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To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the causation element in the Federal hate crime statute, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the federal hate crime statute to clarify the causation requirement for prosecuting hate crimes. Currently, the statute requires that a crime be committed "because of" a victim's race, color, religion, national origin, or disability. The bill changes this language to clarify that the victim's protected characteristic only needs to be "a contributory motivating factor" for the crime, rather than the sole or primary reason. This modification applies to both violent crimes motivated by race, color, religion, or national origin, and crimes motivated by disability. The change lowers the threshold for establishing that a crime qualifies as a hate crime under federal law.
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)
- Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA)
7 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Ted Lieu’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NOT-EMPLOYED $255,097
- NULL $21,050
- COTCHETT, PITRE & MCCARTHY, LLP $13,200
- TRENDNET $13,200
- NETFLIX $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Ted Lieu → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jun 26, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jun 26, 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)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 2025
Mr. Lieu (for himself, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Norton, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, and Ms. Velazquez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the causation element in the Federal hate crime statute, 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 Hate Crimes Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION AS TO CAUSATION ELEMENT IN HATE CRIMES.
Section 249(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A)—
(A) by striking “because of” and inserting “if”; and
(B) by inserting after “origin of any person” the following: “was a contributory motivating factor for causing or attempting to cause such injury”; and
(2) in paragraph (2)(A), in the matter preceding clause
(i)—
(A) by striking “because of” and inserting “if”; and
(B) by inserting after “disability of any person” the following: “was a contributory motivating factor for causing or attempting to cause such injury”. <all>
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