Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB59 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. 59
5	5	To specify the state of mind required for conviction for criminal offenses
6	6	that lack an expressly identified state of mind, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY3, 2025
9	9	Mr. B
10	10	IGGSof Arizona (for himself and Mr. OGLES) introduced the following
11	11	bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To specify the state of mind required for conviction for
14	14	criminal offenses that lack an expressly identified state
15	15	of mind, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mens Rea Reform Act 4
20	20	of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. STATE OF MIND ELEMENT FOR CRIMINAL OF-6
22	22	FENSES. 7
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 8
25	25	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
26	26	lowing: 10
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29	29	•HR 59 IH
30	30	‘‘§ 28. State of mind when not otherwise specifically 1
31	31	provided 2
32	32	‘‘(a) D
33	33	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 3
34	34	‘‘(1) the term ‘covered offense’— 4
35	35	‘‘(A) means an offense— 5
36	36	‘‘(i) specified in— 6
37	37	‘‘(I) this title or any other Act of 7
38	38	Congress; 8
39	39	‘‘(II) any regulation; or 9
40	40	‘‘(III) any law (including regula-10
41	41	tions) of any State or foreign govern-11
42	42	ment incorporated by reference into 12
43	43	this title or any other Act of Con-13
44	44	gress; and 14
45	45	‘‘(ii) that is punishable by imprison-15
46	46	ment, a maximum criminal fine of at least 16
47	47	$2,500, or both; and 17
48	48	‘‘(B) does not include— 18
49	49	‘‘(i) any offense set forth in chapter 19
50	50	47 or chapter 47A of title 10; or 20
51	51	‘‘(ii) any offense incorporated by sec-21
52	52	tion 13(a) of this title; 22
53	53	‘‘(2) the term ‘knowingly’, as related to an ele-23
54	54	ment of an offense, means— 24
55	55	‘‘(A) if the element involves the nature of 25
56	56	the conduct of a person or the attendant cir-26
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59	59	•HR 59 IH
60	60	cumstances, that the person is aware that the 1
61	61	conduct of the person is of that nature or that 2
62	62	such circumstances exist; and 3
63	63	‘‘(B) if the element involves a result of the 4
64	64	conduct of a person, that the person is aware 5
65	65	that it is practically certain that the conduct of 6
66	66	the person will cause such a result; 7
67	67	‘‘(3) the term ‘state of mind’ means willfully, 8
68	68	intentionally, maliciously, knowingly, recklessly, wan-9
69	69	tonly, negligently, with reason to believe, or any 10
70	70	other word or phrase that is synonymous with or 11
71	71	substantially similar to any such term; and 12
72	72	‘‘(4) the term ‘willfully’, as related to an ele-13
73	73	ment of an offense, means— 14
74	74	‘‘(A) that the person acted with knowledge 15
75	75	that the person’s conduct was unlawful; and 16
76	76	‘‘(B) if the element involves the nature, at-17
77	77	tendant circumstances, object, or result of the 18
78	78	conduct of a person, that— 19
79	79	‘‘(i) the person had knowledge of the 20
80	80	nature, attendant circumstances, object, or 21
81	81	result of the conduct of the person; and 22
82	82	‘‘(ii) it was the conscious object of the 23
83	83	person to engage in conduct— 24
84	84	‘‘(I) of that nature; 25
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87	87	•HR 59 IH
88	88	‘‘(II) with that attendant cir-1
89	89	cumstance; 2
90	90	‘‘(III) with that object; or 3
91	91	‘‘(IV) to cause such a result. 4
92	92	‘‘(b) D
93	93	EFAULTREQUIREMENT.—Except as provided 5
94	94	in subsections (c) and (d), a covered offense shall be con-6
95	95	strued to require the Government to prove beyond a rea-7
96	96	sonable doubt that the defendant acted— 8
97	97	‘‘(1) with the state of mind specified in the text 9
98	98	of the covered offense for each element of the of-10
99	99	fense for which the text specifies a state of mind; 11
100	100	and 12
101	101	‘‘(2) knowingly, with respect to any element of 13
102	102	the offense for which the text of the covered offense 14
103	103	does not specify a state of mind. 15
104	104	‘‘(c) F
105	105	AILURETODISTINGUISHAMONGELE-16
106	106	MENTS.—Except as provided in subsection (d), if the text 17
107	107	of a covered offense specifies the state of mind required 18
108	108	for commission of the covered offense without specifying 19
109	109	the elements of the covered offense to which the state of 20
110	110	mind applies, the state of mind specified shall apply to 21
111	111	all elements of the covered offense, unless a contrary pur-22
112	112	pose plainly appears. 23
113	113	‘‘(d) E
114	114	XCEPTIONS.— 24
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117	117	•HR 59 IH
118	118	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (b)(2) and (c) 1
119	119	shall not apply with respect to— 2
120	120	‘‘(A) any element for which the text of the 3
121	121	covered offense makes clear that Congress af-4
122	122	firmatively intended not to require the Govern-5
123	123	ment to prove any state of mind with respect to 6
124	124	such element; 7
125	125	‘‘(B) any element of a covered offense, to 8
126	126	the extent that the element establishes— 9
127	127	‘‘(i) subject matter jurisdiction over 10
128	128	the covered offense; or 11
129	129	‘‘(ii) venue with respect to trial of the 12
130	130	covered offense; or 13
131	131	‘‘(C) any element of a covered offense, to 14
132	132	the extent that applying subsections (b)(2) and 15
133	133	(c) to such element would lessen the degree of 16
134	134	mental culpability that the Government is re-17
135	135	quired to prove with respect to that element 18
136	136	under— 19
137	137	‘‘(i) precedent of the Supreme Court 20
138	138	of the United States; or 21
139	139	‘‘(ii) any other provision of this title, 22
140	140	any other Act of Congress, or any regula-23
141	141	tion. 24
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144	144	•HR 59 IH
145	145	‘‘(2) MERE ABSENCE INSUFFICIENT .—For pur-1
146	146	poses of paragraph (1)(A), the mere absence of a 2
147	147	specified state of mind for an element of a covered 3
148	148	offense in the text of the covered offense shall not 4
149	149	be construed to mean that Congress affirmatively in-5
150	150	tended not to require the Government to prove any 6
151	151	state of mind with respect to that element. 7
152	152	‘‘(e) A
153	153	PPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply with 8
154	154	respect to a covered offense— 9
155	155	‘‘(1) without regard to whether the provision or 10
156	156	provisions specifying the covered offense are enacted, 11
157	157	promulgated, or finalized before, on, or after the 12
158	158	date of enactment of this section; and 13
159	159	‘‘(2) that was committed— 14
160	160	‘‘(A) on or after the date of enactment of 15
161	161	this section; or 16
162	162	‘‘(B) before the date of enactment of this 17
163	163	section, unless— 18
164	164	‘‘(i) applying this section to such cov-19
165	165	ered offense would— 20
166	166	‘‘(I) punish as a crime conduct 21
167	167	that was innocent when done; 22
168	168	‘‘(II) increase the punishment for 23
169	169	the covered offense; or 24
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172	172	•HR 59 IH
173	173	‘‘(III) deprive a person charged 1
174	174	with the covered offense of any de-2
175	175	fense available according to law at the 3
176	176	time the covered offense occurred; 4
177	177	‘‘(ii) a jury has been empaneled and 5
178	178	sworn in a prosecution for the covered of-6
179	179	fense before the date of enactment of this 7
180	180	section; 8
181	181	‘‘(iii) the first witness has been sworn 9
182	182	in a prosecution for the covered offense 10
183	183	tried without a jury before the date of en-11
184	184	actment of this section; or 12
185	185	‘‘(iv) a sentence has been imposed fol-13
186	186	lowing a plea of guilty or nolo contendere 14
187	187	in a prosecution for the covered offense be-15
188	188	fore the date of enactment of this section. 16
189	189	‘‘(f) S
190	190	UBSEQUENTLYENACTEDLAWS.—No provision 17
191	191	of law enacted after the date of enactment of this section 18
192	192	shall be construed to repeal, modify the text or effect of, 19
193	193	or supersede in whole or in part this section, unless such 20
194	194	law specifically refers to this section and explicitly repeals, 21
195	195	modifies the text or effect of, or supersedes in whole or 22
196	196	in part this section.’’. 23
197	197	(b) T
198	198	ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 24
199	199	The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 18, United 25
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202	202	•HR 59 IH
203	203	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-1
204	204	lowing: 2
205	205	‘‘28. State of mind when not otherwise specifically provided.’’.
206	206	Æ
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