CyberTipline Modernization Act of 2018
Public Law 115-395 · S. 3170 · 115th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Dec 21, 2018 · Crime and Law Enforcement
Sponsor: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Cosponsors (12): Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Rob Portman,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- 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.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
CyberTipline Modernization Act of 2018
(Sec. 2) This bill revises reporting requirements for electronic communication service providers and remote computing service providers (providers) who report information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.
Currently, providers must report the facts and circumstances of incidents of apparent child pornography, of which they become aware, to NCMEC via the CyberTipline. This bill retains the existing reporting requirement and provides new authority for providers to also report the facts and circumstances that indicate a child pornography violation is imminent.
Additionally, it makes various procedural changes to the reporting requirements, including to do the following:
• grant discretion to providers to determine what information to include in a report;
• permit (currently, require) the Department of Justice (DOJ) to designate foreign law enforcement agencies to receive CyberTipline reports from NCMEC;
• allow NCMEC to forward a report to a foreign law enforcement agency in certain circumstances, even if the foreign law enforcement agency has not been designated by DOJ; and
• provide explicit permission for a provider to disclose the contents of a report, including visual depictions, to law enforcement agencies, to NCMEC, or as necessary to respond to legal process.
Finally, the bill revises and updates various statutory references, including to replace references to “images” with “visual depictions” to make reporting requirements applicable to videos, in addition to images.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
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.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 4447Related bill
CyberTipline Modernization Act of 2017
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 18 actions.
- Dec 21, 2018Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 115-395.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 20, 2018FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 12, 2018FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Goodlatte asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on the Judiciary discharged.
- Sep 28, 2018FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Sep 27, 2018FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
- Sep 18, 2018CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 582.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Grassley without amendment. Without written report.
- Sep 13, 2018CommitteeCommittee · Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
- Jun 28, 2018CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
1 amendment offered to the bill, with the last recorded step of each.
- Agreed to
S.Amdt. 4023SenateSen. Chuck GrassleyR-IA· offered Sep 27, 2018Agreed to
In the nature of a substitute.
Sep 27, 2018: Amendment SA 4023 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.