I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 194
To amend chapter 211 of title 18, United States Code, to modify venue
for certain offenses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. S
ELF(for himself and Mr. NEHLS) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend chapter 211 of title 18, United States Code,
to modify venue for certain offenses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Venue Named Under 4
Exception Act’’ or the ‘‘VENUE Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. VENUE FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 211 of title 18, United 7
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing: 9
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‘‘§ 3245. Offenses committed in the National Capital 1
Region 2
‘‘(a) O
FFENSES INNATIONALCAPITALREGION.—In 3
the case of an offense that is committed in the National 4
Capital Region on property under the control of the Fed-5
eral Government, an indictment or information shall be 6
filed in the district of the last known residence of the of-7
fender or of any one of two or more joint offenders, or 8
if no such residence is known, the indictment or informa-9
tion may be filed in the District of Columbia. 10
‘‘(b) T
RANSFER.— 11
‘‘(1) R
IGHT TO TRANSFER .—Notwithstanding 12
subsection (a), a district court shall, upon motion of 13
the defendant, grant a transfer of an indictment or 14
information to the district court encompassing the 15
jurisdiction where the defendant is domiciled. 16
‘‘(2) M
ULTIPLE DEFENDANTS .—If multiple de-17
fendants file a motion to transfer an indictment or 18
information under paragraph (1), the district court 19
shall grant the motion of the defendant who filed the 20
motion first. 21
‘‘(3) D
EFENDANTS NOT DOMICILED IN THE 22
UNITED STATES.—A defendant not domiciled in the 23
United States may not file a motion to transfer an 24
indictment or information under paragraph (1). 25
‘‘(c) D
EFINITION.—In this section: 26
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‘‘(1) The term ‘National Capital Region’ means 1
the geographic area located within the boundaries 2
of— 3
‘‘(A) the District of Columbia; 4
‘‘(B) Montgomery and Prince George’s 5
Counties in the State of Maryland; 6
‘‘(C) Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and 7
Prince William Counties and the Cities of Alex-8
andria and Falls Church in the Commonwealth 9
of Virginia; and 10
‘‘(D) all cities and other units of govern-11
ment within the geographic areas of such Dis-12
trict, Counties, and City. 13
‘‘(2) The term ‘property under the control of 14
the Federal Government’ means property owned or 15
leased by the United States, or any agency thereof, 16
except in the case of the United States Postal Serv-17
ice. 18
‘‘(d) P
ENDINGCASES.—This section shall apply to 19
any offense with respect to which a trial has not been 20
scheduled as of the date of enactment of this section. 21
‘‘(e) L
IMITATION.—This section shall only apply to 22
an offense not otherwise subject to section 3235, 3236, 23
3237, 3238, 3239, 3241, 3242, 3243 or 3244.’’. 24
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(b) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1
for chapter 211 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-2
ed by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘3245. Offenses committed in the National Capital Region.’’.
Æ
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