Sponsors (3)
The bill tightens and clarifies domestic-terrorism law to better protect responders and aid prosecutors, at the cost of expanding federal reach into some protest- and property-related incidents with increased civil-liberty risks and federal caseload burdens.
Law-enforcement officers, firefighters/EMS, and healthcare workers would be more clearly protected because attacks that endanger life or cause major property damage targeting them can be pursued as domestic terrorism, increasing the potential for severe federal charges against perpetrators.
Federal prosecutors and courts gain clearer statutory language including a property-damage threshold, reducing ambiguity in charging and adjudication of violent obstructive acts and making prosecutions more consistent.
Protesters or demonstrators who obstruct officers or emergency access without causing serious physical harm could face elevated exposure to domestic-terrorism charges, increasing risk of severe federal penalties for individuals engaged in protests.
Broadening the harm threshold to include acts 'likely to cause significant damage to property' could expand the scope of domestic-terrorism prosecutions — especially for property-focused incidents — leading to more federal involvement and longer penalties.
Tighter statutory definitions and thresholds may shift more cases from state to federal jurisdiction, increasing DOJ caseloads and resource demands for federal courts and prosecutors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Rewrites the federal "domestic terrorism" definition to require violent or property-damaging crimes that also obstruct or impede law enforcement, first responders, or persons seeking medical attention.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States, to include property damage in acts that constitute domestic terrorism, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 15, 2026 by John J. McGuire · Last progress May 15, 2026
Changes the federal definition of “domestic terrorism” so that an act only qualifies if it (1) violates federal or state criminal law that either threatens human life or causes significant property damage, and (2) obstructs or impedes a law enforcement officer, first responder, or a person seeking medical attention. The bill repackages the statutory language to explicitly include property damage as an alternative to endangering human life and to require an obstruction component for qualifying conduct. The practical effect is to make obstruction of emergency personnel or persons seeking medical care a required element for labeling violent or destructive acts as domestic terrorism under the cited statute, altering how certain incidents could be classified and investigated at the federal level.