[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1484 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1484

 To prevent fraud in the solicitation of charitable contributions, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 2, 2001

 Mr. McConnell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prevent fraud in the solicitation of charitable contributions, 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 ``Crimes Against Charitable Americans 
Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FRAUD AND FALSE STATEMENTS.

    Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
``Sec. 1037. Fraud and related activity in the solicitation of 
              charitable contributions
    ``(a) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly 
and fraudulently solicit, cause to be solicited, or receive 
contributions, donations, or gifts of money or any other thing of 
value--
            ``(1) for an alleged charitable or beneficial organization, 
        or an alleged charitable or beneficial purpose; and
            ``(2) in connection with a disaster or emergency which has 
        been officially designated a Federal disaster or Federal 
        emergency by the President or any other appropriate Federal 
        official.
    ``(b) Penalty.--A person who is convicted of an offense under 
subsection (a)--
            ``(1) shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not 
        less than 5 years, or both; and
            ``(2) shall be ordered by the court to pay restitution to 
        any victim, and may be ordered to pay restitution to others, 
        who sustained losses as a result of fraudulent activity of the 
        offender under subsection (a).''.

SEC. 3. TELEMARKETING AND CONSUMER FRAUD ABUSE.

    The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (15 
U.S.C. 6101 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 3(a)(2), by inserting after ``practices'' 
        the second place it appears the following: ``which shall 
        include fraudulent charitable solicitations, and'';
            (2) in section 3(a)(3)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) a requirement that any person engaged in 
                telemarketing for the solicitation of charitable 
                contributions, donations, or gifts of money or any 
                other thing of value, shall promptly and clearly 
                disclose to the person receiving the call that the 
                purpose of the call is to solicit charitable 
                contributions, donations, or gifts, and make such other 
                disclosures as the Commission considers appropriate, 
                including the name and mailing address of the 
                charitable organization on behalf of which the 
                solicitation is made.''; and
            (3) in section 7(4), by inserting ``, or a charitable 
        contribution, donation, or gift of money or any other thing of 
        value,'' after ``services''.

SEC. 4. RED CROSS MEMBERS OR AGENTS.

    Section 917 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``one year'' and inserting ``5 years''.

SEC. 5. TELEMARKETING FRAUD.

    Section 2325(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the comma at the end 
        and inserting ``; or'';
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
                    ``(C) a charitable contribution, donation, or gift 
                of money or any other thing of value,''; and
            (4) in the flush language, by inserting ``or charitable 
        contributor, or donor'' after ``participant''.
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