Title IV — Prohibiting Deceptive Practices

H.R. 12 · 113th Congress · Jan 23, 2013 · Lineage

IV Prohibiting Deceptive Practices

Sec. 401 Prohibition on deceptive practices in Federal elections

(a)

In General— Chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by section 141(a) and section 301(a), is amended by adding at the end the following:

“614. False election-related information in Federal elections

“(a) A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of their free and fair exercise of the right to vote by the communication of election-related information that is known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

“(b) As used in this section—

“(1) the term election for Federal office means any general, primary, runoff, or special election for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress; and

“(2) the term election-related information means any oral or written communication regarding—

“(A) the time or place of an election for Federal office;

“(B) criminal penalties associated with voting in such an election;

“(C) an individual’s voter registration status or eligibility to vote in such an election; or

“(D) the explicit endorsement by any person or organization of a candidate in such an election.”

(b)

Clerical amendment— The table of sections for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by section 141(b) and section 301(b), is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

Sec. 402 Modification of penalty for voter intimidation

Section 594 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking “one year” and inserting “5 years”.

Sec. 403 Sentencing guidelines

(a)

Review and amendment— Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the United States Sentencing Commission, pursuant to its authority under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this section, shall review and, if appropriate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to persons convicted of any offense under any sections of title 18, United States Code, that are added or modified by this Act.

(b)

Authorization— The United States Sentencing Commission may, for the purposes of the amendments made pursuant to this title, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 note) as though the authority under that section had not expired.

Sec. 404 Reporting violations; corrective action

(a)

Reporting— Any person may submit a report to the Attorney General regarding any violation or possible violation of section 594 or section 614 of title 18, United States Code (as added by section 401(a)).

(b)

Corrective action—

(1)

In general— Immediately after receiving a report under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall consider and review the report, and if the Attorney General determines that there is a reasonable basis to find that a violation included in the report has occurred, the Attorney General shall—

(A)

undertake all effective measures necessary to provide correct information to voters affected by the false information; and

(B)

refer the matter to the appropriate Federal and State authorities for criminal prosecution or civil action after the election involved.

(2)

Regulations— The Attorney General shall promulgate regulations regarding the methods and means of corrective actions to be taken under paragraph (1). Such regulations shall be developed in consultation with the Election Assistance Commission, civil rights organizations, voting rights groups, State and local election officials, voter protection groups, and other interested community organizations.

(3)

Study and report on methods of disseminating corrective information—

(A)

In general— The Attorney General, in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission and the Election Assistance Commission, shall conduct a study on the feasibility of providing the corrective information under paragraph (1) through public service announcements, the emergency alert system, or other forms of public broadcast.

(B)

Report— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report detailing the results of the study conducted under subparagraph (A).

(4)

Publicizing availability of remedies— The Attorney General shall make public through the Internet, radio, television, and newspaper advertisements information on the responsibilities, contact information, and complaint procedures applicable under this section.

(c)

Reports to Congress—

(1)

In general— Not later than 90 days after any election with respect to which a report has been submitted under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report compiling all such reports submitted under subsection (a) with respect to that election.

(2)

Contents—

(A)

In general— Each report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include—

(i)

detailed information on specific allegations;

(ii)

statistical compilations of how many allegations were made and of what type;

(iii)

the geographic locations of and the populations affected by the alleged violations;

(iv)

the status of the investigations of such allegations;

(v)

any corrective actions taken in response to such allegations;

(vi)

the rationale used for any corrective actions or for any refusal to pursue an allegation;

(vii)

the effectiveness of any such corrective actions;

(viii)

whether a Voting Integrity Task Force was established with respect to such election, and, if so, how such task force was staffed and funded;

(ix)

any referrals of information to other Federal, State, or local agencies; and

(x)

any criminal prosecution instituted under title 18, United States Code, in connection with such allegations.

(3)

Report made public— On the date that the Attorney General submits the report under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall also make the report publicly available through the Internet and other appropriate means.

(d)

Delegation of duties—

(1)

Use of voting integrity task force— The Attorney General shall delegate the responsibilities under this section with respect to a particular election to a Voting Integrity Task Force established by the Attorney General for such purpose.

(2)

Composition— A Voting Integrity Task Force established under paragraph (1) shall be under the direction of the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, acting jointly.

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Jan 23, 2013viewing Introduced in House Mr. Lewis (for himself, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Andrews, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Bera of California, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Bishop of New York, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Brownley of California, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Butterfield, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Cárdenas, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mrs. Christensen, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clarke, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Costa, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Delaney, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Doyle, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Esty, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Farr, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Foster, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutierrez, Ms. Hahn, Ms. Hanabusa, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Himes, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Holt, Mr. Honda, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Israel, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kind, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Levin, Mr. Loebsack, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Maffei, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Mr. Michaud, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. Moore, Mr. Moran, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Mrs. Negrete McLeod, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Peters of Michigan, Mr. Pierluisi, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Richmond, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Rush, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez of California, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sires, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Tierney, Ms. Titus, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Visclosky, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Waters, Mr. Watt, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Welch, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. Yarmuth) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Science, Space, and Technology, Veterans’ Affairs, Oversight and Government Reform, and Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned