Sponsors (5)
The bill strengthens federal authority to deter and prosecute road blockades to protect commerce and emergency access, but does so by imposing stiffer federal penalties and shifting prosecutions to the federal system, which restricts some protest tactics and may alter other enforcement authorities.
Drivers, commuters, and businesses will face fewer deliberate road blockages, reducing delivery and commuting delays and keeping commerce flowing.
Federal prosecutors and courts gain a clear statutory tool to investigate and prosecute coordinated blockades that cross state or local lines, improving cross‑jurisdiction enforcement.
The law may deter large-scale obstructive demonstrations that create emergency response delays, improving public safety and emergency access on affected roadways.
People who participate in road blockades, including protesters using civil disobedience, can face federal criminal charges and up to 5 years in prison, increasing criminal penalties for protest tactics.
Shifting road‑blocking offenses to the federal level may move cases out of local courts into federal courts, expanding prosecution scope and likely increasing legal costs and resource burdens for defendants and local law enforcement.
Removing phrase‑based references to 'threats of violence' in multiple statutes could narrow the legal grounds for certain federal actions or benefits tied to violent threats, potentially limiting some enforcement or administrative determinations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal crime for intentionally blocking public roads or highways to affect commerce, punishable by fines and/or up to 5 years imprisonment, and updates related statutory cross-references.
Introduced June 18, 2025 by Thomas Roland Tillis · Last progress June 18, 2025
Creates a new federal crime making it unlawful to intentionally block, delay, or otherwise affect commerce or the movement of articles or commodities by blocking a public road or highway; violators face fines and/or up to 5 years in prison. Also updates cross-references in several federal statutes to remove certain phrase-based references to “threats of violence” or similar language, and renumbers existing Hobbs Act subsections to accommodate the new offense.