Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1204 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1204
5	5	To authorize a civil right of action for individuals affected by video voyeurism,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY11, 2025
9	9	Ms. M
10	10	ACEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
11	11	on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To authorize a civil right of action for individuals affected
14	14	by video voyeurism, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sue Victimizers and 4
19	19	Offenders who Yield Explicit Unconsented Recordings 5
20	20	Surreptitiously Act’’ or the ‘‘Sue VOYEURS Act’’. 6
21	21	SEC. 2. INTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTIONS. 7
22	22	Title XIII of division W of the Consolidated Appro-8
23	23	priations Act, 2022, is amended by inserting after section 9
24	24	1309 the following: 10
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27	27	•HR 1204 IH
28	28	‘‘SEC. 1309A. CIVIL ACTION RELATING TO CAPTURE OF IN-1
29	29	TIMATE IMAGES. 2
30	30	‘‘(a) C
31	31	IVILACTION.— 3
32	32	‘‘(1) R
33	33	IGHT OF ACTION.— 4
34	34	‘‘(A) I
35	35	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 5
36	36	paragraph (3), an individual whose intimate vis-6
37	37	ual depiction is captured, in a circumstance de-7
38	38	scribed in paragraph (4), without the consent of 8
39	39	the individual, where such capture is done by a 9
40	40	person who knows that, or recklessly disregards 10
41	41	whether, the individual has not consented to the 11
42	42	capture, and does so under circumstances in 12
43	43	which the individual has a reasonable expecta-13
44	44	tion of privacy, may bring a civil action against 14
45	45	that person in an appropriate district court of 15
46	46	the United States for relief as set forth in para-16
47	47	graph (2). 17
48	48	‘‘(B) R
49	49	IGHTS ON BEHALF OF CERTAIN IN -18
50	50	DIVIDUALS.—In the case of an individual who is 19
51	51	under 18 years of age, incompetent, incapaci-20
52	52	tated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the in-21
53	53	dividual or representative of the individual’s es-22
54	54	tate, another family member, or any other per-23
55	55	son appointed as suitable by the court, may as-24
56	56	sume the individual’s rights under this section, 25
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59	59	•HR 1204 IH
60	60	but in no event shall the defendant be named 1
61	61	as such representative or guardian. 2
62	62	‘‘(2) R
63	63	ELIEF.— 3
64	64	‘‘(A) I
65	65	N GENERAL.—In a civil action filed 4
66	66	under this section— 5
67	67	‘‘(i) an individual may recover the ac-6
68	68	tual damages sustained by the individual 7
69	69	or liquidated damages in the amount of 8
70	70	$150,000 for each intimate visual depiction 9
71	71	captured of the individual, and the cost of 10
72	72	the action, including reasonable attorney’s 11
73	73	fees and other litigation costs reasonably 12
74	74	incurred; and 13
75	75	‘‘(ii) the court may, in addition to any 14
76	76	other relief available at law, order equi-15
77	77	table relief, including a temporary restrain-16
78	78	ing order, a preliminary injunction, or a 17
79	79	permanent injunction ordering the defend-18
80	80	ant to cease display or disclosure of the 19
81	81	visual depiction. 20
82	82	‘‘(B) P
83	83	RESERVATION OF ANONYMITY .—In 21
84	84	ordering relief under subparagraph (A), the 22
85	85	court may grant injunctive relief maintaining 23
86	86	the confidentiality of a plaintiff using a pseu-24
87	87	donym. 25
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90	90	•HR 1204 IH
91	91	‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—An individual may not bring 1
92	92	an action for relief under this section relating to the 2
93	93	actions of a law enforcement officer or agency, con-3
94	94	ducting surveillance pursuant to a lawfully issued 4
95	95	warrant. 5
96	96	‘‘(4) C
97	97	IRCUMSTANCE DESCRIBED .—For the 6
98	98	purposes of paragraph (1), the circumstances de-7
99	99	scribed in this paragraph are that— 8
100	100	‘‘(A) the individual traveled in interstate or 9
101	101	foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, 10
102	102	channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate 11
103	103	or foreign commerce, in furtherance of or in 12
104	104	connection with the conduct described in para-13
105	105	graph (1); 14
106	106	‘‘(B) the individual used a means, channel, 15
107	107	facility, or instrumentality of interstate or for-16
108	108	eign commerce in furtherance of or in connec-17
109	109	tion with the conduct described in paragraph 18
110	110	(1); 19
111	111	‘‘(C) any payment of any kind was made, 20
112	112	directly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in 21
113	113	connection with the conduct described in para-22
114	114	graph (1) using any means, channel, facility, or 23
115	115	instrumentality of interstate or foreign com-24
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118	118	•HR 1204 IH
119	119	merce or in or affecting interstate or foreign 1
120	120	commerce; 2
121	121	‘‘(D) the individual transmitted in inter-3
122	122	state or foreign commerce any communication 4
123	123	relating to or in furtherance of the conduct de-5
124	124	scribed in paragraph (1) using any means, 6
125	125	channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate 7
126	126	or foreign commerce or in or affecting inter-8
127	127	state or foreign commerce by any means or in 9
128	128	manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or 10
129	129	electromagnetic transmission; 11
130	130	‘‘(E) any equipment, item, or other object 12
131	131	that has traveled in interstate or foreign com-13
132	132	merce was used to perform the conduct de-14
133	133	scribed in paragraph (1); 15
134	134	‘‘(F) the conduct described in paragraph 16
135	135	(1) occurred within the special maritime and 17
136	136	territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or 18
137	137	any territory or possession of the United States; 19
138	138	or 20
139	139	‘‘(G) the conduct described in paragraph 21
140	140	(1) otherwise occurred in or affected interstate 22
141	141	or foreign commerce. 23
142	142	‘‘(b) D
143	143	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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146	146	•HR 1204 IH
147	147	‘‘(1) BROADCAST.—The term ‘broadcast’ means 1
148	148	to electronically transmit a visual image with the in-2
149	149	tent that it be viewed by a person or persons. 3
150	150	‘‘(2) C
151	151	APTURE.—The term ‘capture’, with re-4
152	152	spect to an image, means to videotape, photograph, 5
153	153	film, record by any means, or broadcast. 6
154	154	‘‘(3) C
155	155	ONSENT.—The term ‘consent’ means an 7
156	156	affirmative, conscious, competent, and voluntary au-8
157	157	thorization made by the individual free from force, 9
158	158	fraud, misrepresentation, or coercion. 10
159	159	‘‘(4) I
160	160	NTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTION .—The term 11
161	161	‘intimate visual depiction’— 12
162	162	‘‘(A) means a visual depiction, as that 13
163	163	term is defined in section 2256(5) of title 18, 14
164	164	United States Code, that depicts— 15
165	165	‘‘(i) the naked or undergarment clad 16
166	166	private area of an individual; or 17
167	167	‘‘(ii) the display or transfer of bodily 18
168	168	sexual fluids— 19
169	169	‘‘(I) on to any part of the body 20
170	170	of an individual; 21
171	171	‘‘(II) from the body of an indi-22
172	172	vidual; or 23
173	173	‘‘(iii) an individual engaging in sexu-24
174	174	ally explicit conduct; and 25
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177	177	•HR 1204 IH
178	178	‘‘(B) includes any visual depictions de-1
179	179	scribed in subparagraph (A) produced while the 2
180	180	individual was in a public place only if the indi-3
181	181	vidual did not— 4
182	182	‘‘(i) voluntarily display the content de-5
183	183	picted; or 6
184	184	‘‘(ii) consent to the sexual conduct de-7
185	185	picted; 8
186	186	‘‘(5) P
187	187	RIVATE AREA.—The term ‘private area’ 9
188	188	means, with respect to an individual, the genitals, 10
189	189	pubic area, anus, buttocks, or female nipple of that 11
190	190	individual. 12
191	191	‘‘(6) S
192	192	EXUALLY EXPLICIT CONDUCT .—The term 13
193	193	‘sexually explicit conduct’ has the meaning given to 14
194	194	the term in subparagraph (A) of section 2256(2) of 15
195	195	title 18, United States Code. 16
196	196	‘‘(7) U
197	197	NDER CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THAT 17
198	198	INDIVIDUAL HAS A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF 18
199	199	PRIVACY.—The term ‘under circumstances in which 19
200	200	that individual has a reasonable expectation of pri-20
201	201	vacy’ means— 21
202	202	‘‘(A) circumstances in which a reasonable 22
203	203	person would believe that he or she could dis-23
204	204	robe in privacy, without being concerned that 24
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207	207	•HR 1204 IH
208	208	an image of a private area of the individual was 1
209	209	being captured; or 2
210	210	‘‘(B) circumstances in which a reasonable 3
211	211	person would believe that a private area of the 4
212	212	individual would not be visible to the public, re-5
213	213	gardless of whether that person is in a public 6
214	214	or private place.’’. 7
215	215	Æ
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