House Report 111-568 - INTERNATIONAL MEGAN'S LAW OF 2010

[House Report 111-568]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

111th Congress Rept. 111-568
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session Part I

======================================================================

INTERNATIONAL MEGAN'S LAW OF 2010

_______

July 27, 2010.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed

_______

Mr. Berman, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the
following

R E P O R T

[To accompany H.R. 5138]

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 5138) to protect children from sexual exploitation
by mandating reporting requirements for convicted sex
traffickers and other registered sex offenders against minors
intending to engage in international travel, providing advance
notice of intended travel by high interest registered sex
offenders outside the United States to the government of the
country of destination, requesting foreign governments to
notify the United States when a known child sex offender is
seeking to enter the United States, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Summary and Purpose.............................................. 2
Background and Need for the Legislation.......................... 2
Hearings......................................................... 4
Committee Consideration.......................................... 4
Votes of the Committee........................................... 4
Committee Oversight Findings..................................... 5
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures........................ 5
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 5
Performance Goals and Objectives................................. 9
Constitutional Authority Statement............................... 9
New Advisory Committees.......................................... 9
Congressional Accountability Act................................. 9
Earmark Identification........................................... 10
Section-by-Section Analysis and Discussion....................... 10
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 21

Summary and Purpose

The purpose of H.R. 5138, the International Megan's Law of
2010 (the ``Act''), is to protect children from registered
child sex offenders who pose a high risk of sexually exploiting
children while traveling or residing overseas. The Act consists
of two major components: (1) the establishment of a system for
providing advance notice to foreign government officials when a
child sex offender who poses a high risk to children is
traveling to their country; and (2) the establishment of a
registration requirement for child sex offenders from the
United States who reside abroad. The Act also provides
discretionary authority to the Secretary of State to revoke or
limit the validity of passports of dangerous child sex
offenders, a sense of Congress that foreign governments should
notify the United States when a U.S. citizen has committed a
sex offense against a minor overseas, and a mandate for a
special report to Congress on international mechanisms to
protect children everywhere from traveling sex offenders.

Background and Need for the Legislation

H.R. 5138, the International Megan's Law, is a bipartisan
effort to combat the growing problem of the sexual exploitation
of children by known sex offenders who travel internationally.
This legislation also is the product of negotiations between
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on the
Judiciary.
The Act is titled in memory of Megan Nicole Kanka, who was
sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in 1994 by a convicted
child sex predator who lived across the street from her New
Jersey home. Megan was only 7 years old at the time. The
publicity that resulted from this horrific occurrence and the
consequent public outcry led to the passage of both state
Megan's laws and a Federal Megan's law and the establishment of
sex offender registries throughout the United States.
ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child
Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), a
network of organizations and individuals who combat the
commercial sexual exploitation of children, identify child sex
tourism as a growing trend around the world. ECPAT defines
child sex tourism as ``the sexual exploitation of children by a
person or persons who travel from their home district, home
geographical region, or home country in order to have sexual
contact with children.'' The Protection Project of The Johns
Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies has conducted research that indicates
that sex tourists from the United States who target children
form a significant percentage of child sex tourists in some of
the most significant destination countries for child sex
tourism.
Officials from the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain and
other countries have expressed interest in working with the
United States Government for increased international
cooperation to protect children from sexual exploitation, and
are calling for formal arrangements to ensure that the risk
posed by certain child sex offenders is combated most
effectively. With regard to sex offenders traveling
internationally, the United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Agency (ICE) and other Federal law enforcement
agencies currently are sharing information with law enforcement
entities in some other countries, on an ad hoc basis. The
technology to detect travel by child sex offenders and to
notify foreign governments is available, but a legal structure
is needed to systematize and coordinate these detection and
notification efforts.
The International Megan's Law establishes the legal
structure to detect and notice international travel by known
child sex offenders in the United States who pose a high risk
of committing a sex offense against a minor in the destination
country. It also establishes a child sex offender registry at
U.S. diplomatic missions for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent
residents residing abroad, and gives the Secretary of State the
discretionary authority to revoke the passport of an individual
who has been convicted overseas of a sex offense against a
minor or to limit the period of validity of a passport issued
to a high interest registered sex offender.
The Act strongly encourages notification by foreign
governments of known child sex offenders traveling to the
United States, and allows assistance to enable foreign
governments to establish systems to provide such notice. It
further amends the minimum standards for the elimination of
human trafficking in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (22
U.S.C. 7106(b)(4)) by clarifying that countries are expected to
cooperate with other governments in the investigation and
prosecution of suspected human trafficking of minors by
nationals of that country. Finally, the Act calls for a special
report to congress on international mechanisms to identify and
provide notice of travel by child sex offenders, including
child sex offenders attempting to enter the United States.
In order to identify and notice travel by high interest
registered child sex offenders, the Act mandates that any
registered sex offender who was convicted of a felony sex
offense against a minor provide advance notice of his or her
intent to travel outside the United States to the jurisdiction
where he or she is registered. The travel notice will be
forwarded to an International Sex Offender Travel Center (the
``Center''), headed by the United States Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency which, in coordination with other
designated departments and agencies, will make a determination,
based on established guidelines, as to whether the sex offender
poses a high risk of committing a sex offense against a minor
in the country of destination.
If the determination is made that the individual is a high
interest registered sex offender, this Act gives the Center the
ability to notify the country of destination of such
determination and of details about the intended travel. The sex
offender will be informed as to whether the destination country
is being notified of his or her travel and provided an
opportunity to appeal the Center's determination no later than
seven days prior to the date of travel. The Act is not intended
to prevent anyone from traveling for legitimate purposes, but
instead is a way to track the travel of certain sex offenders,
namely those who pose a high risk of sexually exploiting
children in the destination country.
The Act also mandates the establishment of sex offender
registries at U.S. diplomatic missions for U.S. child sex
offenders who remain in a foreign country for more than 30
consecutive days or for more than 30 days within a 6-month
period. Such sex offenders will be required to register for
such time period as they would have had to register in the
United States pursuant to the law of the jurisdiction in which
they were convicted. This foreign registration system is for
the purpose of enabling U.S. law enforcement to track the
location of child sex offenders and to better ascertain if and
when they reenter the United States. The Act also allows the
official in charge of the individual registry, in his or her
sole discretion, to respond to inquiries from entities in that
country as to whether a child sex offender seeking to work for
such entity who will have direct access to children is listed
on the registry. Sexual predators often seek employment or
volunteer opportunities in foreign countries, particularly at
schools and orphanages that will give them access to children.
Possible access to information on a local sex offender registry
will help to assure potential employers that an applicant from
the United States does not have a prior child sex offense in
this country.
The Committee has been informed that the Department of
Justice and INTERPOL, in cooperation with other agencies within
the Administration, currently are undertaking, or considering
how to undertake, certain measures related to activities
included in this Act. However, for several reasons, the
Committee considers the enactment of this Act to be necessary
despite those measures. After extensive research and
investigation, the Committee finds that the best approach to
combat the growing problem of child sex tourism is by
performing a careful, individualized evaluation of the sex
offender and the circumstances surrounding his or her travel.
Such an assessment, based on the totality of the circumstances
as is required by this Act, is the most helpful to our own law
enforcement, as well as to nations seeking to protect children
from child sex predators.
The measures being undertaken by the Administration only
partially address the purpose and goals of this Act. To the
extent the measures being considered or undertaken reflect
activities called for in this Act, the Committee questions the
measures' efficacy based on the Committee's knowledge of ICE's
current activities in this area, the relevant situation in
foreign countries, and related exchanges that have taken place
between the Committee, foreign government officials, and non-
governmental organizations. It is also concerning that the
Administration's consideration and implementation of these
measures is occurring at a slow pace. Finally, Congress has
little formal oversight of those measures, and even the
information that the Committee has obtained was only acquired
after considerable and repeated efforts by the Committee.

Hearings

The Committee did not hold hearings directly related to the
subject of the Act.

Committee Consideration

The Committee marked up H.R. 5138 on April 28, 2010, and
favorably reported the Act to the House by voice vote, a quorum
being present.

Votes of the Commitee

There were no recorded votes during consideration of H.R.
5138.

Committee Oversight Findings

In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee reports that the
findings and recommendations of the Committee, based on
oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the
Rules of the House of Representatives, are incorporated in the
descriptive portions of this report.

New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures

In compliance with Clause 3(c)(2) of House Rule XIII, the
Committee adopts as its own the estimate of new budget
authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or
revenues contained in the cost estimate prepared by the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office, pursuant to
section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

In compliance with clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee sets forth, with
respect to the Act, H.R. 5138, the following estimate and
comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974:

U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, July 21, 2010.
Hon. Howard L. Berman, Chairman,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 5138, the
International Megan's Law of 2010.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Sunita
D'Monte and Grete Willis.
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Elmendorf.
Enclosure.

cc:
Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ranking Member
H.R. 5138--International Megan's Law of 2010.

SUMMARY

H.R. 5138 would require a person convicted of a sex offense
against a minor to notify the jurisdiction in which he or she
is registered as a sex offender before traveling to or from the
United States. The bill would require that a United States
diplomatic or consular mission in each foreign country maintain
a registry of sex offenders. The bill also would establish the
International Sex Offender Travel Center to set guidelines for
international travel by such sex offenders and coordinate
federal and state efforts to record and monitor such travel.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5138 would cost $252
million over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of
the necessary amounts.
Enacting the bill would affect direct spending and
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would apply to
the legislation. CBO estimates that any such effects would not
be significant.
H.R. 5138 contains intergovernmental mandates as defined in
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by requiring state,
local, and tribal governments to collect travel information and
fees from registered sex offenders and provide information to
federal officials. CBO estimates that the cost of those
intergovernmental mandates would fall below the annual
threshold established in UMRA ($70 million for fiscal year
2010, adjusted annually for inflation).
The bill also would impose private-sector mandates, as
defined in UMRA, on individuals who have been convicted of
certain sex offenses, but CBO estimates that the aggregate
direct costs of those mandates would fall well below the annual
threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($141
million in 2010, adjusted annually for inflation).

ESTIMATED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The estimated budgetary impact of H.R. 5138 is shown in the
following table. The costs of this legislation fall within
budget functions 150 (international affairs) and 750
(administration of justice).

By Fiscal Year, in Millions of Dollars
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Fiscal Year, in Millions of Dollars
-------------------------------------------------------
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2011-2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION\1\
International Monitoring of Sex Offenders 0 39 57 75 87 258
Estimated Authorization Level
Estimated Outlays 0 25 45 65 79 214

International Sex Offender Travel Center 6 8 8 8 9 39
Estimated Authorization Level
Estimated Outlays 5 8 8 8 9 38

Total Changes 6 47 65 83 96 297
Estimated Authorization Level
Estimated Outlays 5 33 53 73 88 252
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\H.R. 5138 also would affect direct spending and revenues, but CBO estimates that those changes would each be
less than $500,000 a year for all years.

BASIS OF ESTIMATE

For this estimate, CBO assumes that the bill will be
enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2011, but that most
of the provisions will be implemented beginning in 2012. CBO
further assumes that the necessary amounts will be appropriated
each year, and that outlays will follow historical spending
patterns for similar and existing programs.
Spending Subject to Appropriation
The bill contains provisions that would affect spending on
personnel by the Departments of State and Homeland Security. In
total, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $252
million over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of
the necessary amounts.
International Monitoring of Sex Offenders. Section 5 would
require a United States diplomatic or consular mission in each
foreign country to maintain a registry of certain citizens or
legal residents of the United States traveling or living in
that country who have been convicted of sex offenses against
minors. The diplomatic or consular mission would be required to
collect information about sex offenders and transmit all
notifications regarding their travel plans to the International
Sex Offender Travel Center. It also would require the mission
to keep the registry current and share the information with
other United States missions in the country, as well as certain
local employers.
Based on information from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), CBO expects that in most years about 10,000
sex offenders covered by the bill would travel internationally.
According to the Department of State, the United States has a
diplomatic presence in 173 countries. Based on the number of
visitors from the United States and the magnitude of the child
sex tourism industry in each country, CBO estimates that United
States missions in the majority of countries would require less
than one new full-time position to maintain the registry.
According to research by the Protection Project of the Johns
Hopkins University, countries in Southeast Asia and Central and
South America have experienced the highest levels of child sex
tourism originating in the United States. CBO estimates that
missions in those countries and countries that have large
numbers of visitors from the United States would require at
least one new full-time position to maintain the registry.
CBO estimates that about 75 new personnel would be hired in
2012 at a cost of $24 million, gradually increasing to about
150 personnel by 2015 at a cost of $78 million annually. Those
costs would include salaries, benefits, travel, training, and
overhead. Based on information from the Department of Justice
on existing registries of sex offenders maintained
domestically, CBO estimates that the cost to establish and
maintain the overseas registries would be an additional $1
million each year. In total, after adjusting for inflation, CBO
estimates that implementing this section would cost $214
million over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of
the estimated amounts.
International Sex Offender Travel Center. Section 6 would
establish the International Sex Offender Travel Center within
ICE. The center would receive and record notifications from
states and other jurisdictions of international travel by sex
offenders and would provide sex offenders with written
confirmation of receipt of travel reports. The center would
establish a system to monitor sex offenders who regularly
travel to Mexico or Canada. In addition, this new office would
provide any necessary training to jurisdictions, respond to
inquiries from sex offenders, and share information as
appropriate with the Departments of State and Justice.
Considering the number of sex offenders who travel
internationally, CBO expects that the agency would need to hire
40 to 50 persons to carry out the responsibilities of the
International Sex Offender Travel Center, which ICE anticipates
would be staffed at all times. Once fully phased in, and
subject to appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO
estimates that the costs of additional employees would reach $8
million annually, including salaries, benefits, computer
systems, and support costs. For this estimate, we assume that
the new positions would be fully staffed by fiscal year 2012
and that costs would increase annually with inflation.
Revenues and Direct Spending
H.R. 5138 would affect revenues and direct spending through
fees charged to registrants and the collection of criminal
fines. CBO estimates, however, that any such effects would not
be significant.
Fees Charged to Sex Offenders. Section 4 would authorize
jurisdictions to collect fees of up to $25 from sex offenders
who provide notice of international travel. This fee would be
shared with ICE. Assuming that about 10,000 sex offenders would
travel each year, CBO estimates that fee collections would
total less than $500,000 each year. Those amounts would be
spent mostly in the same year, so there would be no significant
net effect on direct spending.
Criminal Penalties. Section 4 also would establish criminal
penalties for sex offenders who violate the bill's provisions;
therefore, the federal government might collect more fines if
the bill was enacted. Criminal fines are recorded as revenues,
deposited in the Crime Victims Fund, and later spent. CBO
estimates that any net effects would not be significant in any
year because of the small number of cases likely to be
affected.

PAY-AS-YOU-GO CONSIDERATIONS

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget
reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting
direct spending or revenues. The net changes in outlays and
revenues that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are
shown in the following table.

CBO Estimate of Pay-As-You-Go Effects for H.R. 5138 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 28, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Fiscal Year, in Millions of Dollars
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2010-2015 2010-2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NET INCREASE OR DECREASE (-) IN THE DEFICIT
Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Impact 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: H.R. 5138 would authorize jurisdictions to collect fees from sex offenders who provide notice of international travel and would impose new
criminal penalties on certain sex offenders. CBO expects those penalties and fees would total less than $500,000 each year and would be spent in the
same year in which they are collected. CBO estimates the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 5138 would not be significant over the 2010-2015
period or the 2010-2020 period.

ESTIMATED IMPACT ON STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS

H.R. 5138 contains intergovernmental mandates as defined in
UMRA by requiring state, local, and tribal governments to
collect travel information and fees from registered sex
offenders and provide information to federal officials. Because
jurisdictions are currently collecting most of the required
information and the number of sex offenders that would have to
provide additional travel information is relatively small, CBO
estimates that the cost of the intergovernmental mandates would
fall well below the annual threshold established in UMRA ($70
million for fiscal year 2010, adjusted annually for inflation).
In addition, those jurisdictions would benefit from some of the
fees authorized in the bill to process the information.

ESTIMATED IMPACT ON THE PRIVATE SECTOR

H.R. 5138 would impose private-sector mandates, as defined
in UMRA, on individuals convicted of a sex offense, either in
the United States or abroad. The bill would marginally expand
existing reporting requirements for registered sex offenders by
requiring them to file a notice of intent to travel into or out
of the United States with the appropriate jurisdictions no
later than 30 days before their departure or arrival. Upon
notification of intent to travel, sex offenders also would have
to pay a nominal processing fee to be collected by officials in
the jurisdiction in which they file.
Because the cost of filing would be low and the change in
reporting requirements would be small, CBO estimates that the
aggregate cost of the mandates would fall well below the annual
threshold for private-sector mandates ($141 million in 2010,
adjusted annually for inflation).

ESTIMATE PREPARED BY:

Federal Costs: Department of State--Sunita D'Monte and Grete
Willis; Department of Homeland Security and Criminal
Penalties--Mark Grabowicz
Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Burke Doherty
and Melissa Merrell
Impact on the Private Sector: Marin Randall

ESTIMATE APPROVED BY:

Theresa Gullo
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis

Performance Goals and Objectives

H.R. 5138, the International Megan's Law of 2010 is
intended to protect children from registered child sex
offenders who pose a high risk of sexually exploiting children
while traveling or residing overseas. The Act provides notice
of travel by high interest registered sex offenders to the
government of the destination country, establishes registries
at U.S. diplomatic missions for U.S. child sex offenders
residing overseas, and requests foreign governments to notify
the United States when a known child sex offender is seeking to
enter the United States.

Constitutional Authority Statement

Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee finds the authority for
this legislation in article I, section 8 of the Constitution.

New Advisory Committees

H.R. 5138 does not establish or authorize any new advisory
committees.

Congressional Accountability Act

H.R. 5138 does not apply to the Legislative Branch.

Earmark Identification

H.R. 5138 does not contain any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9(d), 9(e), or 9(f) of rule XXI.

Section-by-Section Analysis and Discussion

Section 1. Short Title and Table of Contents.
This section provides that the Act may be cited as the
``International Megan's Law of 2010,'' and includes the table
of contents.
Section 2. Findings and Declaration of Purposes.
This section articulates the findings that frame the
purpose of the Act, which is to protect children from sexual
exploitation by preventing or monitoring the international
travel of sex traffickers and other sex offenders who pose a
high risk of committing a sex offense against a minor in a
country to which the sex offender intends to travel.
This section finds that in 1994, 7-year-old Megan Kanka was
sexually assaulted and killed by a sex offender. As a result of
the ensuing public outcry, Megan's Law was enacted by Congress
in 1996 to encourage States to protect children by identifying
the whereabouts of sex offenders and providing the means to
monitor their activities. The sexual exploitation of minors,
including child sex tourism is a global phenomenon. Most
victims of sex offenders are minors. Commercial sexual
exploitation can result in serious lifelong consequences on the
child. Media reports indicate that known sex offenders are
traveling internationally. A system to prevent such crimes
against children would safeguard vulnerable populations and
reduce the cost burden of addressing such crimes after they are
committed. Foreign governments need to be encouraged to notify
the U.S. when a known sex offender is entering our borders.
This section also lists many of the reasons child sex
tourists travel overseas to commit sexual offenses against
minors and states that individuals arrested overseas for
sexually exploiting children have used long-term passports to
escape to a third country where they have continued to exploit
children. The section further states the importance of U.S. law
enforcement being able to identify high risk child sex
offenders who are leaving or entering the United States, the
need for the cooperation of other governments, and the
willingness of some governments already to help to achieve this
end, and the need for a legal structure and additional
resources to systematize and coordinate current ad hoc efforts
by law enforcement entities.
This section emphasizes that the United States, with its
international law enforcement relations, technological and
communications capability, and established state sex offender
registry systems, should now take the opportunity to lead the
nations of the world in the effort to save thousands of
potential child victims by notifying other countries of travel
by sex offenders who pose a high risk of exploiting children,
maintaining information about sex offenders from the United
States who reside overseas, and strongly encouraging other
countries to undertake the same measures to protect children
around the world.
This section states that the purpose of this Act is to
protect children from sexual exploitation by preventing or
monitoring the international travel of sex traffickers and
other sex offenders who pose a risk of committing a sex offense
against a minor while traveling by: establishing a system in
the United States to notify the appropriate officials of other
countries when a sex offender who is identified as a high
interest registered sex offender intends to travel to their
country; strongly encouraging and assisting foreign governments
to establish a sex offender travel notification system and to
inform United States authorities when a sex offender intends to
travel or has departed on travel to the United States;
establishing and maintaining non-public sex offender registries
in United States diplomatic and consular missions in order to
maintain critical data on United States citizen and lawful
permanent resident sex offenders who are residing abroad;
providing the Secretary of State with the discretion to revoke
the passport or passport card of an individual who has been
convicted overseas for a sex offense against a minor, or limit
the period of validity of a passport or passport card issued to
a high risk sex offender against a minor; including whether a
country is investigating and prosecuting its nationals
suspected of engaging in severe forms of trafficking in persons
abroad in the minimum standards for the elimination of human
trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000; and mandating a report from the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Attorney General, about the status of
international notifications between governments about child sex
offender travel.
An additional purpose is to allow assistance to foreign
countries to establish systems to identify and provide notice
of international travel by sex offenders against minors. The
Committee anticipates that such assistance will be part of
ongoing related activities conducted by the Department of
Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Department
of State with foreign governments and civil society.
Section 3. Definitions.
This section defines terms for use in the Act.
A jurisdiction is defined as a State, the District of
Columbia, U.S. territories, federally recognized Indian tribes
that maintain a sex offender registry, or a U.S. diplomatic or
consular mission that maintains a sex offender registry.
The use of the word ``convicted'' or a variant thereof,
used with respect to a sex offense of a minor, does not
include: adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for that offense;
or convicted as an adult for that offense, unless the offense
took place after the offender had attained the age of 14 years
and the conduct upon which the conviction took place was
comparable to or more severe than aggravated sexual abuse, or
was an attempt or conspiracy to commit such an offense.
A high interest registered sex offender (``HIRSO'') is a
sex offender who the International Sex Offender Travel Center
(the ``Center''), pursuant to the Center Sex Offender Travel
Guidelines, and based on the totality of the circumstances, has
a reasonable belief presents a high risk of committing a sex
offense against a minor in a country to which the sex offender
intends to travel.
A minor is defined as an individual who has not attained
the age of 18 years.
A sex offender is defined as a United States citizen or
lawful permanent resident who is convicted of a sex offense
against a minor, including a conviction by a foreign court, if
it meets certain safeguards, and who is legally required to
register with a jurisdiction.
A sex offense is defined as a criminal offense against a
minor, including any Federal offense, that is punishable by
statute by more than one year of imprisonment and involves any
of the following: solicitation to engage in sexual conduct; use
in a sexual performance; solicitation to practice prostitution
(whether for financial or other forms of remuneration); video
voyeurism as described in section 1801 of title 18, United
States Code; possession, production, or distribution of child
pornography; criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, or the
use of the Internet to facilitate or attempt such conduct;
conduct that would violate section 1591 (relating to sex
trafficking of children or by force, fraud or coercion) of
title 18, United States Code, if the conduct involved
interstate or foreign commerce and where the person recruited,
enticed, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained had not
attained the age of 18 years at the time of the conduct; or any
other conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against a
minor. The term ``sex offender'' does not include someone
convicted of a foreign conviction if it was not obtained with
sufficient safeguards for fundamental fairness and due process
for the accused. There is a rebuttable presumption that a
conviction was so obtained if it complies with the guidelines
or regulations established under section 112 of the Sex
Offender Registration and Notification Act. The term ``sex
offender'' does not include an offense involving consensual
sexual conduct if the victim was at least 13 years old and the
offender was not more than 4 years older than the victim.
Section 4. Sex Offender Travel Reporting Requirement.
Subsection 4(a) establishes the requirement that a sex
offender must report to a jurisdiction where he or she is
registered before leaving from or arriving into the United
States. The sex offender must report no later than 30 days
before the date of travel. In individual cases in which the
Center determines that a personal or humanitarian emergency,
business exigency, or other situation renders the 30-day
deadline impracticable or impossible, then the notice must be
given as early as possible. The jurisdiction notified is to in
turn notify the Center within 24 hours or the next business
day, whichever is later. This reporting requirement takes
effect 425 days after the Act is enacted or after a sex
offender has been notified of the duty to report travel,
whichever is later, and terminates when the sex offender is no
longer required to register in any jurisdiction for a sex
offense. Not later than 395 days after the Act is enacted, the
Center must notify all jurisdictions of the requirement to
receive sex offender travel notifications and the means for
conveying such notices to the Center.
Given the important role of the jurisdictions in furthering
the purposes of this Act, the Committee expects that the Center
will consult with the jurisdictions or their representatives in
the development of the form of notice of the travel reporting
requirement that must be provided to the sex offender, the sex
offender travel report and the means of conveying such reports
from the jurisdiction to the Center.
Subsection 4(b) requires that the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), in coordination with the Attorney General and
the Secretary of State, establish rules, no later than one year
after the date of enactment, setting forth the procedures and
reporting information for the above reporting requirement. The
rules must provide appropriate transitional provisions, written
in consultation with the jurisdictions, in order to make the
phase-in of the Act's requirements practicable.
Subsection 4(b) includes a list of information that the sex
offender must provide in the travel report, including ``all e-
mail addresses.'' The Committee acknowledges that, while the
provision of e-mail addresses is important in the context of
furthering the purposes of this legislation, individuals
frequently add or change e-mail addresses, and someone may
inadvertently forget to list an e-mail address (for example,
one that has not been used for some time). It is not the intent
of the Committee to criminalize an inadvertent omission to list
an e-mail address that does not involve any other criminal
conduct. The Committee expects that prosecutorial discretion
will be used only to prosecute the omission of an e-mail
address when such omission was intentional for the purposes of
misleading or concealing information from law enforcement.
Pursuant to subsection 4(c), a sex offender may be charged
a fee of up to $25 when he or she reports the intent to travel
internationally. The fee can be increased no sooner than 30
days after consultation with Congress. It must be waived if the
sex offender shows that the fee would impose an undue financial
burden. The money collected from the fees can only be used for
the purposes of travel reporting and risk assessment process,
and must be shared ``equitably'' with the jurisdiction that
processes the report.
If a fee is charged, it is to be collected from the sex
offender by the jurisdiction at the time the report is filed.
The jurisdiction is to transmit the entire fee amount to the
Center. The Center should periodically assess such fee
collection, and return a reasonable percentage to the
jurisdiction.
The authorization for any fee collected pursuant to this
subsection 4(c) is intended by the Committee to further the
purposes of this Act by subsidizing the cost of processing sex
offender travel reports that will be incurred by both the
jurisdictions and the Center. The Committee recognizes that the
fee is unlikely to cover such costs completely. In determining
what portion of any such fee should be given to the
jurisdiction processing the travel report, the Center should
take into account the burden incurred by the jurisdiction in
processing the report (which may vary depending on the
jurisdiction's capacity in general and the number of reports it
must process during any given period of time) and the costs
incurred by the jurisdiction relative to those incurred by the
Center. Whether the revenues from the fee are ultimately
disbursed to the respective jurisdictions or the Center, the
Committee emphasizes that such revenues are to be utilized
exclusively to further the purposes of this Act.
Subsection 4(d) establishes a criminal penalty which may
consist of a fine or imprisonment up to 10 years, or both (the
same penalty as for failure to register domestically under the
National Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act
(SORNA)), for knowingly failing to report as required above or
to register with a U.S. diplomatic mission in the case of child
sex offenders living abroad. The penalty specifies that it
applies only after the sex offender has been notified of the
requirement to report or register. A defendant being prosecuted
for a violation of this provision would be entitled to the
affirmative defense--also provided in SORNA--that
uncontrollable circumstances prevented him or her from
complying; the individual did not contribute to the creation of
such circumstances in reckless disregard of the requirement to
report or register; and the individual complied as soon as such
circumstances ceased to exist.
A sex offender residing abroad at the time of the passage
of this Act is subject to the registration and travel reporting
requirement established by this Act only if and for such time
as the sex offender would be required to register in his or her
jurisdiction of conviction if he or she were residing in the
jurisdiction of conviction and after either: 1) he or she has
provided the signed form acknowledging notification of the
obligation to register and report travel in accordance with
section 4(e)(2) of the Act; or 2) a consular or other U.S.
Government official properly certifies that the sex offender
was duly informed of the requirements and refused to sign a
form acknowledging that such information had been provided.
Subsection 4(e) mandates that when an official is required
to notify a sex offender of a duty to register in a
jurisdiction, the official must also notify the sex offender of
the duty and procedure to report international travel,
including travel from a foreign country to the U.S., and to
register with a U.S. diplomatic mission in the case of foreign
residents. In the case of a foreign conviction, the U.S.
diplomatic or consular mission is responsible for notifying the
United States citizen or lawful permanent resident sex offender
of the travel reporting and registration requirements. In all
cases, the sex offender is required to sign an acknowledgment
of such notification, and the acknowledgment is to be
maintained by the jurisdiction in which the sex offender was
convicted.
With respect to providing notice to sex offenders of the
travel reporting and foreign registration requirements, it is
not the intent of the Committee to impose an undue burden on
the jurisdictions or to criminalize individuals who did not
receive notice of these requirements. The Committee understands
that there will be challenges in notifying sex offenders who
already are on state sex offender registries at the time this
Act is enacted. The Committee anticipates that such
notification will take place as these sex offenders are
required to appear in person within a one-year period before an
official of the jurisdiction to update their registry
information. Given that the jurisdictions have differing
procedures for the individual registry update, the legislation
itself does not mandate the means for providing notice to those
who are subject to the reporting requirement at the time the
legislation takes effect. It is expected that the Attorney
General will consult extensively with each jurisdiction to
determine the most effective and efficient means of providing
notice to this population.
Subsection 4(f) provides that within one year after the Act
is enacted, DHS must establish a system to identify and monitor
sex offenders who, for legitimate reasons, regularly transit
across the borders between the U.S. and Mexico, or between the
U.S. and Canada, and submit a report to Congress about such
system.
Section 5. Foreign Registration Requirement for Sex Offenders.
This section requires a U.S. diplomatic or consular mission
in each country to maintain a non-public registry for sex
offenders against minors from the U.S. residing in that
country. According to subsection 5(a), the foreign registries
must be established within 13 months after enactment of the
Act.
Pursuant to subsection 5(b), a U.S. child sex offender
residing in a foreign country for more than 30 consecutive days
or for more than 30 days within a 6-month period must register
at the U.S. diplomatic or consular mission in that country. The
registration requirement begins when the registry in that
country is established and the sex offender has been notified
of the registration requirement. The requirement applies as
long as the sex offender remains in the country, or until such
time has elapsed as the sex offender would have otherwise been
required to register in the state of conviction. In the case of
a foreign conviction, the sex offender must register for the
time period specified in the Sex Offender Registration and
Notification Act for the sex offense involved.
Subsection 5(d) specifies the information that must be
provided by the sex offender, the Attorney General, and the
diplomatic mission for the child sex offender registry
established under this section. The list of information that a
sex offender must provide under Subsection 5(d) includes ``all
e-mail addresses.'' The Committee acknowledges that, while the
provision of e-mail addresses is important in the context of
furthering the purposes of this legislation, individuals
frequently add or change e-mail addresses, and someone may
inadvertently forget to list an e-mail address (for example,
one that has not been used for some time). It is not the intent
of the Committee to criminalize an inadvertent omission to list
an e-mail address that does not involve any other criminal
conduct. The Committee expects that prosecutorial discretion
will be used only to prosecute the omission of an e-mail
address when such omission was intentional for the purposes of
misleading or concealing information from law enforcement.
With respect to information that must be obtained from a
jurisdiction to register a child sex offender at a diplomatic
or consular mission, the Committee expects that the Attorney
General will consult with the jurisdictions or their
representatives in developing the most appropriate and feasible
means for obtaining and transmitting such information from the
jurisdiction to the mission, given the important role of the
jurisdictions in furthering the purposes of this Act.
Pursuant to subsection 5(e), the child sex offender must
update the information on the registry every six months by
appearing at any diplomatic or consular mission in the country
of residence. If the mission is not the mission where the
registry is maintained, then the updated information must be
forwarded to the appropriate mission.
Subsection 5(f) requires that the U.S. diplomatic or
consular mission forward new or changed information on its sex
offender registry to the Attorney General for purposes of
updating the National Sex Offender Registry and informing
domestic law enforcement. The mission must forward new or
changed information to the Attorney General within 24 hours or
the next business day, whichever is later, and the Attorney
General must in turn transmit such information to the State of
legal residence or State of last known address. Subsection 5(g)
states that all domestic law enforcement must be given access
for official purposes to information on the sex offender
registries maintained by U.S. diplomatic missions.
Subsection 5(h) states that, in general, the information on
the registry maintained by a diplomatic mission is not to be
made available to the general public. However, an exception is
made for entities in the country of the diplomatic mission that
provide direct services to minors, that are official law
enforcement, or that are investigative entities affiliated with
official law enforcement for purposes of investigating a
possible sex offense against a minor. These entities, referred
to as ``eligible entities,'' may request information from the
U.S. official designated in the diplomatic mission to receive
such requests. The designated official, in consultation with
the head of mission, has the sole discretion as to whether and
to what extent to provide information about a particular sex
offender. If the designated official decides to release
information from the registry, they can do so only after
obtaining a written certification from the eligible entity that
the entity will provide access to the information only to
persons designated in the certificate, that the information
will be used only for employment or volunteer screening, or for
law enforcement purposes, and specified steps will be taken to
safeguard the confidentiality of the information. If the
eligible entity fails to comply with the certificate
provisions, it may be denied future access to information at
the discretion of the designated official. The employing agency
of the designated official may charge the eligible entity a
reasonable fee for providing information on the sex offender
registry. The diplomatic or consular mission that maintains a
sex offender registry should make a reasonable effort to notify
eligible entities within the country, particularly schools that
hire foreign teachers, of the possibility of obtaining
information on the registry, and the process for requesting
such information.
In making this exception for access to eligible entities
that provide direct services to minors, the Committee is taking
into account entities such as schools and other educational
facilities for minors, orphanages and day care centers.
According to information obtained by the Committee, child sex
predators seek employment or volunteer opportunities at such
entities in order to obtain access to children to sexually
exploit them. The purpose of this section is to provide these
entities with a means to verify that United States citizens and
lawful permanent residents who apply to work or volunteer at
such entities are not known child sex offenders.
Subsection 5(i) states that when a U.S. diplomatic or
consular mission determines that a U.S. sex offender has failed
to comply with the registration requirement of this section,
the mission must notify the Attorney General and revise the sex
offender registry to reflect the nature of such failure.
Subsection 5(j) amends the Sex Offender Registration and
Notification Act (SORNA) so that the Attorney General may use
the resources of Federal law enforcement, including the U.S.
Marshals Service, to assist in locating and apprehending sex
offenders who violate the registration requirements of this
section.
Section 6. International Sex Offender Travel Center.
This section establishes the International Sex Offender
Travel Center that is responsible for making high interest
registered sex offender determinations and for notifying
destination countries of travel by such individuals, when
appropriate.
Subsection 6(a) requires that the President establish the
Center within 90 days of the enactment of the Act.
Subsections 6(b) and (c) state that the Center is to be
headed by ICE, and is to include relevant officials from the
Department of Homeland Security, Department of State,
Department of Justice, and other officials as determined by the
President.
Subsection 6(d) lists the activities of the Center, which
are: to cooperate with jurisdictions to implement the means for
transmitting travel reports from that jurisdiction to the
Center; to offer to provide training to officials within the
jurisdictions who will be responsible for implementing any
aspect of the travel reporting system prior to its
implementation; to establish a means to process inquiries from
sex offenders as to whether they are required to report
international travel pursuant to this Act; to conduct
assessments of sex offender travel pursuant to section 7; to
establish a panel to review and respond within one week to
appeals from sex offenders determined to be high interest
registered sex offenders; to transmit notice of international
travel of high interest registered sex offenders to the
Secretary of State, with an advisory as to whether the period
of validity of the sex offender's passport should be limited to
one year or such period as the Secretary determines to be
appropriate; to establish a system to maintain and archive all
relevant information related to the sex offender travel
assessments and high interest registered sex offender appeals;
to establish an annual review process to ensure that the Center
Sex Offender Travel Guidelines are being consistently and
appropriately implemented; and, to establish a means to
identify sex offenders who travel without notice as required by
section 4. The panel that is established to review
determinations that an individual is a high interest registered
sex offender is to consist of individuals from the Department
of Justice, Department of State, and the Department of Homeland
Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Pursuant to subsection 6(e), the Center, in its sole
discretion, may transmit notice of impending or current
international travel of high interest registered sex offenders
to the countries of destination. Such transmission can take
place only after the completion of any appeal requested by the
high interest registered sex offender determination. If the
Center has reason to believe that transmission of the notice
poses a risk to the life or well-being of the high interest
registered sex offender, then the Center must make every
reasonable effort to warn the sex offender of such risk in the
travel report receipt confirmation provided to the sex offender
pursuant to section 7(c)(2) (see discussion below) before
transmitting the notice to the destination country.
Subsection 6(f) requires that the Center consult with: the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, ECPAT-USA,
World Vision, and other relevant non-governmental
organizations; the governments of countries interested in
cooperating in the creation of an international sex offender
travel notification system, or that are primary destination or
source countries for international sex tourism; and, Internet
service providers regarding available and potential technology
to facilitate the implementation of an international sex
offender travel notification system.
Subsection 6(g) authorizes DHS and the State Department to
provide technical assistance to foreign authorities to assist
in the establishment of the notification system established
under this section.
Section 7. Center Sex Offender Travel Guidelines.
Subsection 7(a) requires that the Center issue the Center
Sex Offender Travel Guidelines for the assessment of child sex
offenders who report their intention to travel internationally
or who are reported by law enforcement for purposes of
determining whether such sex offenders are ``high interest
registered sex offenders.'' The Committee expects that the
Center will consult an array of relevant experts from multiple
disciplines in the development of these guidelines, including
psychologists with significant experience working with or
studying the behavior of sex offenders against minors.
Subsection 7(b) provides that domestic law enforcement
entities or officials who have reasonable grounds to believe
that a sex offender is traveling outside the U.S. and may
engage in a sex offense against a minor may notify the Center.
No later than 425 days after the Act's enactment, the Center is
to notify all known domestic law enforcement of the possibility
of conveying such information to the Center.
Subsection 7(c) states that no later than 7 days prior to
the child sex offender's departure date, the Center must
provide the sex offender with written confirmation of receipt
of the travel report. The written communication must advise the
sex offender: that he/she should have the communication in his/
her possession when he/she departs from and arrives in the
United States; that the communication shows compliance with the
travel reporting requirement if travel is commenced and
completed within seven days before or after the date of travel
indicated in the travel report; on the procedure that the sex
offender may follow if he/she encounters an emergency or other
unforeseen circumstance that prevents him/her from traveling
within seven days of the dates specified in the travel report
and he/she needs to change the travel period indicated in the
travel report; and of the requirement to register with a U.S.
embassy or consulate pursuant to section 5 if the sex offender
remains in a foreign country for more than 30 days.
The same subsection stipulates that if the child sex
offender is traveling from the United States, the written
communication must indicate either that the destination country
is not being notified of the sex offender's travel, or that the
destination country is being notified that the sex offender is
a high interest registered sex offender and intends to travel
to such country. If notice is being given to the destination
country, the child sex offender must be informed that a review
by an appeals panel of this determination is available together
with an explanation of the process for requesting such review.
In the latter case, if the Center has reason to believe that
transmission of the notice poses a risk to the life or well-
being of the high interest registered sex offender, then a
warning of such risk must also be included in the written
communication.
Pursuant to subsection 7(d), the Center must submit a
report containing the Guidelines to Congress in a manner
consistent with the protection of law enforcement-sensitive
information when the Guidelines are issued.
Section 8. Authority to Restrict Passports.
Section 8 authorizes the Secretary of State to revoke the
passport or passport card of an individual convicted in a
foreign country of a sex offense until the individual returns
to the U.S. and is determined eligible for the reissuance of
the passport or passport card. This section also authorizes the
Secretary of State to limit to one year or such period of time
as the Secretary determines appropriate, the passport or
passport card of a high interest registered sex offender.
However, in no case shall a United States citizen be precluded
from entering the United States. The Secretary of State may,
prior to revocation, limit a previously issued passport only
for return to the United States, or may issue a limited
passport that only permits return travel to the United States.
Section 9. Immunity for Good Faith Conduct.
This section grants immunity to the Federal Government,
jurisdictions, political subdivisions of jurisdictions and
their employees for good faith conduct under this Act.
Section 10. Sense of Congress Provisions.
Section 10 encourages the President to negotiate bilateral
agreements with foreign governments to further the purposes of
the Act, including by: establishing systems to receive and
transmit sex offender travel notices; requiring Internet
service providers and other private companies located in
foreign countries to report evidence of child exploitation;
and, establishing mechanisms for private companies and NGOs to
report voluntarily suspected child pornography or exploitation
to foreign governments or, in cases involving U.S. citizens,
the nearest U.S. embassy.
To better protect children from sexual exploitation, this
section also urges the President to strongly encourage those
countries with an age of consent to sexual activity below the
age of 16 to raise the age of consent to sexual activity to at
least the age of 16, and those countries that do not
criminalize the appearance of persons below the age of 18 in
pornography or the engagement of persons below the age of 18 in
commercial sex transactions to prohibit such activity.
This section further encourages the President to formally
request foreign governments to notify the U.S. when a U.S.
citizen has been arrested, convicted, sentenced or completed a
prison sentence for a sex offense against a minor in that
country.
Section 11. Enhancing the Minimum Standards for the Elimination of
Trafficking.
Section 11 would amend the minimum standards (section
108(b)) in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by
adding the following language to subsection (4): ``(b)
Criteria.--In determinations under subsection (a)(4) (whether a
government is making serious and sustained efforts to eliminate
severe forms of trafficking in persons), the following factors
should be considered as indicia of serious and sustained
efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons: .
. . (4) whether the government of the country cooperates with
other governments in the investigation and prosecution of
severe forms of trafficking in persons, including cases
involving nationals of that country who are suspected of
engaging in severe forms of trafficking of persons in another
country.'' ``Severe forms of trafficking of persons'' is
defined in the TVPA as including sex trafficking in which the
person induced to perform a commercial sex act has not attained
18 years of age.
It has been reported that nationals from countries
currently designated as Tier 1 in the State Department's
Trafficking in Persons report are escaping investigation and
prosecution for the trafficking of minors in other countries
because their own governments either are not cooperating in
their criminal investigation or may even be complicit in
assisting them to escape from the country where the crime was
allegedly committed. If the reports are true, such failure or
cooperation is inconsistent with a Tier 1 ranking, and must be
given considerable weight in the tier ranking determinations.
Section 12. Special Report on International Mechanisms Related to
Traveling Child Sex Offenders.
Section 12 requires that not later than one year after the
date of enactment of the Act, the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Attorney General, provide Congress with a
report containing the following information, to the extent such
information is available from the government concerned or from
other reliable sources: a list of countries that have or could
easily acquire the technological capacity to identify child sex
offenders who reside within the country; a list of those
countries that utilize electronic means to identify and track
the current status of such child sex offenders, and a summary
of any additional information maintained by the government with
respect to sex offenders;
This section also requires that the report list those
countries that currently provide, or may be willing to provide,
information about a child sex offender who is traveling
internationally to the destination country. With respect to
those countries that currently notify destination countries
that a child sex offender is traveling to that country, the
report must indicate: the manner in which such notice is
transmitted; how many notices are transmitted on average each
year, and to which countries; whether the child sex offenders
whose travel was so noticed were denied entry to the
destination country on the basis of such notice; details as to
how frequently and on what basis notice is provided, such as
routinely pursuant to a legal mandate, or by individual law
enforcement personnel on a case-by-case basis; how child sex
offenders are defined for purpose of providing notice of travel
by such individuals; and, what international cooperation or
mechanisms currently are unavailable and would make the
transmission of such notifications more efficacious in terms of
protecting children. With respect to those countries that are
willing but currently do not provide such information, the
report must state the reason why destination countries are not
notified.
Section 12 further requires a list of those countries that
have an established mechanism to receive reports of sex
offenders intending to travel from other countries to that
country, together with a description of the mechanism; the
number of reports of arriving sex offenders received in each of
the past 5 years; and, what international cooperation or
mechanisms currently are unavailable and would make the receipt
of such notifications more efficacious in terms of protecting
children.
Finally, this section mandates that the report list those
countries that do not provide information about a sex offender
who is traveling internationally to the destination country,
and the reasons for such failure. If the failure is due to a
legal prohibition within the country, then the report must
explain the nature of the legal prohibition and the reason for
such prohibition.
Section 13. Assistance to Foreign Countries to Meet Minimum Standards
for the Elimination of Trafficking.
Section 13 strongly encourages the President to provide
assistance to foreign countries for the purpose of establishing
a system to identify sex offenders and provide and receive
notification of child sex offender international travel.
Section 14. Congressional Reports.
Section 14 requires that the President report to Congress
initially on certain aspects of this Act and then annually on
numerous other aspects, so that Congress can monitor closely
the implementation of the International Megan's Law.
Section 15. Authorization of Appropriations.
Section 15 authorizes ``such sums as may be necessary'' for
FY 2011-2015 for implementation of this Act.

Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is
printed in italics and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):

TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE

* * * * * * *

PART I--CRIMES

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 109B--SEX OFFENDER AND CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN REGISTRY

Sec
2250. Failure to register or report international travel.

Sec. 2250. Failure to register or report international travel

(a) * * *
(b) Affirmative Defense.--In a prosecution for a violation
under subsection (a) or (d), it is an affirmative defense
that--
(1) * * *

* * * * * * *

(c) Crime of Violence.--
(1) In general.--An individual described in
subsection (a) or (d) who commits a crime of violence
under Federal law (including the Uniform Code of
Military Justice), the law of the District of Columbia,
Indian tribal law, or the law of any territory or
possession of the United States shall be imprisoned for
not less than 5 years and not more than 30 years.
(2) Additional punishment.--The punishment provided
in paragraph (1) shall be in addition and consecutive
to the punishment provided for the violation described
in subsection (a) or (d).
(d) Whoever knowingly fails to register with United States
officials in a foreign country or to report his or her travel
to or from a foreign country, as required by the International
Megan's Law of 2010, after being duly notified of the
requirements shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than 10 years, or both.

* * * * * * *

----------

SECTION 142 OF THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION ACT

SEC. 142. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE WITH RESPECT TO VIOLATIONS OF REGISTRATION
REQUIREMENTS.

(a) In General.--The Attorney General shall use the resources
of Federal law enforcement, including the United States
Marshals Service, to assist jurisdictions in locating and
apprehending sex offenders who violate sex offender
registration requirements, including under the International
Megan's Law of 2010. For the purposes of section 566(e)(1)(B)
of title 28, United States Code, a sex offender who violates a
sex offender registration requirement shall be deemed a
fugitive.

* * * * * * *

----------

SECTION 108 OF THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT OF 2000

SEC. 108. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF TRAFFICKING.

(a) * * *
(b) Criteria.--In determinations under subsection (a)(4), the
following factors should be considered as indicia of serious
and sustained efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking
in persons:
(1) * * *

* * * * * * *

(4) Whether the government of the country cooperates
with other governments in the investigation and
prosecution of severe forms of trafficking in persons,
including cases involving nationals of that country who
are suspected of engaging in severe forms of
trafficking of persons in another country.

* * * * * * *