David’s Law

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 64 To enhance Federal enforcement of hate crimes, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2023 Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enhance Federal enforcement 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 ‘‘David Ray Hate 4 Crimes Prevention Act of 2022’’ or ‘‘David’s Law’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the incidence of violence motivated by the 8 actual or perceived race, color, national origin, reli- 9 gion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the 10 victim poses a serious national problem; 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 64 IH (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and 1 safety of communities and is deeply divisive; 2 (3) existing Federal law is inadequate to ad- 3 dress this problem; 4 (4) such violence affects interstate commerce in 5 many ways, including— 6 (A) by impeding the movement of members 7 of targeted groups and forcing such members to 8 move across State lines to escape the incidence 9 or risk of such violence; and 10 (B) by preventing members of targeted 11 groups from purchasing goods and services, ob- 12 taining or sustaining employment or partici- 13 pating in other commercial activity; 14 (5) perpetrators cross State lines to commit 15 such violence; 16 (6) instrumentalities of interstate commerce are 17 used to facilitate the commission of such violence; 18 (7) such violence is committed using articles 19 that have traveled in interstate commerce; 20 (8) violence motivated by bias that is a relic of 21 slavery can constitute badges and incidents of slav- 22 ery; 23 (9) although many local jurisdictions have at- 24 tempted to respond to the challenges posed by such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 64 IH violence, the problem is sufficiently serious, wide- 1 spread, and interstate in scope to warrant Federal 2 intervention to assist such jurisdictions; and 3 (10) many States have no laws addressing vio- 4 lence based on the actual or perceived race, color, 5 national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, 6 or disability of the victim, while other States have 7 laws that provide only limited protection. 8 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME. 9 In this Act, the term ‘‘hate crime’’ has the same 10 meaning as in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime 11 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C. 12 994 note). 13 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTS OF VIOLENCE. 14 Section 245 of title 18, United States Code, is 15 amended— 16 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 17 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 18 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(c)(1) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 21 of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, 22 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device, 23 attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 64 IH the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national 1 origin of any person— 2 ‘‘(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 3 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both; 4 and 5 ‘‘(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years 6 or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or 7 both if— 8 ‘‘(i) death results from the acts committed 9 in violation of this paragraph; or 10 ‘‘(ii) the acts committed in violation of this 11 paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to 12 kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt 13 to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an at- 14 tempt to kill. 15 ‘‘(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 16 of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph 17 (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, 18 through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device, 19 attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of 20 the actual or perceived religion, gender, sexual orientation, 21 or disability of any person— 22 ‘‘(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 23 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 64 IH ‘‘(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years 1 or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or 2 both, if— 3 ‘‘(I) death results from the acts committed 4 in violation of this paragraph; or 5 ‘‘(II) the acts committed in violation of 6 this paragraph include kidnapping or an at- 7 tempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an 8 attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or 9 an attempt to kill. 10 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the cir- 11 cumstances described in this subparagraph are that— 12 ‘‘(i) in connection with the offense, the defend- 13 ant or the victim travels in interstate or foreign 14 commerce, uses a facility or instrumentality of inter- 15 state or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity 16 affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or 17 ‘‘(ii) the offense is in or affects interstate or 18 foreign commerce.’’. 19 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF FEDERAL SENTENCING COMMISSION. 20 (a) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDE- 21 LINES.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994 of 22 title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing 23 Commission shall study the issue of adult recruitment of 24 juveniles to commit hate crimes and shall, if appropriate, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 64 IH amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide sen- 1 tencing enhancements (in addition to the sentencing en- 2 hancement provided for the use of a minor during the 3 commission of an offense) for adult defendants who recruit 4 juveniles to assist in the commission of hate crimes. 5 (b) CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER GUIDELINES.—In 6 carrying out this section, the United States Sentencing 7 Commission shall— 8 (1) ensure that there is reasonable consistency 9 with other Federal sentencing guidelines; and 10 (2) avoid duplicative punishments for substan- 11 tially the same offense. 12 SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM. 13 (a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Adminis- 14 trator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 15 Prevention of the Department of Justice shall make 16 grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attor- 17 ney General may prescribe, to State and local programs 18 designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. 19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 20 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 21 necessary to carry out this section. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 64 IH SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO 1 ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCE- 2 MENT. 3 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De- 4 partment of the Treasury and the Department of Justice, 5 including the Community Relations Service, for fiscal 6 years 2023, 2024, and 2025 such sums as are necessary 7 to increase the number of personnel to prevent and re- 8 spond to alleged violations of section 245 of title 18, 9 United States Code (as amended by this Act). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H64.IH H64 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS