Overcriminalized: Legislative Update

S. 3685

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:36 EST

S. 3685

Sponsor: Feinstein (D-CA)

Official Title: A bill to prohibit the selling and counterfeiting of tickets for a Presidential inaugural ceremony.

Status
11/17/2008: Introduced and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Commentary: This bill would prohibit the "knowing and intentional" sale of tickets, or facilitation of the sale of tickets, to Presidential inaugural ceremonies. Violations would be punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of up to 1 year.

H.R. 6353: Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:00 EST

H.R. 6353: Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008

Sponsor: Stupak (D - MI)

Official Title: A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to address online pharmacies.

Status:
6/24/2008: Introduced
6/24/2008: Referred to House Energy and Commerce Committee
6/24/2008: Referred to House Judiciary Committee
9/17/2008: Vote to report House Energy and Commerce Committee
9/23/2008: Reported as amended by House Energy and Commerce Committee
9/23/2008: Discharged House Judiciary Committee
9/23/2008: House Passage
9/30/2008: Senate Passage
10/15/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act to cover the distribution of drugs by Internet pharmacies. It would require online pharmacies to obtain licenses from the states in which they operate and require them to report regularly on their activities to state attorneys general. The bill would create an offense for the knowing or intentional distribution or aiding of distribution of a controlled substance by means of the Internet by unlicensed entities. Penalties for violations would depend on the drugs distributed and their quantities.

Update: P.L. 110-425, 122 Stat. 4820

S. 3598: Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:59 EST

S. 3598: Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008

Sponsor: Inouye (D - HI)

Official Title: A bill to amend titles 46 and 18, United States Code, with respect to the operation of submersible vessels and semi-submersible vessels without nationality.

Status:
9/25/2008: Introduced
9/25/2008: Senate Passage
9/29/2008: House Passage
10/13/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This bill creates a criminal offense for the knowing operation, or attempt to do so, of a submarine that is without nationality and has crossed international boundaries. Violations would be punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of up to 15 years.

Update: P.L. 110-407, 122 Stat. 4296

H.R. 4120: Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:59 EST

H.R. 4120: Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007

Sponsor: Boyda (D - KS)

Official Title: A bill to amend Title 18, United States Code, to provide for more effective prosecution of cases involving child pornography, and for other purposes.

Status:
11/8/2007: Referred to House Judiciary Committee
11/14/2007: House Passage
11/15/2007: Received in Senate Senate Judiciary Committee
9/23/2008: Discharged Senate Judiciary Committee
9/23/2008: Amended by the Senate
9/23/2008: Senate Passage
9/26/2008: House Passage
10/8/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This bill broadens the jurisdictional scope of various child pornography offenses to include activities merely "affecting" interstate or foreign commerce. It also adds child pornography production to the list of predicate offenses for federal money laundering offenses. Finally, it broadens the prohibition against possession of child pornography to cover knowing access of such materials with intent to view them.

Update: P.L. 110-358, 122 Stat. 4001

S. 3325: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:57 EST

S. 3325: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008

Sponsor: Leahy (D - VT)

Official Title: A bill to enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws, and for other purposes.

Status:
7/24/2008: Introduced
7/24/2008: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
9/15/2008: Reported to Senate
9/26/2008: Amended
9/26/2008: Senate Passage
9/28/2008: House Passage
10/13/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This bill would modify both civil and criminal enforcement of intellectual property (IP) laws. First, the bill would authorize the government to commence civil actions for infringement, which until now have been litigated by rights holders. Any penalties won in these lawsuits would be given as restitution to the aggrieved rights holder. The bill would also create a standard forfeiture provision for a variety of IP-related offenses. This provision would broaden criminal and civil forfeiture in counterfeiting and copyright infringement cases to apply to any property derived from or proceeds from the counterfeiting or infringement and any property used or intended to be used "to commit or facilitate the commission of" counterfeiting of infringement if the government can establish a "substantial connection" between the property and the offense. In criminal cases, such forfeiture would be a mandatory component of sentencing.

Update: As the Department of Justice opposed the enforcement provisions in this legislation, a presidential veto is possible.

Update: P.L. 110-403, 122 Stat. 4256

H.R. 2095: Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:56 EST

H.R. 2095: Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008

Sponsor: Oberstar (D - FL)

Official Title: Prevents railroad fatalities, injuries, and hazardous materials releases; authorizes the Federal Railroad Safety Administration; relates to other purposes.

Status:
5/1/2007: Referred to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
10/17/2007: House Passage
9/27/2008: Amended by the Senate
9/29/2008: Amended by the Senate
10/1/2008: Senate Passage
10/16/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: The version of this legislation that passed the House in 2007 contained several criminal provisions. Specifically, it increased the criminal fine, from $500 to $2,500, for recordkeeping violations, and created an offense, punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of up to 1 year, for interfering with or hampering a safety investigation, such as by intimidating a whistleblower. An early version of the Senate substitute, which passed that chamber in August 2008, stripped out all of these criminal provisions. But prior to final passage, one of the criminal provisions was added back into the bill, and it imposes a criminal fine of up to $2,500 for failing to file comprehensive accident and injury reports.

Update: Amendment was to concur in the House amendment.

Update: P.L. 110-432, 122 Stat. 4848

S. 3023: Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:56 EST

S. 3023: Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008

Sponsor: Akaka (D - HI)

Official Title: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve and enhance compensation and pension, housing, labor and education, and insurance benefits for veterans, and for other purposes.

Status:
5/15/2008: Introduced
5/15/2008: Referred to Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
9/9/2008: Reported to Senate
9/16/2008: Amended by the Senate
9/16/2008: Senate Passage
9/24/2008: Amended by the House
9/24/2008: House Passage
9/27/2008: Senate Passage
10/10/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This bill criminalizes violations of the prohibition against charging a service member interest on an obligation at a rate higher than 6 percent per year for debts incurred before or during that member's entry into military service. Violations, in addition to being subject to civil penalties, are now also punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of up to 1 year.

Update: P.L. 110-389, 122 Stat. 4145

S. 431: Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators (KIDS) Act of 2007 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:55 EST

S. 431: Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators (KIDS) Act of 2007

Sponsor: Schumer (D - NY)

Official Title: A bill to require convicted sex offenders to register online identifiers, and for other purposes.

Status:
1/30/2007: Introduced
1/30/2007: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
12/13/2007: Mark up in the Senate Judiciary Committee
4/22/2008: Reported to Senate Senate Judiciary Committee
5/20/2008: Senate Passage
9/27/2008: Discharged House Judiciary Committee
9/27/2008: Amended
9/27/2008: House Passage
9/30/2008: Senate Passage
10/13/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: This is a companion to H.R. 719, which passed the House in November 2007. This bill would require a sex offender to register "[a]ny electronic mail address, instant message address, or other designation the sex offender uses or will use for self-identification or routing in an Internet communication or posting" with state law enforcement authorities. Knowing failure to register any such online identifier would be punishable by fines under Title 18 and imprisonment of up to 10 years. The bill would also create an offense for knowing misrepresentation of age with the intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, which would carry the same penalties.

Update: P.L. 110-400, 122 Stat. 4224

S. 1738: Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2008 UPDATE

OverCriminalized.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:55 EST

S. 1738: Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2008

Sponsor: Biden (D - DE)

Official Title: A bill to establish a Special Counsel for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, to improve the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, to increase resources for regional computer forensic labs, and to make other improvements to increase the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute child predators.

Status:
6/28/2007: Introduced
6/28/2007: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
7/7/2008: Reported to Senate
9/25/2008: Amended
9/25/2008: Senate Passage
9/27/2008: House Passage
10/13/2008: Signed by the President

Commentary: Title III of this legislation includes a variety of amendments to the criminal laws concerning sexual exploitation and child pornography. First, it reduces the required nexus between the offending conduct and interstate commerce by replacing the requirement that a person involved in the production of child pornography "know or has reason to know" that the pornography will be transported in interstate commerce with a requirement that the material be transported using a "facility or means of interstate commerce" or merely "affect" interstate commerce. Second, it would broaden the prohibition against the selling or buying of children by replacing the requirement that an offer for a child be "communicated or transported in interstate or foreign commerce" with the lesser requirement that it "affect" interstate or foreign commerce of use a facility of such commerce. The prohibition on the distribution of child pornography would be modified similarly. Third, it would close a potential loophole in current law by prohibiting the live broadcast, such as over the Internet, of any sexually explicit content containing a minor. "Producing" such content, though perhaps not broadcasting it live, was already directly prohibited. Fourth and finally, the bill would prohibit the knowing alteration of an image of an identifiable minor to create an image of sexually explicit conduct. This would include, for example, the placement of an image of a child's head atop the depiction of the torso of an adult engaged in sexual activities. A first violation of this provision would be punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of 5 to 20 years; subsequent offenses would be punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of 15 to 40 years.

Update: P.L. 110-401, 122 Stat. 4229

S. 3629: Consumer Credit Safety Commission Act of 2008

OverCriminalized.com — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:17 EST

S. 3629: Consumer Credit Safety Commission Act of 2008

Sponsor: Durbin (D - IL)

Official Title: A bill to create a new Consumer Credit Safety Commission, to provide individual consumers of credit with better information and stronger protections, and to provide sellers of consumer credit with more regulatory certainty.

Status:
9/26/2008: Introduced
9/26/2008: Referred to Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
10/6/2008: Text Available

Commentary: This bill, a companion to H.R. 7258, would create a Consumer Credit Safety Commission empowered to promulgate consumer credit safety rules that ban "abusive, fraudulent, unfair, deceptive, predatory, anticompetitive, or otherwise anti-consumer practices or product features," restrict consumer credit practices, and require warning and disclosures by parties offering consumer credit. "Knowing and willful" violations of these rules, such as advertising credit products with terms that the Commission has prohibited or failing to keep required records, would be punishable by fines of up to $500,000 and imprisonment of up to 1 year. In addition, any director, officer, or agent of a corporation "who knowingly and willfully authorizes, orders, or performs" acts in violation of the rules would face the same penalties.