Commission on Domestic Terrorism Act of 2021

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1178 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1178

  To establish the National Commission on Domestic Terrorism, and for
                            other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 18, 2021

  Ms. Speier (for herself, Mr. Reed, Ms. Sherrill, and Mr. Garbarino)
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
                           Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To establish the National Commission on Domestic Terrorism, 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 ``Commission on Domestic Terrorism Act
of 2021''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

    There is established in the legislative branch the National
Commission on Domestic Terrorism (in this Act referred to as the
``Commission'').

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    Consistent with the functions described in section 5, the purposes
of the Commission are to--
            (1) examine and report upon the Federal Government's
        failure to respond to and prevent domestic terrorist attacks in
        the United States in the past 20 years;
            (2) ascertain, evaluate, and report on the evidence
        developed by all relevant governmental agencies regarding the
        facts and circumstances surrounding domestic terrorist attacks
        in the United States in the past 20 years;
            (3) make a full and complete accounting of the
        circumstances surrounding domestic terrorist attacks that
        occurred in the past 20 years, and the extent of the United
        States preparedness for, and response to, the attacks; and
            (4) investigate and report to the President, Congress, and
        the public on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations
        for corrective measures that can be taken to prevent acts of
        domestic terrorism.

SEC. 4. COMPOSITION OF COMMISSION.

    (a) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of 10 members, of
whom--
            (1) 1 member shall be appointed by the President, who shall
        serve as Chair of the Commission;
            (2) 1 member shall be appointed by the leader of the Senate
        (majority or minority leader, as the case may be) of the
        Republican Party, in consultation with the leader of the House
        of Representatives (majority or minority leader, as the case
        may be) of the Republican Party, who shall serve as Vice-Chair
        of the Commission;
            (3) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of
        the Senate leadership of the Democratic Party;
            (4) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of
        the leadership of the House of Representatives of the
        Republican Party;
            (5) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of
        the Senate leadership of the Republican Party; and
            (6) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of
        the leadership of the House of Representatives of the
        Democratic Party.
    (b) Timing for Appointment.--All members of the Commission shall be
appointed not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this
Act.
    (c) Qualifications; Initial Meeting.--
            (1) Political party affiliation.--Not more than 5 members
        of the Commission shall be from the same political party.
            (2) Nongovernmental appointees.--An individual appointed to
        the Commission may not be an officer or employee of the Federal
        Government or any State or local government.
            (3) Other qualifications.--It is the sense of Congress that
        individuals appointed to the Commission should be prominent
        United States citizens, with national recognition and
        significant depth of experience in such professions as
        governmental service, law enforcement, the armed services,
        legal practice, including experts in national security law,
        criminal law, and civil rights law, public administration,
        intelligence gathering, online disinformation and
        misinformation, online radicalization, technology, and social
        sciences.
            (4) Initial meeting.--The Commission shall meet and begin
        the initial operation of the Commission as soon as practicable.
    (d) Quorum; Vacancies.--After its initial meeting, the Commission
shall meet upon the call of the Chair or a majority of its members.
Eight members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum. Any vacancy
in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in
the same manner in which the original appointment was made.

SEC. 5. FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION.

    The functions of the Commission are to--
            (1) conduct an investigation that--
                    (A) investigates relevant facts and circumstances
                relating to the Federal Government's failure to respond
                to and prevent acts of domestic terrorism in the past
                20 years, including, but not limited to, relevant facts
                and circumstances relating to the domestic terrorist
                attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,
                including any relevant legislation, plan, policy,
                practice, or procedure; and
                    (B) may include relevant facts and circumstances
                relating to--
                            (i) intelligence agencies;
                            (ii) law enforcement agencies;
                            (iii) homeland security agencies;
                            (iv) the Armed Forces;
                            (v) communications platforms;
                            (vi) financial services platforms;
                            (vii) the role of congressional oversight
                        and resource allocations; and
                            (viii) other areas of the public and
                        private sectors determined relevant by the
                        Commission for its inquiry;
            (2) identify, review, and evaluate the lessons learned from
        acts of domestic terrorism in the past 20 years, including, but
        not limited to, the domestic terrorist attack on the United
        States Capitol on January 6, 2021, regarding the structure,
        coordination, and management arrangements of the Federal
        Government, and, if appropriate, State and local governments
        and nongovernmental entities, relative to detecting,
        preventing, and responding to such domestic terrorist attacks;
        and
            (3) submit to the President and Congress such reports as
        are required by this Act containing such findings, conclusions,
        and recommendations as the Commission shall determine,
        including proposing organization, coordination, planning,
        management arrangements, procedures, rules, and regulations.

SEC. 6. POWERS OF COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Hearings and evidence.--The Commission or, on the
        authority of the Commission, any subcommittee or member
        thereof, may, for the purpose of carrying out this Act--
                    (A) hold such hearings and sit and act at such
                times and places, take such testimony, receive such
                evidence, administer such oaths; and
                    (B) subject to paragraph (2)(A), require, by
                subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of
                such witnesses and the production of such books,
                records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and
                documents, as the Commission or such designated
                subcommittee or designated member may determine
                advisable.
            (2) Subpoenas.--
                    (A) Issuance.--
                            (i) In general.--A subpoena may be issued
                        under this subsection only--
                                    (I) by the agreement of the Chair
                                and the Vice-Chair; or
                                    (II) by the affirmative vote of 6
                                members of the Commission.
                            (ii) Signature.--Subject to clause (i),
                        subpoenas issued under this subsection may be
                        issued under the signature of the Chair or any
                        member designated by a majority of the
                        Commission, and may be served by any person
                        designated by the Chair or by a member
                        designated by a majority of the Commission.
                    (B) Enforcement.--
                            (i) In general.--In the case of contumacy
                        or failure to obey a subpoena issued under
                        paragraph (1), the United States district court
                        for the judicial district in which the
                        subpoenaed person resides, is served, or may be
                        found, or where the subpoena is returnable, may
                        issue an order requiring such person to appear
                        at any designated place to testify or to
                        produce documentary or other evidence. Any
                        failure to obey the order of the court may be
                        punished by the court as a contempt of that
                        court.
                            (ii) Additional enforcement.--In the case
                        of any failure of any witness to comply with
                        any subpoena or to testify when summoned under
                        authority of this section, the Commission may,
                        by majority vote, certify a statement of fact
                        constituting such failure to the appropriate
                        United States attorney, who may bring the
                        matter before the grand jury for its action,
                        under the same statutory authority and
                        procedures as if the United States attorney had
                        received a certification under sections 102
                        through 104 of the Revised Statutes of the
                        United States (2 U.S.C. 192 through 194).
    (b) Contracting.--The Commission may, to such extent and in such
amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to
enable the Commission to discharge its duties under this Act.
    (c) Information From Federal Agencies.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission is authorized to secure
        directly from any executive department, bureau, agency, board,
        commission, office, independent establishment, or
        instrumentality of the Government, information, suggestions,
        estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this title. Each
        department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office,
        independent establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the
        extent authorized by law, furnish such information,
        suggestions, estimates, and statistics directly to the
        Commission, upon request made by the Chair, the chair of any
        subcommittee created by a majority of the Commission, or any
        member designated by a majority of the Commission.
            (2) Receipt, handling, storage, and dissemination.--
        Information shall only be received, handled, stored, and
        disseminated by members of the Commission and its staff
        consistent with all applicable statutes, regulations, and
        Executive orders.
    (d) Assistance From Federal Agencies.--
            (1) General services administration.--The Administrator of
        General Services shall provide to the Commission on a
        reimbursable basis administrative support and other services
        for the performance of the Commission's functions.
            (2) Other departments and agencies.--In addition to the
        assistance prescribed in paragraph (1), departments and
        agencies of the United States are authorized to provide to the
        Commission such services, funds, facilities, staff, and other
        support services as they may determine advisable and as may be
        authorized by law.
    (e) Gifts.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of in-kind
gifts or devises of services or property, both real and personal, for
the purpose of aiding or facilitating the work of the Commission.
    (f) Postal Services.--The Commission may use the United States
mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as departments
and agencies of the United States.

SEC. 7. NONAPPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.)
shall not apply to the Commission.
    (b) Public Meetings and Release of Public Versions of Reports.--The
Commission shall--
            (1) hold public hearings and meetings to the extent
        appropriate; and
            (2) release public versions of the reports required under
        section 11.
    (c) Public Hearings.--Any public hearings of the Commission shall
be conducted in a manner consistent with the protection of information
provided to or developed for or by the Commission as required by any
applicable statute, regulation, or Executive order.

SEC. 8. STAFF OF COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Appointment and compensation.--The Chair, in accordance
        with rules agreed upon by the Commission, may appoint and fix
        the compensation of a Staff Director and such other personnel
        as may be necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its
        functions, except that no rate of pay fixed under this
        subsection may exceed the equivalent of that payable for a
        position at level V of the Executive Schedule under section
        5316 of title 5, United States Code.
            (2) Members of the commission.--Any member of the
        Commission shall not be considered a Federal employee except
        for purposes of chapter 81 of title 5 (relating to compensation
        for injury), and sections 2671 through 2680 of title 28
        (relating to tort claims).
    (b) Coverage Under Congressional Accountability Act of 1995.--For
purposes of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301
et seq.)--
            (1) the Commission shall be considered an employing office;
        and
            (2) the personnel of the Commission shall be considered
        covered employees.
    (c) Detailees.--Any Federal Government employee may be detailed to
the Commission without reimbursement from the Commission, and such
detailee shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of their
regular employment without interruption.
    (d) Consultant Services.--The Commission is authorized to procure
the services of experts and consultants in accordance with section 3109
of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed the daily
rate paid a person occupying a position at level IV of the Executive
Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 9. COMPENSATION AND TRAVEL EXPENSES.

    (a) Compensation.--Each member of the Commission may be compensated
at not to exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay
in effect for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under
section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day during which
that member is engaged in the actual performance of the duties of the
Commission.
    (b) Travel Expenses.--While away from their homes or regular places
of business in the performance of services for the Commission, members
of the Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem
in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as persons employed
intermittently in the Government service are allowed expenses under
section 5703(b) of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 10. SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR COMMISSION MEMBERS AND STAFF.

    The appropriate Federal agencies or departments shall cooperate
with the Commission in expeditiously providing to the Commission
members and staff appropriate security clearances to the extent
possible pursuant to existing procedures and requirements, except that
no person shall be provided with access to classified information under
this Act without the appropriate security clearances.

SEC. 11. REPORTS; TERMINATION.

    (a) Initial Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the
first meeting of the Commission, the Commission shall submit to the
President and Congress an initial report containing such findings,
conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures as have been
agreed to by a majority of Commission members.
    (b) Final Report.--Not later than 18 months after the submission of
the initial report of the Commission, the Commission shall submit to
the President and Congress a final report containing such findings,
conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures as have been
agreed to by a majority of Commission members.
    (c) Termination.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission, and all the authorities of
        this Act, shall terminate 60 days after the date on which the
        final report is submitted under subsection (b).
            (2) Administrative activities before termination.--The
        Commission may use the 60-day period referred to in paragraph
        (1) for the purpose of concluding its activities, including
        providing testimony to committees of Congress concerning its
        reports and disseminating the final report.

SEC. 12. DOMESTIC TERRORISM DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``domestic terrorism'' has the meaning given
such term in section 2331 of title 18, United States Code.

SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary to carry out this Act, to remain available until expended.
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