[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 401 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 401

   To create an office within the Department of Justice to undertake 
 certain specific steps to ensure that all American citizens harmed by 
    terrorism overseas receive equal treatment by the United States 
     government regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or 
 residence, and to ensure that all terrorists involved in such attacks 
 are pursued, prosecuted, and punished with equal vigor, regardless of 
            the terrorists' country of origin or residence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 28, 2003

Mr. Andrews (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Souder, Mr. 
 Schrock, Mr. Saxton, and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To create an office within the Department of Justice to undertake 
 certain specific steps to ensure that all American citizens harmed by 
    terrorism overseas receive equal treatment by the United States 
     government regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or 
 residence, and to ensure that all terrorists involved in such attacks 
 are pursued, prosecuted, and punished with equal vigor, regardless of 
            the terrorists' country of origin or residence.

    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 ``Koby Mandell Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Numerous American citizens have been murdered or maimed 
        by terrorists around the world, including more than one hundred 
        murdered since 1968 in terrorist attacks occurring in Israel or 
        in territories administered by Israel or in territories 
        administered by the Palestinian Authority.
            (2) Some American citizens who have been victims of 
        terrorism overseas, especially those harmed by terrorists 
        operating from areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, 
        have not received from the United States Government services 
        equal to those received by other such victims of overseas 
        terrorism.
            (3) The United States Government has not devoted adequate 
        efforts or resources to the apprehension of terrorists who have 
        harmed American citizens overseas, particularly in cases 
        involving terrorists operating from areas administered by the 
        Palestinian Authority. Monetary rewards for information leading 
        to the capture of terrorists overseas, which the government 
        advertises in regions where the terrorists are believed to be 
        hiding, have not been advertised in areas administered by the 
        Palestinian Authority.
            (4) This situation is especially grave in the areas 
        administered by the Palestinian Authority, because many 
        terrorists involved in the murders of Americans are walking 
        free there; some of these terrorists have been given positions 
        in the Palestinian Authority security forces or other official 
        Palestinian Authority agencies; and a number of schools, 
        streets, and other public sites have been named in honor of 
        terrorists who were involved in the murder of Americans.
            (5) To remedy these and related problems, an office should 
        be established within the Department of Justice for the purpose 
        of ensuring equally vigorous efforts to capture all terrorists 
        who have harmed American citizens overseas and equal treatment 
        for all American victims of overseas terrorism.

SEC. 3. ETABLISHMENT OF AN OFFICE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO 
              UNDERTAKE SPECIFIC STEPS TO FACILITATE THE CAPTURE OF 
              TERRORISTS WHO HAVE HARMED AMERICAN CITIZENS OVERSEAS AND 
              TO ENSURE THAT ALL AMERICAN VICTIMS OF OVERSEAS TERRORISM 
              ARE TREATED EQUALLY.

    The President shall establish within the Department of Justice an 
office (hereafter the ``Office'') to carry out the following 
activities:
            (1) The Office shall assume responsibility for 
        administration of the Rewards for Justice program and its web 
        site, www.rewardsforjustice.com, and in so doing will ensure 
        that--
                    (A) rewards are offered to capture all terrorists 
                involved in harming American citizens overseas, 
                regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or 
                residence;
                    (B) such rewards are prominently advertised in the 
                mass media and public sites in all countries or regions 
                where such terrorists reside;
                    (C) the names and photographs and suspects in all 
                such cases are included on the web site; and
                    (D) the names of the specific organizations 
                claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks mentioned 
                on the site are included in the descriptions of those 
                attacks.
            (2) The Office shall establish and administer a program 
        which will provide notification for American victims of 
        overseas terrorism or their immediate family to update them on 
        the status of efforts to capture the terrorists who harmed 
        them.
            (3) The Office shall assume responsibility for providing 
        twice-annual reports to Congress as defined by section 805 of 
        the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations 
        Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001.
            (4) The Office shall work with the other United States 
        government agencies to expand legal restrictions on the ability 
        of murderers to reap profits from books or movies concerning 
        their crimes--the ``Son of Sam'' laws that currently exist in 
        many States, so as to ensure that terrorists who harm American 
        citizens overseas are unable to profit from book or movie sales 
        in the United States.
            (5) The Office shall endeavor to determine if terrorists 
        who have harmed American citizens overseas are serving in their 
        local police or security forces. Whenever it is found that 
        terrorists who have harmed American citizens overseas are 
        serving in their local police or security forces, the Office 
        shall alert those United States Government agencies involved in 
        providing assistance, directly or indirectly, to those forces, 
        and shall request of those agencies that all such assistance be 
        halted until the aforementioned terrorists are removed from 
        their positions.
            (6) The Office shall undertake a comprehensive assessment 
        of the pattern of United States indictments and prosecution of 
        terrorists who have harmed American citizens overseas, in order 
        to determine the reasons for the absence of indictments of 
        terrorists residing in some regions, such as the territories 
        controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The Office's 
        assessment shall then be provided to the Attorney General, 
        together with its recommendations.
            (7) The Office shall endeavor to monitor public actions by 
        governments and regimes overseas pertaining to terrorists who 
        have harmed American citizens, such as naming of schools, 
        streets, or other public institutions or sites after such 
        terrorists. In such instances, the Office shall encourage other 
        United States Government agencies to halt their provision of 
        assistance, directly or indirectly, to those institutions.
            (8) In instances in which specific organizations that 
        claimed responsibility for acts of terrorism against Americans 
        overseas subsequently became part of a governing regime with 
        which the United States Government maintains diplomatic or 
        other official contacts, such as the Palestinian Authority, the 
        Office will initiate negotiations to secure appropriate 
        financial compensation for American citizens, or the families 
        of such citizens, who were harmed by those organizations' 
        terrorism.
            (9) In cases where terrorists who have harmed Americans 
        overseas, and are subsequently released from incarceration 
        abroad, are eligible for further prosecution in the United 
        States, the Office shall coordinate with other government 
        agencies to seek the transfer of those terrorists to the United 
        States for further prosecution.
            (10) The Office shall strive to ensure that all terrorists 
        who have harmed Americans overseas are treated by the United 
        States Government as persona non grata, including, but not 
        limited to, steps such as denying those individuals visas for 
        entry to the United States; urging United States Government 
        agencies to refrain from political and diplomatic contacts with 
        those individuals; and instructing United States embassies and 
        consulates to urge American visitors in those countries to 
        refrain from patronizing businesses that are owned or operated 
        by such individuals.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal 
year 2003 and subsequent fiscal years such sums as may be necessary to 
carry out this Act.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated under subsection (a) are 
authorized to remain available until expended.
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