[108th Congress Public Law 275]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


[DOCID: f:publ275.108]

[[Page 118 STAT. 831]]

Public Law 108-275
108th Congress

                                 An Act


 
   To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties for 
  aggravated identity theft, and for other purposes. <<NOTE: July 15, 
                         2004 -  [H.R. 1731]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Identity Theft 
Penalty Enhancement Act. 18 USC 1001 note.>> 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after section 1028, the following:

``Sec. 1028A. Aggravated identity theft

    ``(a) Offenses.--
            ``(1) In general.--Whoever, during and in relation to any 
        felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly 
        transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means 
        of identification of another person shall, in addition to the 
        punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of 
        imprisonment of 2 years.
            ``(2) Terrorism offense.--Whoever, during and in relation to 
        any felony violation enumerated in section 2332b(g)(5)(B), 
        knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful 
        authority, a means of identification of another person or a 
        false identification document shall, in addition to the 
        punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of 
        imprisonment of 5 years.

    ``(b) Consecutive Sentence.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law--
            ``(1) a court shall not place on probation any person 
        convicted of a violation of this section;
            ``(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no term of 
        imprisonment imposed on a person under this section shall run 
        concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the 
        person under any other provision of law, including any term of 
        imprisonment imposed for the felony during which the means of 
        identification was transferred, possessed, or used;
            ``(3) in determining any term of imprisonment to be imposed 
        for the felony during which the means of identification was 
        transferred, possessed, or used, a court shall not in any way 
        reduce the term to be imposed for such crime so as to compensate 
        for, or otherwise take into account, any separate term

[[Page 118 STAT. 832]]

        of imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a violation of this 
        section; and
            ``(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a person for a 
        violation of this section may, in the discretion of the court, 
        run concurrently, in whole or in part, only with another term of 
        imprisonment that is imposed by the court at the same time on 
        that person for an additional violation of this section, 
        provided that such discretion shall be exercised in accordance 
        with any applicable guidelines and policy statements issued by 
        the Sentencing Commission pursuant to section 994 of title 28.

    ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `felony 
violation enumerated in subsection (c)' means any offense that is a 
felony violation of--
            ``(1) section 641 (relating to theft of public money, 
        property, or rewards), section 656 (relating to theft, 
        embezzlement, or misapplication by bank officer or employee), or 
        section 664 (relating to theft from employee benefit plans);
            ``(2) section 911 (relating to false personation of 
        citizenship);
            ``(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false statements in 
        connection with the acquisition of a firearm);
            ``(4) any provision contained in this chapter (relating to 
        fraud and false statements), other than this section or section 
        1028(a)(7);
            ``(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (relating to 
        mail, bank, and wire fraud);
            ``(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (relating to 
        nationality and citizenship);
            ``(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (relating to 
        passports and visas);
            ``(8) section 523 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 
        6823) (relating to obtaining customer information by false 
        pretenses);
            ``(9) section 243 or 266 of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1253 and 1306) (relating to willfully failing to 
        leave the United States after deportation and creating a 
        counterfeit alien registration card);
            ``(10) any provision contained in chapter 8 of title II of 
        the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) 
        (relating to various immigration offenses); or
            ``(11) section 208, 811, 1107(b), 1128B(a), or 1632 of the 
        Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408, 1011, 1307(b), 1320a-7b(a), 
        and 1383a) (relating to false statements relating to programs 
        under the Act).''.

    (b) Amendment to Chapter Analysis.--The table of sections for 
chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 1028 the following new item:

``1028A. Aggravated identity theft.''.

    (c) Application of Definitions From Section 1028.--Section 1028(d) 
of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ``and section 
1028A'' after ``In this section''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PROHIBITION.

    Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(7)--

[[Page 118 STAT. 833]]

                    (A) by striking ``transfers'' and inserting 
                ``transfers, possesses,''; and
                    (B) by striking ``abet,'' and inserting ``abet, or 
                in connection with,'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ``transfer'' and 
        inserting ``transfer, possession,'';
            (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``three years'' and 
        inserting ``5 years''; and
            (4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ``facilitate'' 
        the following: ``an act of domestic terrorism (as defined under 
        section 2331(5) of this title) or''.

SEC. 4. AGGREGATION OF VALUE FOR PURPOSES OF SECTION 641.

    The penultimate paragraph of section 641 of title 18 of the United 
States Code is amended by inserting ``in the aggregate, combining 
amounts from all the counts for which the defendant is convicted in a 
single case,'' after ``value of such property'' .

SEC. 5. <<NOTE: 28 USC 994 note.>> DIRECTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES 
            SENTENCING COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--Pursuant to its authority under section 994(p) of 
title 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this section, the 
United States Sentencing Commission shall review and amend its 
guidelines and its policy statements to ensure that the guideline 
offense levels and enhancements appropriately punish identity theft 
offenses involving an abuse of position.
    (b) Requirements.--In carrying out this section, the United States 
Sentencing Commission shall do the following:
            (1) Amend U.S.S.G. section 3B1.3 (Abuse of Position of Trust 
        of Use of Special Skill) to apply to and punish offenses in 
        which the defendant exceeds or abuses the authority of his or 
        her position in order to obtain unlawfully or use without 
        authority any means of identification, as defined section 
        1028(d)(4) of title 18, United States Code.
            (2) Ensure reasonable consistency with other relevant 
        directives, other sentencing guidelines, and statutory 
        provisions.
            (3) Make any necessary and conforming changes to the 
        sentencing guidelines.
            (4) Ensure that the guidelines adequately meet the purposes 
        of sentencing set forth in section 3553(a)(2) of title 18, 
        United States Code.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    In addition to any other sums authorized to be appropriated for this 
purpose, there is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of 
Justice, for the investigation and prosecution of

[[Page 118 STAT. 834]]

identity theft and related credit card and other fraud cases 
constituting felony violations of law, $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 
and $2,000,000 for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

    Approved July 15, 2004.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 1731 (S. 153):
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 108-528 (Comm. on the Judiciary).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 150 (2004):
            June 23, considered and passed House.
            June 25, considered and passed Senate.
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 40 (2004):
            July 15, Presidential remarks.

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