HR2735Referred to Committee

Strengthening Child Exploitation Enforcement Act

Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both

Signed into Law

119th

Congress

2025-04-08

Introduced

Cosponsors

ⓘ

Type

Sponsor

Troy E. Nehls

Republican · TX · Representative

Votes with party: 96.3% (510 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/N000026

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (8)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

2025-04-08

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

House Committee on the JudiciaryReferred To · 2025-04-08

Previously

Judiciary CommitteeReferred To · 2025-04-08

Plain-English Summary

Strengthening Child Exploitation Enforcement Act This bill makes changes to federal criminal laws related to various offenses, particularly sexual abuse offenses against minors. The bill revises the federal kidnapping statute by specifying that obtaining a victim by defrauding or deceiving a third party constitutes the offense of kidnapping. Additionally, for a kidnapping offense that involves a victim who has not attained the age of 16, the bill specifies that it is not a defense that the victim consented to the conduct of the offender, unless the offender establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the offender reasonably believed that the victim had attained the age of 16. The bill also revises statutes related to sexual abuse offenses against minors to specify the following: that crossing international lines with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a child who has not attained the age of 12 constitutes aggravated sexual abuse (currently, the statute only references crossing state lines), that the offense of sexual abuse of a minor also includes knowingly causing the intentional touching of any person by a person who has not attained the age of 16, and that attempting to commit abusive sexual contact is also a crime that is subject to the same penalty as the completed offense.

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

Subjects

Crime and Law Enforcement

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Open text view Read on Congress.gov

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