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National Guard Protective Zone Act
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish criminal penalties for interfering with National Guard protective zones.
Summary
This bill creates a federal criminal offense for knowingly entering or remaining within a posted protective zone around a National Guard member during an authorized deployment with the intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with the member's official duties. A posted protective zone is defined as an area no more than 15 feet around a National Guard member that is marked by verbal warning, signage, barricade tape, or other reasonable means. Violations are punishable by a fine and up to one year of imprisonment. If the violation involves physical contact with, throwing an object at, or spitting on the National Guard member, the maximum imprisonment increases to five years. The bill includes a rule of construction stating that nothing in the provision prohibits First Amendment-protected activity conducted outside a posted protective zone.
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)
- Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Tom Cotton’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $80,461
- APOLLO MANAGEMENT $25,600
- APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT $19,800
- BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS $13,200
- APOLLO $11,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Tom Cotton → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Dec 18, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Dec 18, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 18, 2025
Mr. Cotton (for himself and Mr. Budd) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish criminal penalties for interfering with National Guard protective zones.
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 “National Guard Protective Zone Act”.
SEC. 2. INTERFERENCE WITH NATIONAL GUARD PROTECTIVE ZONE.
(a) In General.—Chapter 67 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 1390. Interference with National Guard protective zone
“(a) Definition.—In this section, the term ‘posted protective zone’ means an area around a member of the National Guard—
“(1) the perimeter of which is not more than 15 feet from the member; and
“(2) that is marked by a verbal warning, visible signage, barricade tape, or other reasonable means.
“(b) Offense.—It shall be unlawful, during a deployment authorized under chapter 15 of title 10 or under title 32, for any person to knowingly enter or remain within a posted protective zone with the intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with the official duties of a member of the National Guard who is within the posted protective zone.
“(c) Penalties.—
“(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), any person who violates subsection (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
“(2) Aggravated penalty.—If, in the course of committing a violation of subsection (b), a person makes physical contact with, throws an object at, or spits on the member of the National Guard, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 5 years.
“(d) Rule of Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit activity protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that is conducted outside a posted protective zone.”.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 67 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“1390. Interference with National Guard protective zone.”. <all>
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