[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 22, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H967-H970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLEAN UP THE CODE ACT OF 2019
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 498) to eliminate unused sections of the United
States Code, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows
H.R. 498
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 ``Clean Up the Code Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. REPEALS.
The following provisions of title 18, United States Code,
are repealed:
(1) Section 46 relating to transportation of water
hyacinths.
(2) Section 511A relating to unauthorized application of
theft prevention decal or device.
(3) Section 707 relating to 4-H club emblem fraudulently
used.
(4) Section 708 relating to Swiss Confederation coat of
arms.
(5) Section 711 relating to ``Smokey Bear'' character or
name.
(6) Section 711a relating to ``Woodsy Owl'' character,
name, or slogan.
(7) Section 715 relating to ``The Golden Eagle Insignia''.
(8) Chapter 89--Professions and Occupations.
(9) Section 1921 relating to receiving Federal employees'
compensation after marriage.
SEC. 3. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.
(a) Table of Chapters for Part I of Title 18.--The table of
chapters for part I of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by striking the item relating to chapter 89.
(b) Table of Sections for Chapter 3.--The table of sections
for chapter 3 of title 18,
[[Page H968]]
United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating
to section 46.
(c) Table of Sections for Chapter 25.--The table of
sections for chapter 25 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by striking the item relating to section 511A.
(d) Table of Sections for Chapter 33.--The table of
sections for chapter 33 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) by striking the item relating to section 707;
(2) by striking the item relating to section 708;
(3) by striking the item relating to section 711;
(4) by striking the item relating to section 711a; and
(5) by striking the item relating to section 715.
(e) Table of Sections for Chapter 93.--The table of
sections for chapter 93 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by striking the item relating to section 1921.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Johnson) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
General Leave
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 498, the Clean Up the Code
Act. I support this measure because it represents a small yet
meaningful step toward addressing the problem of over-criminalization.
H.R. 498 repeals several criminal penalties for violations that do not
involve serious wrongdoing, at least not serious enough to warrant
criminal prosecution or the consequences of a criminal record.
Specifically, the bill decriminalizes the transportation of water
hyacinths, the unauthorized application of theft prevention decals or
devices, and the unauthorized use of the 4-H Club emblem; the Swiss
Confederation coat of arms; the ``Smokey Bear'' character or name; the
``Woodsy Owl'' character, name, or slogan; or the ``Golden Eagle
Insignia.''
The conduct that these laws are designed to deter or punish simply
does not merit criminal sanctions. This bill repeals a number of these
obscure and unnecessary criminal provisions. Criminal penalties should
be reserved to deter offenses that jeopardize public safety or as
punishment for serious moral transgressions. Such penalties should not
be used to punish minor transgressions or to discourage behavior deemed
unwanted but ultimately harmless to the greater public good. Therefore,
while H.R. 498 is a modest step toward addressing the problem of over-
criminalization, I support its adoption by the House today.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the efforts of my colleague,
Representative Steve Chabot, who is the author of this measure and
who shepherded it to House passage last year with 385 votes in favor. I
was the lead cosponsor of the bill last Congress, and I am pleased
again to serve in that role for this bipartisan legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for it today,
and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 498. This bill continues
the House Judiciary Committee's commitment to addressing over-
criminalization and over-federalization in our Nation's criminal code.
Last Congress I was proud to work with my friend and colleague from New
York (Mr. Jeffries) to develop and enact the First Step Act, the most
significant piece of criminal justice reform legislation in decades.
Today's bill, championed by Mr. Chabot of Ohio, builds off that great
victory and continues that process.
Part of the reasoning behind the First Step Act was that Congress, as
our Nation's lawmaking body, can and should from time to time make
reasonable revisions to Federal law to ensure our laws work efficiently
and fairly. Today our criminal code is bloated with nearly 5,000
separate crimes. The bill before us begins to address that problem by
eliminating nine sections of the Federal criminal code. Those sections
either criminalize conduct that should not, fundamentally, be a Federal
crime, or have never been prosecuted, or both.
For instance, the unauthorized use of the Smokey Bear emblem, while
problematic, should not land someone in a Federal penitentiary for 6
months, especially when there are civil statutes already on the books
protecting this and other insignia.
Mr. Speaker, this bill continues the Judiciary Committee's proven
approach to criminal justice reform legislation, namely to take a
scalpel, not a sledgehammer, to the criminal code. I would like to
thank my colleague, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and also my colleague on
the Republican side of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Chabot, for their
work on this.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may
consume to the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and
I congratulate him and Mr. Chabot for this legislation. I am glad that
this is one of the early bills that we are moving forward. It sets the
tone for this Congress, and it sets the tone for bipartisanship. It
also sets the tone for the Democratic-led Congress on the continuation
of working on the idea of ensuring that justice is truly rendered.
This bill, H.R. 498, the Clean Up the Code Act of 2017, essentially
repeals many unused statutes currently in the criminal code. Mr.
Speaker, you have to pay a fine, but some of them even have jail time.
It is right in line with the concept of ending mass incarceration just
to incarcerate.
It is well-known that this Nation has the largest number of people
incarcerated in Western civilization, some 2 million-plus, added to, of
course, by a number of individuals who are being held in detention
centers across the Nation. It is emblematic of what is terribly wrong
with our criminal justice system and sheds light on why it is
imperative to have an overhaul of our Federal Criminal Code while
addressing the ripple effects it creates within our criminal justice
system.
We had a task force entitled the Over-Criminalization Task Force in
the Judiciary Committee which made an effective start on looking at
Federal laws across the Nation to find out how we can best secure and
safeguard the American people, bring justice to those who have done
wrong, but also provide, if you will, a pathway of reasonableness as it
relates to nonviolent crimes, crimes that don't have a major impact
such as the concept of utilizing the Smokey Bear theme, if you will.
We began our journey several Congresses ago to work in a bipartisan
way to address the ills of our criminal justice system, as I have
indicated, and I look forward to having the Over-Criminalization Task
Force reestablished.
As this bill seeks to promote, we must take initiatives to clean up
our Federal Criminal Code, which in large part criminalizes many acts
that can easily be addressed in other forms such as smaller fines. When
we over-criminalize, we place an undue burden on the taxpayers and
create long-term human costs on families and other communities. What we
do is we create a criminal offense and we create a criminal record.
We should penalize where necessary to ensure public safety and
security and hold accountable those criminals who have done major
damage and who would tend to offend, where appropriate. But we should
also look for ways in which we could enhance our communities, human
relations with civilians and law enforcement, and promote an entirely
new approach to our criminal justice system.
For all of the foregoing reasons and as well to suggest that Smokey
Bear and Woodsy Owl would prefer being left alone as opposed to being
held up in a criminal court as a reason for that particular offender
being held to a fine of a large amount or jail time, I think this is an
important bill and an important step.
I congratulate the authors, both the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Johnson)
[[Page H969]]
and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot). I look forward to supporting
this legislation, and I ask my colleagues to support the legislation.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support H.R. 498, the
``Clean Up the Code Act of 2019.''
This legislation essentially repeals many unused statutes currently
in the criminal code.
It is emblematic of what is terribly wrong with our criminal justice
system and sheds light on why it is imperative to have an overhaul of
our federal criminal code, while addressing the ripple effects it
creates within our criminal justice system.
We began our journey several Congresses ago to work in a bipartisan
way to address the ills of our criminal justice system through our
Over-criminalization Task Force, which I intend to re-establish in this
Congress.
As this bill seeks to promote, we must take initiatives to clean up
our federal criminal code, which in large part, criminalizes many acts
that can easily be addressed in other forums.
When we over-criminalize we place an undue burden on the taxpayers
and create long term human costs on families and on our communities.
We should penalize where necessary to ensure public safety and hold
accountable criminals where appropriate.
We should also look for ways in which we could enhance our
communities, human relations with civilians and law enforcement, and
provide an entirely new approach to our criminal justice system.
For all the foregoing reasons, I support this bill and ask my
colleagues to do the same.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) to speak about the
bill.
Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 498, the Clean
Up the Code Act of 2019. I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia
(Mr. Johnson) for his support and his leadership in making this
legislation possible.
Back in 2008, the Heritage Foundation published a report estimating
that there were nearly 4,500 different Federal crimes in the U.S. Code.
Five years later, the Judiciary Committee asked the Congressional
Research Service to review the foundation's findings only to be told
that it did not have the resources to fulfill our request. This is a
clear indication that there are too many criminal laws on the books and
the code needs to be cleaned up.
H.R. 498 eliminates nine provisions in Title 18, a good start, that
in some instances have never been prosecuted since their enactment. For
example, as has already been mentioned, the unauthorized use of the
Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl will no longer be subject to criminal penalty
if this bill is enacted.
This bipartisan legislation is aimed at doing exactly what the bill
title says--clean up the code. If there were too many criminal laws for
the CRS to count back in 2013, let's help them get rid of the easy ones
by enacting this legislation. As I say, it is a good start. It isn't
going to solve the whole problem, but it is a good start, and I urge my
colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how many
additional speakers my friend from Georgia foresees?
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it appears we have exhausted the
supply, so we are ready to close.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, with that in mind, I see that my
dear colleague, Jim Langevin, has arrived. He is the sponsor of H.R.
439 which is the Future Farmers of America charter revision bill. He is
the sponsor of that bill. He was on his way from the airport. His
flight was delayed, but he is here now.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island
(Mr. Langevin).
Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for
yielding me time. I hope I won't use all 5 minutes. I first want to say
I support the bill under debate right now and certainly support
criminal justice reform. One of the best ways, of course, we can
prevent people from hopefully going down the path of crimes is to make
sure they have a good education, so hence I am here to speak on H.R.
439.
Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Career and
Technical Education Caucus, I am pleased to rise with my good friend
and fellow co-chair, Representative G.T. Thompson, in support of H.R.
439, the National FFA Organization's Federal Charter Amendments Act. I
would like to thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his partnership on
this bill which modernizes the FFA congressional charter to better
serve the organization's 669,000 student members across the country.
Since 1928 the FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, has
been an integral part of our Nation's agricultural education system.
Its mission is to prepare the next generation of farmers who form the
backbone of our Nation's food supply system. Congress recognized the
FFA's importance in 1950 when it granted the organization a Federal
charter. But today, nearly 70 years later, that charter is overdue for
an update.
Of the 100 nonprofit organizations that have charters with the
Federal Government, from the Girl Scouts of America to the National
Academy of Sciences, only six require government agencies to appoint
members to the NGO's board of directors. Of those six, the FFA is the
only federally chartered organization that requires a majority of its
board members to be chosen by its partner agency, the Department of
Education.
The bill that had been considered this afternoon and that passed
brings the role of the Department of Education in line with other
congressionally chartered organizations while maintaining the long
relationship between the department and the FFA. In doing so, it gives
the FFA more autonomy to deliver its integrated system of agricultural
career and technical education, or CTE, to the 8,000 chapters located
across all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
H.R. 439 allows the FFA to be more independent, but it retains its
ability to collaborate with the Department of Education in agriculture.
It also allows the FFA to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C.
and provide online publications for its chapters around the country.
The FFA needs to adapt to the 21st century economy, and modernizing
this charter is a necessary step in that process.
Today the FFA helps train more than future farmers. It prepares the
next generation of scientists, veterinarians, and business owners
through classroom and work-based learning. As a strong advocate for
CTE, I am thrilled to support the skills-based education model on
behalf of the FFA and its many teachers and students. Our bill aligns
the FFA's charter with this focus on CTE, specifically the Agriculture,
Food, and Natural Resources Career Cluster which gives students the
opportunity to explore exciting careers and be prepared for future
challenges.
{time} 1630
Our country faces daunting tasks in agricultural policy, from
addressing food shortages to containing animal-borne diseases and
stopping the pollution of our waterways.
Mr. Speaker, we can count on our Nation's FFA students to not only
grow our economy but to become the next community of world leaders,
ready to tackle these 21st century challenges.
In my home State of Rhode Island, I am continually impressed by the
hardworking, motivated, bright FFA students and the dedicated teachers
who instruct them. Through the FFA, these students are developing the
academic and technical skills to succeed in agricultural fields and the
leadership skills to make a real difference.
This bill, the National FFA Organization's Federal Charter Amendments
Act, will allow the FFA to continue its mission with more autonomy.
Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, my colleague G.T. Thompson from the
great State of Pennsylvania, along with Chairman Nadler and Ranking
Member Collins, for their support, as well as my esteemed colleague
Senator Todd Young of Indiana for leading this bipartisan effort in the
Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for supporting this bill, and I
thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise on H.R. 498. Again, this
is a good act. The Clean Up the Code Act is one that I ask everyone to
support and vote ``yes'' on, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, while I do not believe Federal
prosecutors are neglecting the pursuit of
[[Page H970]]
serious criminals by bringing charges under Criminal Code provisions
that H.R. 498 would repeal, this bill serves as an important reminder
that Congress should be careful not to enact new criminal penalties
when they are not warranted.
We must resist overcriminalization, which fosters disrespect for the
seriousness of the law and leads to collateral consequences for
offenders that are often catastrophic to them and their ability to
function in and contribute to their communities.
It is my hope that, in this new Congress, we will be able to work on
a bipartisan basis to expand our efforts to make our criminal justice
system more fair and, thereby, also more effective.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 498.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________