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To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to witness retaliation, witness tampering and jury tampering.

Public Law 104-214 · H.R. 3120 · 104th Congress · began in the House

Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 1, 1996 · Crime and Law Enforcement

Sponsor: Rep. Jon Fox (R-PA-13)

Cosponsors: None

Passage votes

  • HouseVoice vote
  • SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Revises Federal criminal code provisions regarding retaliating against or tampering with a witness, a victim, or an informant in a criminal case, or influencing or injuring an officer or juror in a criminal case through the threat or use of physical force, to provide for a maximum term of imprisonment of the higher of that otherwise provided by law or the maximum term that could have been imposed for any offense charged in the case.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

  • Judiciary Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee
Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 16 actions.

  1. Oct 1, 1996Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 104-214.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Sep 20, 1996PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Sep 19, 1996FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  5. May 7, 1996FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  6. FloorFloor · On passage Passed by voice vote.
  7. FloorFloor · The House adopted the amendment in the nature of a substitute as agreed to by the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.
  8. FloorFloor · Mr. McCollum asked unanimous consent that, during the consideration of the bill in the Committee of the Whole, pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 422, the Chairman may postponed until a time during further consideration in the Committee of the Whole a request for a recorded v…
  9. FloorFloor · Rule H. Res. 422 passed House.
  10. May 1, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Judiciary Committee
  11. Apr 24, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Judiciary Committee
  12. Mar 21, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  13. CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  14. Mar 20, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
  15. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  16. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.