[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1865 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 432
115th CONGRESS
   2d Session
                                H. R. 1865

                      [Report No. 115-572, Part I]

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that section 230 of 
such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and users 
  of interactive computer services of Federal and State criminal and 
     civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex 
                  trafficking, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2017

  Mrs. Wagner (for herself, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. 
 Clarke of New York, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New 
   York, Mr. Royce of California, Mrs. Roby, Mr. Kinzinger, and Ms. 
Jenkins of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
  the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

                           February 20, 2018

Additional sponsors: Mr. Smucker, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. 
Fleischmann, Mr. Lance, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Roskam, Mr. Rouzer, 
    Ms. Moore, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Turner, Ms. Rosen, Mrs. 
Hartzler, Mr. Evans, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Katko, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. 
Wilson of Florida, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Coffman, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Bishop 
of Michigan, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Crist, Mr. Carbajal, Mrs. Comstock, Mr. 
 Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Thomas J. Rooney of Florida, Mr. Graves 
  of Missouri, Mr. Smith of Missouri, Mr. Zeldin, Mr. MacArthur, Mr. 
Pittenger, Mr. Conaway, Mr. Young of Iowa, Mr. Walker, Mr. Walberg, Mr. 
  Harris, Mr. Messer, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Brat, Mr. Poliquin, Mr. 
   Valadao, Mrs. Mimi Walters of California, Mr. Gibbs, Ms. Herrera 
  Beutler, Mr. Long, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Payne, Ms. Bass, Ms. Eddie 
   Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Hanabusa, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mrs. 
 Lawrence, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. 
 Hastings, Mr. Richmond, Mrs. Love, Mr. Clay, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Brown of 
  Maryland, Ms. Plaskett, Ms. Adams, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. 
 Cleaver, Mr. Bost, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Hudson, Mrs. Handel, Mr. Cuellar, 
  Mr. Cole, Mr. Bilirakis, Mrs. Noem, Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, Ms. Ros-
 Lehtinen, Mr. Ross, Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, Mr. Donovan, Ms. Kuster 
   of New Hampshire, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. 
Palmer, Mr. Davidson, Ms. Foxx, Mrs. Black, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Faso, Mr. 
  Rothfus, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Walorski, Mr. Reed, Mr. 
 Joyce of Ohio, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Franks of 
 Arizona, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Rush, Mr. Meeks, Mr. O'Halleran, Mr. Johnson 
of Louisiana, Mr. Posey, Mr. Jenkins of West Virginia, Mr. Gonzalez of 
Texas, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Gene Green of 
Texas, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Keating, Mr. Nolan, Ms. 
     Titus, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Serrano, Mr. 
 DesJarlais, Mr. Curbelo of Florida, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Hultgren, Mrs. 
  Blackburn, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. King of 
 Iowa, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Olson, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Sessions, 
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Norton, Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
 Mr. Paulsen, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Roe of Tennessee, Mr. Brady of Texas, 
Mr. Flores, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Hollingsworth, Mr. Byrne, Mr. Austin Scott 
 of Georgia, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Mullin, 
 Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Rice of South Carolina, Mr. 
 Williams, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Burgess, 
  Mr. Knight, Mr. Kustoff of Tennessee, Mr. Lucas, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. 
  Capuano, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Perlmutter, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. 
                    Costa, Mr. Calvert, and Mr. Yoho
   Deleted sponsor: Mr. McNerney (added September 13, 2017; deleted 
                          September 25, 2017 )

                           February 20, 2018

     Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

                           February 20, 2018

   The Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; committed to the 
 Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to 
                               be printed
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 
                                3, 2017]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that section 230 of 
such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and users 
  of interactive computer services of Federal and State criminal and 
     civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex 
                  trafficking, 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 ``Allow States and Victims to Fight 
Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
        U.S.C. 230; commonly known as the ``Communications Decency Act 
        of 1996'') was never intended to provide legal protection to 
        websites that unlawfully promote and facilitate prostitution 
        and contribute to sex trafficking;
            (2) websites that promote and facilitate prostitution have 
        been reckless in allowing the sale of sex trafficking victims 
        and have done nothing to prevent the trafficking of children 
        and victims of force, fraud, and coercion; and
            (3) clarification of such section is warranted to ensure 
        that such section does not provide such protection to such 
        websites.

SEC. 3. PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION AND RECKLESS DISREGARD OF SEX 
              TRAFFICKING.

    (a) Promotion of Prostitution.--Chapter 117 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2421 the following:
``Sec. 2421A. Promotion or facilitation of prostitution and reckless 
              disregard of sex trafficking
    ``(a) In General.--Whoever uses or operates a facility or means of 
interstate or foreign commerce or attempts to do so with the intent to 
promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person shall be fined 
under this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
    ``(b) Aggravated Violation.--Whoever uses or operates a facility or 
means of interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to promote or 
facilitate the prostitution of another person and--
            ``(1) promotes or facilitates the prostitution of 5 or more 
        persons; or
            ``(2) acts in reckless disregard of the fact that such 
        conduct contributed to sex trafficking, in violation of 
        1591(a),
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 25 years, 
or both.
    ``(c) Civil Recovery.--Any person injured by reason of a violation 
of section 2421A(b) may recover damages and reasonable attorneys' fees 
in an action before any appropriate United States district court. 
Consistent with section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 230), a defendant may be held liable, under this subsection, 
where promotion or facilitation of prostitution activity includes 
responsibility for the creation or development of all or part of the 
information or content provided through any interactive computer 
service.
    ``(d) Mandatory Restitution.--Notwithstanding sections 3663 or 
3663A and in addition to any other civil or criminal penalties 
authorized by law, the court shall order restitution for any offense 
under this section.
    ``(e) Affirmative Defense.--It shall be an affirmative defense to a 
charge of violating subsection (a) where the defendant proves, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the promotion or facilitation of 
prostitution is legal in the jurisdiction where the promotion or 
facilitation was targeted.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for such chapter is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2421 the 
following:

``2421A. Promotion or facilitation of prostitution and reckless 
                            disregard of sex trafficking.''.

SEC. 4. COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT.

    Section 230(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(e)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) No effect on state laws conforming to 18 u.s.c. 
        1591(a) or 2421a.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
        to impair or limit any charge in a criminal prosecution brought 
        under State law--
                    ``(A) if the conduct underlying the charge 
                constitutes a violation of section 2421A of title 18, 
                United States Code, and promotion or facilitation of 
                prostitution is illegal in the jurisdiction where the 
                defendant's promotion or facilitation of prostitution 
                was targeted; or
                    ``(B) if the conduct underlying the charge 
                constitutes a violation of section 1591(a) of title 18, 
                United States Code.''.

SEC. 5. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

    Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be 
construed to limit or preempt any civil action or criminal prosecution 
under Federal law or State law (including State statutory law and State 
common law) filed before or after the day before the date of enactment 
of this Act that was not limited or preempted by section 230 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), as such section was in 
effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 432

115th CONGRESS

   2d Session

                               H. R. 1865

                      [Report No. 115-572, Part I]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that section 230 of 
such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and users 
  of interactive computer services of Federal and State criminal and 
     civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex 
                  trafficking, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           February 20, 2018

     Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment

                           February 20, 2018

   The Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; committed to the 
 Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to 
                               be printed