[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1834 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1834
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
March 11, 2021
Mr. Krishnamoorthi (for himself, Ms. Meng, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Velazquez,
Mr. Van Drew, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr.
Suozzi, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carson, Mr. Meeks,
Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Blumenauer, Mrs. Dingell, Ms.
Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Cicilline, and Mr.
Sean Patrick Maloney of New York) 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
2021''.
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) In 2019, hate crimes rose by 2.7 percent.
(5) In 2019, there were 51 reported deaths from hate
crimes, which is the highest number since the FBI began
reporting on this statistic in the early 1990s.
(6) Hate crimes not only damage the individual victim or
victims, but also traumatize entire communities and erode
public confidence in their safety.
(7) In 2019, hate crimes directed at Latinos increased by
almost 9 percent from the year before.
(8) In 2019, hate crimes based on sexual orientation
represented 16.7% of total hate crimes that year, and gender
identity based hate crimes represented 2.7% of total hate
crimes, which was an increase from the year before.
(9) In a September 2020 House Homeland Security Committee
testimony, FBI Director Christopher Wray said: ``Within the
domestic terrorism bucket, the category as a whole, racially
motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket
within that larger group. And within the racially motivated
violent extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of
White supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk
of that.''.
(10) The largest increase within the 2019 hate crime data
was found in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which rose by 14
percent.
(11) In August 2019, an assailant entered a Walmart in El
Paso, Texas, to target Hispanics and left 22 dead.
(12) In October 2018, a shooting at the Tree of Life
synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left 11 dead.
(13) 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.
(14) In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, Asian
Americans have suffered an increasing number of hate crimes.
According to Stop AAPI Hate, 2,808 ``hate incidents'' toward
AAPIs were reported between March and December 2020.
(15) In November 2020, a woman shouted anti-Muslim slurs
and attacked a couple in New York City, leaving one victim
needing surgery for facial fractures.
(16) Many hate crimes go unreported. In 2019, there was a
decrease in the number of police agencies providing this data
to the FBI, with only 14 percent of police agencies in the
country reporting one or more hate crimes that year.
(17) 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 of
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.
(5) What community bias prevention responses are successful
and possible through coordination with nonprofits, local
education agencies, and government entities.
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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