTIGATION.—The Commission shall inves- 20 tigate the following: 21 (1) Whether the number of hate crimes com- 22 mitted has increased during the period beginning on 23 January 1, 2015, and ending on the date that is 60 24 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 2030 IS (2) To the extent that the Commission deter- 1 mines under paragraph (1) that the number of hate 2 crimes committed has increased, the factors that 3 have contributed to the increase. 4 (3) Policies or actions that law enforcement 5 agencies might adopt or engage in to reduce the 6 commission of hate crimes. 7 (4) The impact of underreporting on hate 8 crimes statistics and hate crimes prevention. 9 (5) Ways to improve hate crimes reporting and 10 ensure full and complete participation in the Na- 11 tional Incident-Based Reporting System by local law 12 enforcement agencies, including by identifying any 13 barriers that may deter such reporting. 14 (6) Bias prevention efforts and responses to 15 hate crimes that are successful and possible through 16 coordination with nonprofit organizations, local edu- 17 cation agencies, and government entities. 18 (7) The prevalence and rise of online hate crime 19 incidents. 20 SEC. 5. REPORT. 21 Not later than 1 year after the date as of which all 22 members of the Commission have been appointed under 23 section 3(b)(2), the Commission shall submit a report to 24 Congress and the President that sets forth the results of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 2030 IS the investigation conducted under section 4, including rec- 1 ommendations for— 2 (1) actions Federal agencies can take to help 3 improve hate crimes reporting by local law enforce- 4 ment agencies, as described in section 4(b)(5); and 5 (2) bias prevention efforts and responses to 6 hate crimes, as described in section 4(b)(6). 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2030.IS S2030 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB