[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 9 (Thursday, February 7, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H218-H219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   BRINGING TO HOUSE FLOOR H.R. 1343, THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE 
                         CRIMES PREVENTION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I will not take my 5 minutes, but I will 
yield the balance of the time to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Clay).
  Mr. Speaker, the Conyers-Woolsey hate crimes bill is approaching that 
critical mass where we will soon have the 218 votes. This Special Order 
is generated to pick up the last dozen or so cosponsors that we would 
like to have to have the bill brought forward as quickly as possible.
  The Members will recall that there has been hate crimes legislation 
since 1968, and what we do is take away some of the restrictions which 
would prevent us from bringing in Federal jurisdiction to aid local law 
enforcement. This bill does not supplant the law enforcement at the 
local level. We assist them and work in a cooperative spirit with them.
  Particularly, we take away the existing Federal jurisdictional 
requirements that a Federal act is impeded upon as a result of the 
incident. For example, voting, interstate commerce, or some other 
Federal nexus is required to trigger the bill under its current legal 
status. What we do is to say for crimes of gender, sex, sexual 
orientation, we remove a Federal requirement because a hate crime is a 
hate crime whether there is a Federal nexus or not.
  Many States have hate crimes legislation, except for the fact that 21 
of them are admittedly very weak. Five States have none at all. What we 
are doing is in the wake of September 11, what we are doing is saying 
that there has been a dramatic increase of hate crimes activity. The 
lawyers on the Committee on the Judiciary have discovered with the 
Council for Islamic Relations that there are nearly 1,500 reported 
cases, frequently of people who were mistaken to be of Arab descent and 
were not, but they were clearly crimes that would fall into this 
category that we find so offensive.

[[Page H219]]

  So what we are saying is now is the time as we move forward in a 
democratic way under a semi-war circumstance that we make these final 
improvements to the bill, and we are hoping that it can be done as 
expeditiously as possible.
  My thanks to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), for her 
indefatigable efforts in this; and I am very proud that she is working 
with us.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay).

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Conyers) for his leadership on this issue. We certainly appreciate his 
leadership and sponsorship of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1343, the Local Law 
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Consideration of this bill is 
long overdue, and its passage is absolutely critical. I urge the House 
Republican leadership to allow the bill to come to the floor for a 
vote.
  H.R. 1343 gives law enforcement officers at all levels of government 
the tools they need to deal with these terrible acts of hate-based 
violence. This legislation also sends a message to the world that 
crimes committed against people because of who they are or what they 
believe are particularly evil and particularly offensive and will not 
be tolerated in this country.
  These types of crimes are committed not just against individuals, not 
just against a single person, but against society and against all 
Americans. These crimes are not only meant to hurt the unfortunate 
individual who falls victim to such acts, but they are also meant to 
intimidate, harass, and menace others who were not directly attacked.
  A few years ago a man filled with hate shot up a Jewish community 
center in Los Angeles, wounding children and teachers in a place that 
was supposed to be a protective sanctuary for children. Following his 
capture the man said he had shot at those children because he wanted to 
send a message. He said he wanted to send a wake-up call to America to 
kill Jews.
  By passing this bill we will be rejecting such messages and 
committing the full measure of our justice system to ending such 
hateful violence.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). The gentleman's time has 
expired.

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