[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1672 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1672

             To prevent terrorist hoaxes and false reports.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 9, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
             To prevent terrorist hoaxes and false reports.

    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 ``Punishing Terrorist Hoaxes Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the expert resources available to the Government to 
        deal with Federal crimes involving actual or potential 
        chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons are limited;
            (2) false reporting of such crimes almost invariably 
        requires the attention of Federal investigative, scientific, 
        and public health officers and employees, thereby dangerously 
        impairing the Government's ability to deal with real 
        situations;
            (3) recent episodes amply demonstrate that even isolated 
        false reports can have a substantial adverse effect on 
        interstate and foreign commerce, causing needless worry or even 
        panic in the general public, and encouraging copycat episodes; 
        and
            (4) a comprehensive prohibition on such false reports is 
        necessary to preserve scarce and vital Federal resources, to 
        avoid substantial adverse effects on interstate and foreign 
        commerce, and to protect the national security of the United 
        States.

SEC. 3. TERRORIST HOAXES, FALSE REPORTS, AND RESTITUTION.

    Chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after section 880 the following:
``Sec. 881. Terrorist hoaxes and false information
    ``(a) Criminal Violations.--
            ``(1) Knowing.--Whoever knowingly conveys or communicates 
        information or material relating to the existence of activity 
        that would constitute a violation of section 175, 229, 831, or 
        2332a of this title, knowing the information or material to be 
        false or fraudulent, under circumstances in which a recipient 
        of such information or material is reasonably likely to believe 
        that activity is taking place or will take place that violates 
        section 175, 229, 831, or 2332a, shall be fined under this 
        title or imprisoned not more than 6 years, or both.
            ``(2) Knowing and with intent to cause fear.--Whoever 
        knowingly, and with intent to cause fear, conveys or 
        communicates information or material relating to the existence 
        of activity that would constitute a violation of section 175, 
        229, 831, or 2332a of this title, knowing the information or 
        material to be false or fraudulent, under circumstances in 
        which such information or material is reasonably likely to 
        cause a response by governmental agencies, and under 
        circumstances in which a recipient of such information or 
        material is reasonably likely to believe that activity is 
        taking place or will take place that violates section 175, 229, 
        831, or 2332a, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned 
        not more than 6 years, or both.
    ``(b) Reimbursement.--
            ``(1) In general.--The court, in imposing a sentence on a 
        defendant who has been convicted of an offense under subsection 
        (a), shall order the defendant to reimburse any party incurring 
        expenses incident to the investigation of the offense, for 
        those expenses, including the cost of any response made by any 
        Federal, State, or local government agency to protect public 
        health or safety.
            ``(2) Liability.--A person ordered to make reimbursement 
        under paragraph (1) shall be jointly and severally liable for 
        such expenses with each other person, if any, who is ordered to 
        make reimbursement under that paragraph for the same 
        expenses.''.

SEC. 4 CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    The analysis of chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after the item for section 880 the following:

``881. Terrorist hoaxes and false information.''.
                                 <all>