[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1645 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1645

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide additional penalties 
           for theft by public officials under color of law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 1997

  Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Hilliard, Mr. Jackson of 
Illinois, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. McKinney, Mrs. Meek of Florida, 
Mr. Thompson, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Rush, Mr. Towns, Mr. Dixon, Mr. 
    Stokes, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Rangel, Mrs. Clayton, Ms. 
 Kilpatrick, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Ford, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Owens, 
   Mr. Watt of North Carolina, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Scott, Mr. Hastings of 
 Florida, Ms. Christian-Green, Ms. Carson, Ms. Norton, Mr. Payne, Mr. 
 Clay, Mr. Jefferson, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Fattah, 
   Mr. Lewis of Georgia, and Ms. Millender-McDonald) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide additional penalties 
           for theft by public officials under color of law.

    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 ``Drug Seizure Accountability Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. THEFT BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS UNDER COLOR OF LAW.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 249. Theft under color of law
    ``Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation 
or custom, deprives any person of any property shall be fined under 
this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both. If the property 
is a controlled substance, as defined for the purposes of the 
Controlled Substances Act, the penalty for an offense under this 
section shall be the same as for the offense of possessing such 
substance under that Act.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new item:

``249. Theft under color of law.''.

SEC. 3. RECORDKEEPING BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS RELATING TO 
              CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.

    Each law enforcement authority in the United States shall, in 
accordance with such rules as the Attorney General shall prescribe, 
make and maintain records of controlled substances (as defined for the 
purposes of the Controlled Substances Act) that come into their 
possession during the course of law enforcement activities. The 
Attorney General shall include in the annual report made to Congress 
under section 522 of title 28, United States Code, information 
regarding the types and amounts of controlled substances for which such 
records have been made during the period covered by the report.
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