To enhance the protection of children against crime by eliminating the statute of limitations for child abduction and sex crimes, providing for registration of child pornographers as sex offenders, establishing a grant program in support of AMBER Alert communications plans, and for other purposes.

April 8, 2003

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. SHELBY, and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To enhance the protection of children against crime by eliminating the statute of limitations for child abduction and sex crimes, providing for registration of child pornographers as sex offenders, establishing a grant program in support of AMBER Alert communications plans, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Protecting Children Against Crime Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CHILD ABDUCTION AND SEX CRIMES.

(a) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-

(1) IN GENERAL- Chapter 213 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Sec. 3297. Child abduction and sex offenses

`Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an indictment may be found or an information instituted at any time without limitation for any offense under section 1201 involving a minor victim, and for any felony under chapter 109A, 110, or 117, or section 1591.'.

(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 213 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

`3297. Child abduction and sex offenses.'.

(b) APPLICATION- The amendments made by this section shall apply to the prosecution of any offense committed before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this section.

SEC. 3. REGISTRATION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHERS IN THE NATIONAL SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY.

(a) JACOB WETTERLING CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN AND SEXUALLY VIOLENT OFFENDER REGISTRATION PROGRAM- Section 170101 of subtitle A of title XVII of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14071(a)) is amended--

(1) by striking the section heading and inserting the following:

`SEC. 170101. JACOB WETTERLING CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN AND SEXUALLY VIOLENT OFFENDER REGISTRATION PROGRAM.';

and

(2) in subsection (a)(3)--

(A) in clause (vii), by striking `or' at the end;

(B) by redesignating clause (viii) as clause (ix); and

(C) by inserting after clause (vii) the following:

`(viii) production or distribution of child pornography, as described in section 2251, 2252, or 2252A of title 18, United States Code; or'.

(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Justice, for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2007, such sums as may be necessary to carry out the amendments made by this section.

SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO IMPROVE AMBER ALERT COMMUNICATIONS PLANS.

(a) PROGRAM REQUIRED- The Attorney General of the United States shall carry out a program to provide grants to States for the development or enhancement of programs and activities for the support of AMBER Alert communications plans.

(b) ACTIVITIES- Activities funded by grants under the program under subsection (a) may include the development and implementation of new technologies to improve AMBER Alert communications.

(c) FEDERAL SHARE- The Federal share of the cost of any activities funded by a grant under the program under subsection (a) may not exceed 50 percent of the total cost thereof.

(d) DISTRIBUTION OF GRANT AMOUNTS ON GEOGRAPHIC BASIS- The Attorney General shall, to the maximum extent practicable, ensure the distribution of grants under the program under subsection (a) on an equitable basis throughout the various regions of the United States.

(e) ADMINISTRATION- The Attorney General shall prescribe requirements, including application requirements, for grants under the program under subsection (a).

(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS-

(1) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Justice $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2007, to carry out this section.

(2) AVAILABILITY- Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 5. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL STUDY AND REPORT CONCERNING ON-LINE PORNOGRAPHY.

(a) STUDY- The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences shall conduct a study of--

(1) the extent to which it is possible for Internet service providers to monitor Internet traffic to detect illicit child pornography sites on the Internet, and the extent to which they do so;

(2) the extent to which purveyors use credit cards to facilitate the sale of illegal child pornography on the Internet;

(3) which credit card issuers have in place a system to facilitate the identification of purveyors who use credit cards to facilitate the sale of illicit child pornography; and

(4) options for encouraging greater reporting of such illicit transactions to law enforcement officials.

(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS- Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Research Council shall submit a report to the Congress on the study conducted under subsection (a).

SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

END