[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 118, 108th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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

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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)--

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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

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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.