[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2915 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2915

 To amend section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, to eliminate a 
  defense, to a criminal prosecution under that section, based on the 
state of mind of the defendant as to the age of the minor engaging in, 
            or intended to engage in, a commercial sex act.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2013

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

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                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, to eliminate a 
  defense, to a criminal prosecution under that section, based on the 
state of mind of the defendant as to the age of the minor engaging in, 
            or intended to engage in, a commercial sex act.

    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 ``Protect Children from Sex Tourism 
Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF DEFENSE BASED ON THE DEFENDANT'S STATE OF MIND 
              AS TO THE AGE OF THE MINOR ENGAGING IN, OR INTENDED TO 
              ENGAGE IN, A COMMERCIAL SEXUAL ACT.

    Subsection (g) of section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(g) In a prosecution under this section based on illicit sexual 
conduct, as defined in subsection (f)(2), the Government need not prove 
that the defendant knew the minor engaging in, or intended to engage 
in, a commercial sex act had not attained the age of 18 years.''.
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