[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2277 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2277

    To prohibit employers from compelling or coercing any person to 
   authorize access to a protected computer, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2015

  Mr. Perlmutter (for himself, Mr. Welch, Mr. Rush, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
   Rangel, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Capps, and Mr. Schweikert) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit employers from compelling or coercing any person to 
   authorize access to a protected computer, 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 ``Password Protection Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITED ACTIVITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 1030(a) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7)(C), by inserting ``or'' after the 
        semicolon; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (7)(C) the following:
            ``(8) acting as an employer, knowingly and intentionally--
                    ``(A) for the purposes of employing, promoting, or 
                terminating employment, compels or coerces any person 
                to authorize access, such as by providing a password or 
                similar information through which a computer may be 
                accessed, to a protected computer that is not the 
                employer's protected computer, and thereby obtains 
                information from such protected computer; or
                    ``(B) discharges, disciplines, discriminates 
                against in any manner, or threatens to take any such 
                action against, any person--
                            ``(i) for failing to authorize access 
                        described in subparagraph (A) to a protected 
                        computer that is not the employer's protected 
                        computer; or
                            ``(ii) who has filed any complaint or 
                        instituted or caused to be instituted any 
                        proceeding under or related to this paragraph, 
                        or has testified or is about to testify in any 
                        such proceeding;''.
    (b) Fine.--Section 1030(c) of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4)(G)(ii), by striking the period at the 
        end and inserting ``; and''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) a fine under this title, in the case of an offense 
        under subsection (a)(8) or an attempt to commit an offense 
        punishable under this paragraph.''.
    (c) Definitions.--Section 1030(e) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period and inserting 
        a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) the term `employee' means an employee, as such term 
        is defined in section 201(2) of the Genetic Nondiscrimination 
        Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 2000ff(2));
            ``(14) the term `employer' means an employer, as such term 
        is defined in such section 201(2); and
            ``(15) the term `employer's protected computer' means a 
        protected computer of the employer, including any protected 
        computer owned, operated, or otherwise controlled by, for, or 
        on behalf of that employer.''.
    (d) Exceptions.--Section 1030(f) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(f) This'' and inserting ``(f)(1) This''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2)(A) Nothing in subsection (a)(8) shall be construed to 
        limit the authority of a court of competent jurisdiction to 
        grant equitable relief in a civil action, if the court 
        determines that there are specific and articulable facts 
        showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the 
        information sought to be obtained is relevant and material to 
        protecting the intellectual property, a trade secret, or 
        confidential business information of the party seeking the 
        relief.
            ``(B) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(8), the prohibition in 
        such subsection shall not apply to an employer's actions if--
                            ``(i) the employer discharges or otherwise 
                        disciplines an individual for good cause and an 
                        activity protected under subsection (a)(8) is 
                        not a motivating factor for the discharge or 
                        discipline of the individual;
                            ``(ii) the employer is complying with the 
                        requirements of Federal or State law, rule or 
                        regulation, or a rule of a self-regulatory 
                        organization, as defined in section 3(a)(26) of 
                        the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (15 
                        U.S.C. 78c(a)(26)), applicable to brokers, 
                        dealers and investment advisers;
                            ``(iii) a State enacts a law that 
                        specifically waives subsection (a)(8) with 
                        respect to a particular class of State 
                        government employees or employees who work with 
                        individuals under 13 years of age, and the 
                        employer's action relates to an employee in 
                        such class; or
                            ``(iv) an Executive agency (as defined in 
                        section 105 of title 5), a military department 
                        (as defined in section 102 of such title), or 
                        any other entity within the executive branch 
                        that comes into the possession of classified 
                        information, including the Defense Intelligence 
                        Agency, National Security Agency, and National 
                        Reconnaissance Office, specifically waives 
                        subsection (a)(8) with respect to a particular 
                        class of employees requiring eligibility for 
                        access to classified information under 
                        Executive Order 12968 (60 Fed. Reg. 40245), or 
                        any successor thereto, and the employer's 
                        action relates to an employee in such class.''.
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