Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1569 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1569
55 To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
66 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
77 MAY11, 2023
88 Mr. C
99 ORNYN(for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
1010 T
1111 ILLIS, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. MORAN, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. CRAMER,
1212 Mrs. B
1313 LACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. FISCHER, Mrs. CAPITO, Mrs.
1414 B
1515 RITT, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. RISCH, Mr. RICKETTS, Mr. DAINES,
1616 Mr. B
1717 ARRASSO, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr.
1818 C
1919 OTTON, Mr. THUNE, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. BUDD, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr.
2020 S
2121 COTTof South Carolina, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. CASSIDY,
2222 Ms. E
2323 RNST, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. YOUNG, Mr.
2424 S
2525 CHMITT, Ms. LUMMIS, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill;
2626 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
2727 A BILL
2828 To protect law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
2929 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3030 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
3131 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
3232 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Back the Blue Act 4
3333 of 2023’’. 5
3434 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 6
3535 (a) K
3636 ILLING OFLAWENFORCEMENTOFFICERS.— 7
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4040 (1) OFFENSE.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United 1
4141 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 2
4242 following: 3
4343 ‘‘§ 1123. Killing of law enforcement officers 4
4444 ‘‘(a) D
4545 EFINITIONS.—In this section— 5
4646 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ 6
4747 and ‘United States judge’ have the meanings given 7
4848 those terms in section 115; 8
4949 ‘‘(2) the term ‘federally funded public safety of-9
5050 ficer’ means a public safety officer or judicial officer 10
5151 for a public agency that— 11
5252 ‘‘(A) receives Federal financial assistance; 12
5353 and 13
5454 ‘‘(B) is an agency of an entity that is a 14
5555 State of the United States, the District of Co-15
5656 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 16
5757 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 17
5858 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-18
5959 lands, or any territory or possession of the 19
6060 United States, an Indian tribe, or a unit of 20
6161 local government of that entity; 21
6262 ‘‘(3) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 22
6363 serving as an official recognized or designated mem-23
6464 ber of a legally organized volunteer fire department 24
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6868 and an officially recognized or designated public em-1
6969 ployee member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew; 2
7070 ‘‘(4) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 3
7171 other officer or employee of a court, including pros-4
7272 ecutors, court security, pretrial services officers, 5
7373 court reporters, and corrections, probation, and pa-6
7474 role officers; 7
7575 ‘‘(5) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 8
7676 an individual, with statutory arrest powers, involved 9
7777 in crime or juvenile delinquency control or reduction 10
7878 or enforcement of the laws; 11
7979 ‘‘(6) the term ‘public agency’ includes a court 12
8080 system, the National Guard of a State to the extent 13
8181 the personnel of that National Guard are not in 14
8282 Federal service, and the defense forces of a State 15
8383 authorized by section 109 of title 32; and 16
8484 ‘‘(7) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 17
8585 individual serving a public agency in an official ca-18
8686 pacity, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, 19
8787 as a chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or 20
8888 ambulance crew. 21
8989 ‘‘(b) O
9090 FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 22
9191 to— 23
9292 ‘‘(1) kill, or attempt or conspire to kill— 24
9393 ‘‘(A) a United States judge; 25
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9797 ‘‘(B) a Federal law enforcement officer; or 1
9898 ‘‘(C) a federally funded public safety offi-2
9999 cer while that officer is engaged in official du-3
100100 ties, or on account of the performance of offi-4
101101 cial duties; or 5
102102 ‘‘(2) kill a former United States judge, Federal 6
103103 law enforcement officer, or federally funded public 7
104104 safety officer on account of the past performance of 8
105105 official duties. 9
106106 ‘‘(c) P
107107 ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 10
108108 (b) shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not 11
109109 less than 10 years or for life, or, if death results, shall 12
110110 be sentenced to not less than 30 years and not more than 13
111111 life, or may be punished by death.’’. 14
112112 (2) T
113113 ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 15
114114 for chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is 16
115115 amended by adding at the end the following: 17
116116 ‘‘1123. Killing of law enforcement officers.’’.
117117 (b) ASSAULT OFLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.— 18
118118 (1) O
119119 FFENSE.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 19
120120 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 20
121121 following: 21
122122 ‘‘§ 120. Assaults of law enforcement officers 22
123123 ‘‘(a) D
124124 EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘feder-23
125125 ally funded State or local law enforcement officer’ means 24
126126 an individual involved in crime and juvenile delinquency 25
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130130 control or reduction, or enforcement of the laws (including 1
131131 a police, corrections, probation, or parole officer) who 2
132132 works for a public agency (that receives Federal financial 3
133133 assistance) of a State of the United States or the District 4
134134 of Columbia. 5
135135 ‘‘(b) O
136136 FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful to assault a fed-6
137137 erally funded State or local law enforcement officer while 7
138138 engaged in or on account of the performance of official 8
139139 duties, or assaults any person who formerly served as a 9
140140 federally funded State or local law enforcement officer on 10
141141 account of the performance of such person’s official duties 11
142142 during such service, or because of the actual or perceived 12
143143 status of the person as a federally funded State or local 13
144144 law enforcement officer. 14
145145 ‘‘(c) P
146146 ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 15
147147 (b) shall be subject to a fine under this title and— 16
148148 ‘‘(1) if the assault resulted in bodily injury (as 17
149149 defined in section 1365), shall be imprisoned not less 18
150150 than 2 years and not more than 10 years; 19
151151 ‘‘(2) if the assault resulted in substantial bodily 20
152152 injury (as defined in section 113), shall be impris-21
153153 oned not less than 5 years and not more than 20 22
154154 years; 23
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158158 ‘‘(3) if the assault resulted in serious bodily in-1
159159 jury (as defined in section 1365), shall be impris-2
160160 oned for not less than 10 years; 3
161161 ‘‘(4) if a deadly or dangerous weapon was used 4
162162 during and in relation to the assault, shall be im-5
163163 prisoned for not less than 20 years; and 6
164164 ‘‘(5) shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 7
165165 year in any other case. 8
166166 ‘‘(d) C
167167 ERTIFICATIONREQUIREMENT.— 9
168168 ‘‘(1) I
169169 N GENERAL.—No prosecution of any of-10
170170 fense described in this section may be undertaken by 11
171171 the United States, except under the certification in 12
172172 writing of the Attorney General, or a designee, 13
173173 that— 14
174174 ‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction; 15
175175 ‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed-16
176176 eral Government assume jurisdiction; 17
177177 ‘‘(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pur-18
178178 suant to State charges left demonstratively 19
179179 unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating 20
180180 bias-motivated violence; or 21
181181 ‘‘(D) a prosecution by the United States is 22
182182 in the public interest and necessary to secure 23
183183 substantial justice. 24
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187187 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 1
188188 this subsection shall be construed to limit the au-2
189189 thority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, 3
190190 to investigate possible violations of this section. 4
191191 ‘‘(e) S
192192 TATUTE OFLIMITATIONS.— 5
193193 ‘‘(1) O
194194 FFENSES NOT RESULTING IN DEATH .— 6
195195 Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall 7
196196 be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense 8
197197 under this section unless the indictment for such of-9
198198 fense is found, or the information for such offense 10
199199 is instituted, not later than 7 years after the date 11
200200 on which the offense was committed. 12
201201 ‘‘(2) O
202202 FFENSES RESULTING IN DEATH .—An in-13
203203 dictment or information alleging that an offense 14
204204 under this section resulted in death may be found or 15
205205 instituted at any time without limitation.’’. 16
206206 (2) T
207207 ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 17
208208 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is 18
209209 amended by adding at the end the following: 19
210210 ‘‘120. Assaults of law enforcement officers.’’.
211211 (c) FLIGHTTOAVOIDPROSECUTION FOR KILLING 20
212212 L
213213 AWENFORCEMENTOFFICIALS.— 21
214214 (1) O
215215 FFENSE.—Chapter 49 of title 18, United 22
216216 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 23
217217 following: 24
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221221 ‘‘§ 1075. Flight to avoid prosecution for killing law 1
222222 enforcement officials 2
223223 ‘‘(a) O
224224 FFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 3
225225 to move or travel in interstate or foreign commerce with 4
226226 intent to avoid prosecution, or custody or confinement 5
227227 after conviction, under the laws of the place from which 6
228228 the person flees or under section 1114 or 1123, for a crime 7
229229 consisting of the killing, an attempted killing, or a con-8
230230 spiracy to kill a Federal judge or Federal law enforcement 9
231231 officer (as those terms are defined in section 115), or a 10
232232 federally funded public safety officer (as that term is de-11
233233 fined in section 1123). 12
234234 ‘‘(b) P
235235 ENALTY.—Any person that violates subsection 13
236236 (a) shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not 14
237237 less than 10 years, in addition to any other term of impris-15
238238 onment for any other offense relating to the conduct de-16
239239 scribed in subsection (a).’’. 17
240240 (2) T
241241 ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 18
242242 for chapter 49 of title 18, United States Code, is 19
243243 amended by adding at the end the following: 20
244244 ‘‘1075. Flight to avoid prosecution for killing law enforcement officials.’’.
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248248 SEC. 3. SPECIFIC AGGRAVATING FACTOR FOR FEDERAL 1
249249 DEATH PENALTY KILLING OF LAW ENFORCE-2
250250 MENT OFFICER. 3
251251 (a) A
252252 GGRAVATINGFACTORS FORHOMICIDE.—Sec-4
253253 tion 3592(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5
254254 by inserting after paragraph (16) the following: 6
255255 ‘‘(17) K
256256 ILLING OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI -7
257257 CER, PROSECUTOR, JUDGE, OR FIRST RESPONDER.— 8
258258 The defendant killed or attempted to kill a person 9
259259 who is authorized by law— 10
260260 ‘‘(A) to engage in or supervise the preven-11
261261 tion, detention, or investigation of any criminal 12
262262 violation of law; 13
263263 ‘‘(B) to arrest, prosecute, or adjudicate an 14
264264 individual for any criminal violation of law; or 15
265265 ‘‘(C) to be a firefighter or other first re-16
266266 sponder.’’. 17
267267 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL HABEAS RELIEF FOR 18
268268 MURDERS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 19
269269 (a) J
270270 USTICE FORLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS 20
271271 ANDTHEIRFAMILIES.— 21
272272 (1) I
273273 N GENERAL.—Section 2254 of title 28, 22
274274 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 23
275275 end the following: 24
276276 ‘‘(j)(1) For an application for a writ of habeas corpus 25
277277 on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment 26
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281281 of a State court for a crime that involved the killing of 1
282282 a public safety officer (as that term is defined in section 2
283283 1204 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 3
284284 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284)) or judge, while 4
285285 the public safety officer or judge was engaged in the per-5
286286 formance of official duties, or on account of the perform-6
287287 ance of official duties by or status as a public safety officer 7
288288 or judge of the public safety officer or judge— 8
289289 ‘‘(A) the application shall be subject to the time 9
290290 limitations and other requirements under sections 10
291291 2263, 2264, and 2266; and 11
292292 ‘‘(B) the court shall not consider claims relating 12
293293 to sentencing that were adjudicated in a State court. 13
294294 ‘‘(2) Sections 2251, 2262, and 2101 are the exclusive 14
295295 sources of authority for Federal courts to stay a sentence 15
296296 of death entered by a State court in a case described in 16
297297 paragraph (1).’’. 17
298298 (2) R
299299 ULES.—Rule 11 of the Rules Governing 18
300300 Section 2254 Cases in the United States District 19
301301 Courts is amended by adding at the end the fol-20
302302 lowing: ‘‘Rule 60(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil 21
303303 Procedure shall not apply to a proceeding under 22
304304 these rules in a case that is described in section 23
305305 2254(j) of title 28, United States Code.’’. 24
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309309 (3) FINALITY OF DETERMINATION .—Section 1
310310 2244(b)(3)(E) of title 28, United States Code, is 2
311311 amended by striking ‘‘the subject of a petition’’ and 3
312312 all that follows and inserting: ‘‘reheard in the court 4
313313 of appeals or reviewed by writ of certiorari.’’. 5
314314 (4) E
315315 FFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY .— 6
316316 (A) I
317317 N GENERAL.—This paragraph and the 7
318318 amendments made by this paragraph shall 8
319319 apply to any case pending on or after the date 9
320320 of enactment of this Act. 10
321321 (B) T
322322 IME LIMITS.—In a case pending on 11
323323 the date of enactment of this Act, if the amend-12
324324 ments made by this paragraph impose a time 13
325325 limit for taking certain action, the period of 14
326326 which began before the date of enactment of 15
327327 this Act, the period of such time limit shall 16
328328 begin on the date of enactment of this Act. 17
329329 (C) E
330330 XCEPTION.—The amendments made 18
331331 by this paragraph shall not bar consideration 19
332332 under section 2266(b)(3)(B) of title 28, United 20
333333 States Code, of an amendment to an application 21
334334 for a writ of habeas corpus that is pending on 22
335335 the date of enactment of this Act, if the amend-23
336336 ment to the petition was adjudicated by the 24
337337 court prior to the date of enactment of this Act. 25
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341341 SEC. 5. SELF-DEFENSE RIGHTS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT 1
342342 OFFICERS. 2
343343 (a) I
344344 NGENERAL.—Chapter 203 of title 18, United 3
345345 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3053 4
346346 the following: 5
347347 ‘‘§ 3054. Authority of law enforcement officers to 6
348348 carry firearms 7
349349 ‘‘Any sworn officer, agent, or employee of the United 8
350350 States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof, who is 9
351351 authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, 10
352352 detection, investigation, or prosecution of any violation of 11
353353 law, or to supervise or secure the safety of incarcerated 12
354354 inmates, may carry firearms if authorized by law to do 13
355355 so. Such authority to carry firearms, with respect to the 14
356356 lawful performance of the official duties of a sworn officer, 15
357357 agent, or employee of a State or a political subdivision 16
358358 thereof, shall include possession incident to depositing a 17
359359 firearm within a secure firearms storage area for use by 18
360360 all persons who are authorized to carry a firearm within 19
361361 any building or structure classified as a Federal facility 20
362362 or Federal court facility, as those terms are defined under 21
363363 section 930, and any grounds appurtenant to such a facil-22
364364 ity.’’. 23
365365 (b) C
366366 ARRYING OFCONCEALEDFIREARMS BYQUALI-24
367367 FIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—Section 25
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371371 926B(e)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 1
372372 by inserting ‘‘any magazine and’’ after ‘‘includes’’. 2
373373 (c) C
374374 ARRYING OFCONCEALEDFIREARMS BYQUALI-3
375375 FIEDRETIREDLAWENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—Section 4
376376 926C(e)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5
377377 by inserting ‘‘any magazine and’’ after ‘‘includes’’. 6
378378 (d) S
379379 CHOOLZONES.—Section 922(q)(2)(B)(vi) title 7
380380 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, a 8
381381 qualified law enforcement officer (as defined in section 9
382382 926B), or a qualified retired law enforcement officer (as 10
383383 defined in section 926C)’’ before the semicolon. 11
384384 (e) R
385385 EGULATIONSREQUIRED.—Not later than 60 12
386386 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 13
387387 General shall promulgate regulations allowing persons de-14
388388 scribed in section 3054 of title 18, United States Code, 15
389389 to possess firearms in a manner described by that section. 16
390390 With respect to Federal justices, judges, bankruptcy 17
391391 judges, and magistrate judges, such regulations shall be 18
392392 prescribed after consultation with the Judicial Conference 19
393393 of the United States. 20
394394 (f) T
395395 ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections for 21
396396 chapter 203 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 22
397397 by inserting after the item relating to section 3053 the 23
398398 following: 24
399399 ‘‘3054. Authority of law enforcement officers to carry firearms.’’.
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403403 (g) FURTHERAMENDMENTS.—Section 930 of title 1
404404 18, United States Code, is amended— 2
405405 (1) in subsection (d)— 3
406406 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 4
407407 the end; 5
408408 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-6
409409 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 7
410410 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8
411411 ‘‘(4) the possession of a firearm or ammunition 9
412412 in a Facility Security Level I or II civilian public ac-10
413413 cess facility by a qualified law enforcement officer 11
414414 (as defined in section 926B(c)) or a qualified retired 12
415415 law enforcement officer (as defined in section 13
416416 926C(c)).’’; and 14
417417 (2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 15
418418 following: 16
419419 ‘‘(4) The term ‘Facility Security Level’ means 17
420420 a security risk assessment level assigned to a Fed-18
421421 eral facility by the security agency of the facility in 19
422422 accordance with the biannually issued Interagency 20
423423 Security Committee Standard. 21
424424 ‘‘(5) The term ‘civilian public access facility’ 22
425425 means a facility open to the general public.’’. 23
426426 Æ
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