[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3520 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3520

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide increased penalties 
     for damaging Federal property by fire, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 16, 1993

   Mr. Cox (for himself, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Baker of California, Mr. 
Huffington, Mr. Moorhead, Mr. Herger, Mr. Horn, Mr. Royce, Mr. Lewis of 
California, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Packard, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Gallegly, 
 Mr. Hunter, Ms. Harman, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Kim, Mr. Pombo, 
 Mr. McKeon, Mr. Dornan, Mr. Thomas of California, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. 
 McCandless, and Mr. Weldon) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide increased penalties 
     for damaging Federal property by fire, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Arson Prevention and National Forest 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) billions of dollars of damage will have occurred this 
        year as a result of arson, particularly in California;
            (2) uninsured losses from California's fire disaster will 
        place hugh demands on the Federal treasury, which our already 
        strapped budget can ill afford;
            (3) unless Congress takes tough action against arson, 
        taxpayers across America will continue to be threatened;
            (4) arson is an enormously serious and costly problem in 
        both rural and urban areas, and is responsible for 
        approximately 25 percent of all fires in the United States;
            (5) arson is a leading cause of fire deaths, accounting for 
        approximately 700 deaths annually in the United States;
            (6) arson is the leading cause of property damage due to 
        fire in the United States and estimates of arson property loss 
        exceed $2,000,000,000 annually, or approximately 1 of every 4 
        dollars lost to fire;
            (7) while arson is a heinous crime against humanity and 
        nature, current Federal law provides that the maximum prison 
        sentence for most arson is only 5 years; and
            (8) in light of the spectacular television coverage of the 
        1993 California fires, increased penalties for arson are 
        necessary to protect against ``copycat'' miscreants in search 
        of morbid glory.

SEC. 3. INCREASED PENALTIES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 5 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 82. Penalties for arson
    ``(a) Whoever, with intent to cause damage to or destroy personal 
or real property, intentionally and maliciously causes, or attempts to 
cause, a fire, shall, if such fire damages or destroys personal or real 
property in whole or in part owned, possessed, or used by, or leased 
to, the United States, or any department or agency thereof, be fined 
under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, except 
as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
    ``(b) If a circumstance exists that is listed below, the punishment 
for an offense under this subsection shall be increased so that the 
maximum penalties are as follows:
            ``(1) If a dwelling is destroyed as a result of the 
        offense, a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more 
        than 25 years, or both.
            ``(2) If the life of any person is placed in jeopardy as a 
        result of the offense, a fine under this title or imprisonment 
        for not more than 30 years, or both.
            ``(3) If personal injury results, a fine under this title 
        and imprisonment for not less than 20 nor more than 40 years.
            ``(4) If the death of any person results--
                    ``(A) a fine under this title and imprisonment for 
                any term of years greater than 25 (or imprisonment for 
                life); and
                    ``(B) the death penalty as provided in section 34 
                of this title.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 5 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new item:

``82. Penalties for arson.''.

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