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HR 286119th CongressIntroduced
Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act of 2025
Introduced: Nov 1, 2025
Civil Rights & JusticeDefense & National SecurityTechnology & Innovation
Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs
This legislation amends federal criminal code to specifically target 'swatting' incidents by imposing enhanced penalties for false emergency reports, establishing civil liability for response costs, and broadly defining emergency responses to cover deployments by public safety agencies and nonprofit rescue organizations.
Key Points
- 1The bill criminalizes false communications intended to trigger emergency responses with penalties up to 5 years imprisonment, escalating to 20 years for serious bodily injury and life imprisonment if death occurs.
- 2It creates civil liability allowing recovery of emergency response expenses incurred by government agencies or private organizations due to false reports made via interstate commerce or mail.
- 3The legislation explicitly defines 'emergency response' to include personnel deployments, evacuation orders, and public warnings issued by any public safety entity or nonprofit fire/rescue organization.
Impact Areas
law enforcement agencies responding to false emergenciesvictims of swatting incidents facing physical dangeremergency response organizations incurring operational costsperpetrators of false reporting facing criminal prosecution
Generated by legislative-analyst-v3 on Nov 5, 2025