S.Amdt. 4746

SA 4746. Mr. HATCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 4685 proposed by Mr. Shelby (for himself and Ms. Mikulski)
to the bill H.R. 2578, making appropriations for the Departments of
Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes; which was ordered to
lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. ___. (a) It is the sense of Congress that when a
statute or regulation defining a criminal offense fails to
specify the state of mind required for conviction, a court
should read a default standard of willfulness into the
statute or regulation unless it is clear from the text of the
statute or regulation that Congress or the agency
affirmatively intended not to require the Government to prove
any state of mind.
(b) In this section, the term ``willfulness'' means acting
with knowledge that one's conduct is unlawful.
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