[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1731 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1731

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties for 
           aggravated identity theft, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2003

Mr. Carter (for himself and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties for 
           aggravated identity theft, 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 ``Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after section 1028, the following:
``Sec. 1028A. Aggravated identity theft
    ``(a) Offenses.--
            ``(1) In general.--Whoever, during and in relation to any 
        felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly 
        transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a 
        means of identification of another person shall, in addition to 
        the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term 
        of imprisonment of 2 years.
            ``(2) Terrorism offense.--Whoever, during and in relation 
        to any felony violation enumerated in section 2332b(g)(5)(B), 
        knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful 
        authority, a means of identification of another person shall, 
        in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be 
        sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 5 years.
    ``(b) Consecutive Sentence.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law--
            ``(1) a court shall not place on probation any person 
        convicted of a violation of this section;
            ``(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no term of 
        imprisonment imposed on a person under this section shall run 
        concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the 
        person under any other provision of law, including any term of 
        imprisonment imposed for the felony during which the means of 
        identification was transferred, possessed, or used;
            ``(3) in determining any term of imprisonment to be imposed 
        for the felony during which the means of identification was 
        transferred, possessed, or used, a court shall not in any way 
        reduce the term to be imposed for such crime so as to 
        compensate for, or otherwise take into account, any separate 
        term of imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a violation 
        of this section; and
            ``(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a person for a 
        violation of this section may, in the discretion of the court, 
        run concurrently, in whole or in part, only with another term 
        of imprisonment that is imposed by the court at the same time 
        on that person for an additional violation of this section, 
        provided that such discretion shall be exercised in accordance 
        with any applicable guidelines and policy statements issued by 
        the Sentencing Commission pursuant to section 994 of title 28.
    ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `felony 
violation enumerated in subsection (c)' means any offense that is a 
felony violation of--
            ``(1) section 664 (relating to theft from employee benefit 
        plans);
            ``(2) section 911 (relating to false personation of 
        citizenship);
            ``(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false statements in 
        connection with the acquisition of a firearm);
            ``(4) any provision contained in this chapter (relating to 
        fraud and false statements), other than this section or section 
        1028(a)(7);
            ``(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (relating to 
        mail, bank, and wire fraud);
            ``(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (relating to 
        nationality and citizenship);
            ``(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (relating to 
        passports and visas);
            ``(8) section 523 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 
        6823) (relating to obtaining customer information by false 
        pretenses);
            ``(9) section 243 or 266 of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1253 and 1306) (relating to willfully failing to 
        leave the United States after deportation and creating a 
        counterfeit alien registration card);
            ``(10) any provision contained in chapter 8 of title II of 
        the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) 
        (relating to various immigration offenses); or
            ``(11) section 208, 1107(b), or 1128B(a) of the Social 
        Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408, 1307(b), and 1320a-7b(a)) 
        (relating to false statements relating to programs under the 
        Act).''.
    (b) Amendment to Chapter Analysis.--The table of sections for 
chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 1028 the following new item:

``1028A. Aggravated identity theft.''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PROHIBITION.

    Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(7)--
                    (A) by striking ``transfers'' and inserting 
                ``transfers, possesses,''; and
                    (B) by striking ``abet,'' and inserting ``abet, or 
                in connection with,'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ``transfer'' and 
        inserting ``transfer, possession,'';
            (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``three years'' and 
        inserting ``5 years''; and
            (4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ``facilitate'' 
        the following: ``an act of domestic terrorism (as defined under 
        section 2331(5) of this title) or''.
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