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HR 2029
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Stop Comstock Act

To revise sections 552, 1461, and 1462 of title 18, United States Code, and section 305 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1305), and for other purposes.

Introduced Mar 11, 2025

Latest action (Mar 11, 2025) Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summary

This bill amends federal obscenity laws by narrowing the scope of restrictions to focus specifically on obscene materials under existing legal standards. It removes language from the Comstock Act and related federal laws that previously restricted materials related to abortion and contraception, as well as provisions using terms like "indecent" and "immoral." The bill modifies sections of title 18 of the United States Code governing mail and importation of obscene materials, and amends the Tariff Act of 1930 regarding imported materials. The effect is to limit federal restrictions on mailing and importing materials to those defined as obscene under established legal doctrine, eliminating broader historical restrictions on abortion and contraception-related items.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

146 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Becca Balint’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • NULL $14,775
  • STATE OF VERMONT $10,516
  • INVARIANT $10,400
  • GRASSROOTS ANALYTICS $6,817
  • BEACHWOLD $5,600

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Becca Balint → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

  1. Mar 11, 2025 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
  2. Mar 11, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Text versions (1)

  • Introduced in House · Mar 11, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 11, 2025

Ms. Balint (for herself, Ms. Scanlon, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Amo, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Barragan, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Casten, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Casar, Mr. Case, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Craig, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Dexter, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Figures, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Friedman, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Ivey, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kennedy of New York, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Landsman, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Latimer, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Ms. McBride, Mrs. McClain Delaney, Ms. McCollum, Ms. McClellan, Mrs. McIver, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Min, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Ms. Pettersen, Mr. Pocan, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Sherrill, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Swalwell, Mrs. Sykes, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Waters, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. McGarvey, and Mrs. Hayes) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To revise sections 552, 1461, and 1462 of title 18, United States Code, and section 305 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1305), 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 “Stop Comstock Act”.

SEC. 2. OBSCENE MATERIALS.

(a) Title 18.—Part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in section 552—

(A) by striking “or indecent”; and

(B) by striking “or means for procuring abortion, or other articles of indecent or immoral use or tendency,”;

(2) in section 1461—

(A) by striking “Every obscene, lewd, lascivious” and all that follows through “Is declared” and inserting “All obscene materials are declared”;

(B) by striking “or section 3001(e) of title 39”; and

(C) by striking “The term ‘indecent”’ and all that follows through “assassination.”; and

(3) in section 1462—

(A) in the first undesignated paragraph—

(i) by striking “section 230(e)(2)” each place that term appears and inserting “section 230(f)(2)”; and

(ii) by striking “commerce—” and all that follows through “things may be obtained or made” and inserting “commerce any obscene material”; and

(B) in the second undesignated paragraph, by striking “matter or thing the carriage or importation of” and inserting “material”.

(b) Tariff Act of 1930.—Section 305(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1305(a)) is amended—

(1) by striking “or immoral” and all that follows through “unlawful abortion”; and

(2) by striking “Provided, That the drugs” and all that follows through “Provided further, That the Secretary” and inserting “Provided, That the Secretary”. <all>

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