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To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish a safety buffer zone to protect certain Federal law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
Summary
The Federal Halo Act would create a new federal criminal offense for approaching or remaining within 15 feet of a Federal law enforcement officer after receiving a verbal warning, if the officer is engaged in lawful performance of duties. The offense applies only if the person's intent is to impede or interfere with the officer's performance, threaten the officer with physical harm, or harass the officer, which is defined as knowingly causing substantial emotional distress without legitimate purpose. Violation of this provision would result in a fine and/or imprisonment for not more than 5 years. The bill amends title 18 of the United States Code to establish this prohibition.
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)
2 cosponsors
- Rep. Ezell, Mike [R-MS-4] (R-MS)
- Rep. McGuire, John J. [R-VA-5] (R-VA)
Actions (2)
- May 13, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- May 13, 2026 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.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 13, 2026
Ms. Malliotakis (for herself, Mr. Ezell, and Mr. McGuire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish a safety buffer zone to protect certain Federal law enforcement officers, 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 “Federal Halo Act”.
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR OBSTRUCTING FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER ACTIVITIES.
(a) In General.—Chapter 73 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 1522. Obstructing law enforcement activities
“(a) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Federal law enforcement officer.—The term ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ means any Federal law enforcement officer or agent who is engaged in the lawful performance of duties.
“(2) Harass.—The term ‘harass’ means to knowingly engage in a course of conduct directed at a Federal law enforcement officer that intentionally causes substantial emotional distress in that Federal law enforcement officer and serves no legitimate purpose.
“(b) Offense.—It shall be unlawful for a person, after receiving a verbal warning not to approach from an individual whom the person knows or reasonably should know is a Federal law enforcement officer, and who is engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty, to knowingly violate the warning and approach or remain within 15 feet of the Federal law enforcement officer with the intent to—
“(1) impede or interfere with the ability of the Federal Law Enforcement Officer to perform that legal duty;
“(2) threaten the Federal Law Enforcement Officer with physical harm; or
“(3) harass the Federal Law Enforcement Officer.
“(c) Penalty.—Any person who violates subsection (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.”.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 73 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“1522. Obstructing law enforcement activities.”. <all>
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