[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4118 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4118

  To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes to study and 
   make recommendations on the prevention of the commission of hate 
                    crimes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2019

 Mr. Krishnamoorthi (for himself, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Hastings, Mrs. 
    Demings, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Norton, Mr. Khanna, Mr. 
Espaillat, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. 
    Smith of Washington, Mr. Rush, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. 
   Grijalva, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
 Engel, Ms. Dean, Mr. Sires, Mr. Evans, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Mr. 
    Carson of Indiana, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Langevin) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish a United States Commission on Hate Crimes to study and 
   make recommendations on the prevention of the commission of hate 
                    crimes, 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 ``Hate Crimes Commission Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines ``hate 
        crime'' to be a criminal offense--such as murder, arson, or 
        vandalism--against a person or property motivated in whole or 
        in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, 
        disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender 
        identity.
            (2) Forty-five States and the District of Columbia have 
        statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence 
        or intimidation.
            (3) The Federal Government has implemented crimes statutes 
        since 1968, with the most recent law enacted in 2009.
            (4) Approximately 250,000 hate crimes happen each year, yet 
        only 2 percent are reported to the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation (FBI).
            (5) Hate crimes not only damage the individual victim or 
        victims, but also traumatize entire communities and erode 
        public confidence in their safety.
            (6) According to multiple, nonpartisan studies, hate crimes 
        have increased each consecutive year since 2015, with a 6.7-
        percent increase in reported hate crimes in 2016, one of the 
        largest 1-year increases in over a decade.
            (7) In May 2017, the FBI found that White supremacists and 
        right wing extremist groups were responsible for the most of 
        any domestic extremist group.
            (8) According to the same FBI report, hate crimes against 
        LGBTQ people have been on the rise over the past three years, 
        with a majority targeting gay men.
            (9) In addition, the FBI reported that hate crimes 
        motivated by anti-religious bias increased 23 percent, where 37 
        percent of that increase were anti-Jewish.
            (10) In February 2017, a White supremacist entered a bar in 
        Kansas and shot at two Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and 
        Alok Madasani while shouting racial epithets. Srinivas later 
        died of his injuries.
            (11) In August 2017, the White nationalist and neo-Nazi 
        protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted in 1 death and 
        20 injuries from a White nationalist driving his car into a 
        group of counter-protesters.
            (12) In July 2019, a Hindu priest in New York City was 
        hospitalized after a man attacked him and screamed ``this is my 
        neighborhood'' during the incident.
            (13) There is a clear need for stronger action to 
        accurately report and effectively combat hate-based attacks.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

    (a)  Establishment.--There is established the United States 
Commission on Hate Crimes (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the 
``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--The Commission shall be composed of 12 members. 
Membership of the Commission shall be appointed in accordance with the 
following:
            (1) Two members shall be appointed by the majority leader 
        of the Senate.
            (2) Two members shall be appointed by the minority leader 
        of the Senate.
            (3) Two members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 
        House of Representatives.
            (4) Two members shall be appointed by the minority leader 
        of the House of Representatives.
            (5) Two members shall be jointly appointed by the two 
        appointing officials under paragraphs (1) through (4) who are 
        members of, or caucus with, the Democratic Party.
            (6) Two members shall be jointly appointed by the two 
        appointing officials under paragraphs (1) through (4) who are 
        members of, or caucus with, the Republican Party.
            (7) Not more than 6 members of the Commission shall be from 
        the law enforcement community and not more than 6 members of 
        the Commission shall be of the civil rights community.
            (8) Not more than 6 of the members shall be of the same 
        political party.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    The Commission shall investigate the following:
            (1) If there has been an increase in hate crimes during the 
        period beginning January 1, 2007, and ending 60 days after the 
        date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) To the extent that any increase in the commission in 
        hate crimes is determined to exist, what factors have 
        contributed to such increase.
            (3) What policies or actions law enforcement agencies might 
        adopt or engage in to reduce the commission of hate crimes.
            (4) The impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics 
        and hate crimes prevention.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Commission shall submit a report to Congress and the President setting 
forth the results of the investigation under section 4.

SEC. 6. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``hate crime'' means an offense under section 
249 of title 18, United States Code.
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