[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 228 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 228

   Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to violence against 
                               truckers.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 21, 1994

 Mr. Barca of Wisconsin submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to violence against 
                               truckers.

Whereas there are 8,000,000 workers in the trucking industry in the United 
        States, some working for large carriers and some for small carriers, 
        some for private carriers and some owner operators, all assisting the 
        free flow commerce by transporting all types of commodities that enter, 
        leave, or move within this country;
Whereas unemployment, crime, and drug use have contributed to an increase of 
        violence against commercial truckers, an increase that has gone 
        unrecognized by the public at large;
Whereas few State or local authorities report violent crimes against truckers as 
        such to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, statistics do not reflect 
        this fast-growing and increasingly violent segment of crime;
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated 282 truck hijackings 
        involving crimes of violence in 1993, not including attempted crimes and 
        crimes addressed by State, county, and local authorities;
Whereas the Federal Government in large measure finances the highway system the 
        trucking industry uses, collecting large sums in taxes from the 
        industry, and licenses and regulates the industry and its drivers, 
        entailing a concomitant responsibility to protect them against crime; 
        and
Whereas Federal law provides protections to truckers in among others, sections 
        33 and 1951 of title 18, United States Code, but currently Federal 
        prosecutions are not undertaken unless certain monetary thresholds of 
        loss are met: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) when there is Federal jurisdiction, Federal authorities 
        should prosecute to the fullest extent of the law murders, 
        rapes, burglaries, kidnapings and assaults committed against 
        commercial truckers; and
            (2) appropriate Federal agencies should acknowledge this 
        problem and place a priority on evaluation how best to prevent 
        these crimes and apprehend those involved, and continue to 
        coordinate their activities with multi-jurisdictional 
        authorities to combat violent crimes committed against 
        truckers.