House Committee Approves Expansion of Hate Crimes Law - Women's Congressional Policy Institute

On April 25, the House Judiciary Committee passed, 20-14, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592), a bill that would include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability in the definition of federal hate crimes. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security approved the measure by voice vote on April 24. The bill would authorize $5 million annually for FY2008 and 2009 to award grants to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to assist with investigating, prosecuting, and preventing such crimes. Those convicted of such hate crimes could face up to ten years in prison; those convicted where death resulted from the crime could face up to life in prison.

During consideration of H.R. 1592, the committee adopted the following amendments by voice vote:

an amendment by Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) that would guarantee that nothing in the bill would prohibit activities protected by the First Amendment; and
an amendment by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) to authorize the U.S. Sentencing Commission to conduct a study of juvenile recruitment to commit hate crimes.The committee rejected the following amendments:
an amendment by Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) to remove sexual orientation and gender identity from the categories of those protected by the legislation, 13-18;
an amendment by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) to add senior citizens over age 65 to the list of groups protected under the statute, 12-16;
an amendment by Rep. Goodlatte to add pregnant women to the list of groups protected from hate crimes, 15-16;
an amendment by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to clarify that the terms “person, persons, victim, or victims” in the legislation would include unborn children at any stage of development, 0-33;
an amendment by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) that would add children under age 18 to the list of groups protected by the statute, 16-21; and
an amendment by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) that would replace the word “gender” in the bill with the word “sex” and remove “gender identity” from the list of groups protected, 15-20.The committee considered an amendment by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to add unborn children to the list of groups protected under the federal hate crimes statute, which Chair John Conyers (D-MI) ruled not germane to the bill. A motion to appeal the ruling of the chair offered by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) was defeated, 17-17.