In what was billed as the definitive House vote on hate crimes legislation, on September 13, the House voted, 232-192, to instruct conferees on the FY2001 defense authorization bill (H.R. 4205) to include a Senate-passed provision that would expand federal hate crimes. The vote came after the President announced that the enactment of hate crimes legislation was one of his top legislative priorities for the remainder of the 106th Congress.
During consideration of the FY2001 defense authorization bill (S. 2549) in June, the Senate approved two separate hate crimes provisions. One, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), would expand the federal definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation, disability, and gender. The language is based on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 622), also sponsored by Sen. Kennedy. The amendment was accepted, 57-42.
The other, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), would require a study on whether states and localities were prosecuting hate crimes and would authorize $5 million for the Department of Justice to prosecute hate crimes. The language is similar to a bill (S. 1406) sponsored by Sen. Hatch. The amendment was adopted, 50-49.
The motion to instruct conferees, offered by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), would instruct the House conferees to accede to the Kennedy amendment. “This bill honors the victims of hate crimes, and it recalls their memory….We are voting to dedicate our national resource, to bring the strongest laws that we have to bear against the most sinister thing that we know,” argued House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO).
Opponents of expanding current hate crimes legislation argue that there is no evidence that states are unable to adequately prosecute hate crimes; that by expanding the definition of hates, every crime would be designated a hate crime; that it would be unconstitutional; and that it would single out certain groups of people for protection.
“The question we need to ask as a Member of Congress is, do we trust our States to deal with situations where people are assaulted in general and specifically where race, religion, or sexual orientation is involved. If we do, we do not need this legislation,” argued Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) added, “I think there is an issue of fairness that troubles some people. Should certain groups in America when it comes to crimes of violence be entitled to greater resources in investigation and different laws in the prosecution than other groups?”
Proponents pointed to high profile cases in Texas and Wyoming as evidence of the need to expand the law. “The thing that distinguishes hate crimes from other crimes is that hate crimes are intended to terrorize both the crime victim and the entire community that each victim represents,” stated Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
Rep. Graham offered a competing motion to instruct the conferees not to include the Kennedy amendment, which was defeated, 196-227.
