text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Bias Crimes Compensation Act of 
  1993''.
  
  SEC. 2. CIVIL RIGHTS.
  
      (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
              (1) bias-motivated crimes of violence constitute crimes in 
          violation of the victim's right to be free from discrimination 
          on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, gender, 
          religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or 
          physical or mental disability;
              (2) State and Federal criminal laws do not adequately 
          protect against the bias element of bias-motivated crimes of 
          violence, which separates these crimes from acts of random 
          violence, nor do those laws adequately provide victims of bias-
          motivated crimes of violence the opportunity to vindicate their 
          interests;
              (3) existing bias and discrimination in the criminal 
          justice system often deprive victims of bias-motivated crimes 
          of violence of equal protection of the laws and the redress to 
          which they are entitled;
              (4) bias-motivated crimes of violence have a substantial 
          adverse effect on interstate commerce, by deterring potential 
          victims from traveling interstate, from engaging in employment 
          in interstate business, and from transacting with business, and 
          in places involved, in interstate commerce;
              (5) bias-motivated crimes of violence have a substantial 
          adverse effect on interstate commerce, by diminishing national 
          productivity, increasing medical and other costs, and 
          decreasing the supply of and the demand for interstate 
          products;
              (6) a Federal civil rights claim, as created in this 
          section, is necessary to guarantee equal protection of the laws 
          and to reduce the substantial adverse effects of bias-motivated 
          crimes of violence on interstate commerce; and
              (7) victims of bias-motivated crimes of violence have a 
          right to equal protection of the laws, including a system of 
          justice that is unaffected by bias or discrimination and that, 
          at every relevant stage, treats such crimes as seriously as 
          other violent crimes.
      (b) Right.--All individuals within the United States, and the 
  special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 
  shall have the right to be free from bias-motivated crimes of violence.
      (c) Claim.--Any person, including a person who acts under color of 
  any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, who 
  deprives an individual of the right secured by subsection (b) shall be 
  liable to the individual injured, in a civil action in any court of 
  competent jurisdiction, for compensatory damages of not less than 
  $100,000, punitive damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or 
  any combination thereof.
      (d) Limitation, Procedure, and Rule of Construction.--
              (1) Limitation.--Nothing in this section entitles an 
          individual to a claim under subsection (c) for random acts of 
          violence unrelated to bias or for acts that cannot be 
          demonstrated, by a preponderance of the evidence, to be bias-
          motivated crimes of violence.
              (2) No prior criminal action.--Nothing in this section 
          requires a prior criminal complaint, prosecution, or conviction 
          to establish the necessary elements of a claim under subsection 
          (c).
              (3) Concurrent jurisdiction.--The Federal and State courts 
          shall have concurrent jurisdiction over actions brought 
          pursuant to this section.
              (4) Rule of construction.--Neither section 1367 of title 28 
          of the United States Code nor subsection (c) of this section 
          shall be construed, by reason of a claim arising under such 
          subsection, to confer on the courts of the United States 
          supplemental jurisdiction of any State law claim seeking the 
          establishment of a divorce, alimony, equitable distribution of 
          marital property, or child custody decree.
      (e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
              (1) the term ``bias-motivated'' means committed because of, 
          on the basis of, and due to (at least in part) an animus based 
          on, actual or perceived race, color, gender, religion, national 
          origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or physical or mental 
          disability of the victim;
              (2) the term ``crime of violence'' means--
                      (A) an act or series of acts that would constitute 
                  State or Federal offense of a kind described in section 
                  16 of title 18, United States Code, and punishable by a 
                  maximum term of imprisonment exceeding one year, but 
                  excludes an offense against property that presents no 
                  serious risk of physical or mental disability injury to 
                  an individual; or
                      (B) one or more actions that would constitute such 
                  offense but for the relationship between the person who 
                  takes such actions and the individual against whom such 
                  actions are taken;
          whether or not such offense or such actions result in criminal 
          charges, prosecution, or conviction and whether or not such 
          actions were taken within the United States or the special 
          maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States;
              (3) the term ``disability'' has the meaning given it in 
          section 3(2) of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 
          U.S.C. 12102(2)); and
              (4) the term ``special maritime and territorial 
          jurisdiction of the United States'' has the meaning given such 
          term in section 7 of title 18, United States Code.
      (f) Limitation on Removal.--Section 1445 of title 28, United States 
  Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
      ``(d) A civil action in any State court arising under section 2 of 
  the Bias Crimes Compensation Act of 1993 may not be removed to any 
  district court of the United States.''.
      (g) Authority To Award Attorney's Fee.--Section 722(b) of the 
  Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by 
  inserting ``section 2 of the Bias Crimes Compensation Act of 1993,'' 
  after ``Public Law 92-318,''.
target: Bias Crimes Compensation Act of 1993 - States that all U.S. individuals shall have the right to be free from bias-motivated crimes of violence (crimes arising from differences in race, color, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability).  Creates a Federal civil rights claim against anyone who deprives an individual of such right, with compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive or declaratory relief.  Provides limitations, procedures, and rules of construction, including the limitation that random acts of violence, as opposed to bias-motivated acts, shall not be a basis for such a claim.
feat_title: Bias Crimes Compensation Act of 1993