Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4172 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2023 Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Ms. MENG, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWN, Ms. BUSH, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CON- NOLLY, Mr. CORREA, Mr. COSTA, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KILMER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LIEU, Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. ROSS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Geor- gia, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. VEASEY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILLIAMS of Geor- gia, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4172 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hate Crimes Commis- 2 sion Act of 2023’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 The Congress finds as follows: 5 (1) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (re- 6 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘FBI’’) defines a 7 hate crime as a criminal offense—such as murder, 8 arson, or vandalism—against a person or property 9 motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias 10 against a race, color, national origin, religion, dis- 11 ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gen- 12 der identity. 13 (2) Forty-six States and the District of Colum- 14 bia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias- 15 motivated violence or intimidation. 16 (3) Congress has enacted various statutes to 17 address hate crimes since 1968, with the most re- 18 cent statute, the COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act (Pub- 19 lic Law 117–113; 135 Stat. 265), enacted in 2021. 20 (4) In 2021, the FBI reported 10,840 single- 21 bias incidents, an increase of nearly 12 percent from 22 2020. 23 (5) Hate crimes not only damage the individual 24 victim or victims, but also traumatize entire commu- 25 nities and erode public confidence in their safety. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4172 IH (6) In 2021— 1 (A) 64.5 percent of victims were targeted 2 because of the offender’s race, ethnicity, or an- 3 cestry bias; 4 (B) 15.9 percent of victims were targeted 5 because of the offender’s sexual orientation 6 bias; 7 (C) 14.1 percent of victims were targeted 8 because of the offender’s religious bias; 9 (D) 3.2 percent of victims were targeted 10 because of the offender’s gender identity bias; 11 (E) 1.4 percent of victims were targeted 12 because of the offender’s disability bias; and 13 (F) 1 percent of victims were targeted be- 14 cause of the offender’s gender bias. 15 (7) In testimony before the Committee on 16 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 17 in September 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray 18 said, ‘‘Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the cat- 19 egory as a whole, racially motivated violent extre- 20 mism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larg- 21 er group. And within the racially motivated violent 22 extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of 23 white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the big- 24 gest chunk of that.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4172 IH (8) In August 2012, a shooting at the gurdwara 1 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, left 6 people dead, and a 2 seventh victim of the shooting succumbed to his in- 3 juries in 2020. 4 (9) In October 2018, a shooting at the Tree of 5 Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left 11 6 people dead. 7 (10) In July 2019, a Hindu priest in New York 8 City was hospitalized after a man attacked him and 9 screamed ‘‘this is my neighborhood’’ during the inci- 10 dent. 11 (11) In August 2019, an assailant entered a 12 Walmart in El Paso, Texas, to target Hispanic im- 13 migrants and left 22 people dead. 14 (12) In November 2020, a woman shouted anti- 15 Muslim slurs and attacked a couple in New York 16 City, leaving one victim needing surgery for facial 17 fractures. 18 (13) In March 2021, a gunman targeted 3 spas 19 across Atlanta, Georgia, killing 8 people, 6 of whom 20 were Asian women. 21 (14) In May 2022, a gunman injured 3 people 22 after entering a Korean-owned business in Dallas, 23 Texas, and firing 13 rounds before fleeing. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4172 IH (15) In May 2022, a gunman targeted a Tops 1 supermarket located in a predominantly Black 2 neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 peo- 3 ple and injuring 3 others. Of the 13 victims, 11 were 4 Black. 5 (16) In November 2022, a gunman killed 5 peo- 6 ple and wounded 25 others after opening fire on an 7 LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 8 (17) In response to the COVID–19 pandemic, 9 Asian Americans have suffered an increasing num- 10 ber of hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 11 nearly 11,500 ‘‘hate incidents’’ toward Asian Ameri- 12 cans and Pacific Islanders were reported between 13 March 2020 and March 2022. 14 (18) The Anti-Defamation League (commonly 15 known as the ‘‘ADL’’) annually surveys and reports 16 anti-Semitic hate incidents across the country. In 17 2022, the ADL reported a 36-percent increase in 18 anti-Semitic incidents compared to 2021. 19 (19) In the original 2021 Hate Crime Statistics 20 published by the FBI in December 2022, the FBI 21 acknowledged the significant discrepancy in report- 22 ing from local law enforcement agencies as a result 23 of transitioning to the National Incident-Based Re- 24 porting System. Due to the lack of reporting by local 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4172 IH enforcement agencies, the FBI acknowledged that 1 the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics cannot be compared 2 reliably across years. 3 (20) In March 2023, the FBI released supple- 4 mental data for the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics con- 5 sisting of data collected through the Summary Re- 6 porting System by local law enforcement agencies. 7 (21) There is a clear need for stronger action 8 to accurately report and effectively combat hate- 9 based attacks. 10 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 12 United States Commission on Hate Crimes (in this Act 13 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 14 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 15 (1) SIZE OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 16 shall be composed of 12 members. 17 (2) APPOINTMENT.—Members of the Commis- 18 sion shall be appointed in accordance with the fol- 19 lowing: 20 (A) Two members shall be appointed by 21 the majority leader of the Senate. 22 (B) Two members shall be appointed by 23 the minority leader of the Senate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4172 IH (C) Two members shall be appointed by 1 the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 2 (D) Two members shall be appointed by 3 the minority leader of the House of Representa- 4 tives. 5 (E) Two members shall be appointed by 6 the Attorney General. 7 (F) Two members shall be appointed by 8 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 9 (3) LIMITATIONS.—Not more than 5 members 10 of the Commission may be from the law enforcement 11 community and not more than 5 members of the 12 Commission may be from the civil rights community. 13 (4) DEADLINE.—Each member of the Commis- 14 sion shall be appointed not later than 60 days after 15 the date of enactment of this Act. 16 (c) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall hold its first 17 meeting not later than 90 days after the date as of which 18 all members of the Commission have been appointed under 19 subsection (b)(2). 20 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 21 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘hate 22 crime’’ means an offense under section 249 of title 18, 23 United States Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4172 IH (b) INVESTIGATION.—The Commission shall inves- 1 tigate the following: 2 (1) Whether the number of hate crimes com- 3 mitted has increased during the period beginning on 4 January 1, 2015, and ending on the date that is 60 5 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 6 (2) To the extent that the Commission deter- 7 mines under paragraph (1) that the number of hate 8 crimes committed has increased, the factors that 9 have contributed to the increase. 10 (3) Policies or actions that law enforcement 11 agencies might adopt or engage in to reduce the 12 commission of hate crimes. 13 (4) The impact of underreporting on hate 14 crimes statistics and hate crimes prevention. 15 (5) Ways to improve hate crimes reporting and 16 ensure full and complete participation in the Na- 17 tional Incident-Based Reporting System by local law 18 enforcement agencies, including by identifying any 19 barriers that may deter such reporting. 20 (6) Bias prevention efforts and responses to 21 hate crimes that are successful and possible through 22 coordination with nonprofit organizations, local edu- 23 cation agencies, and government entities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4172 IH (7) The prevalence and rise of online hate crime 1 incidents. 2 SEC. 5. REPORT. 3 Not later than 1 year after the date as of which all 4 members of the Commission have been appointed under 5 section 3(b)(2), the Commission shall submit a report to 6 Congress and the President that sets forth the results of 7 the investigation conducted under section 4, including rec- 8 ommendations for— 9 (1) actions Federal agencies can take to help 10 improve hate crimes reporting by local law enforce- 11 ment agencies, as described in section 4(b)(5); and 12 (2) bias prevention efforts and responses to 13 hate crimes, as described in section 4(b)(6). 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jul 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4172.IH H4172 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB