Anti-Arson Act of 1982
Public Law 97-298 · H.R. 6454 · 97th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Oct 12, 1982 · Crime and Law Enforcement
Sponsor: Rep. William Hughes (D-NJ-2)
Cosponsors (4): Rep. Harold Sawyer, Rep. Edward Roybal,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateVoice vote
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.
Anti-Arson Act of 1982 - Amends the Federal criminal code to extend coverage of current offenses involving the use of explosives to include the use of fire.
Authorizes the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to classify the offense of arson as a Part I crime in its Uniform Crime Reports and to prepare a special statistical report with the National Fire Data Center for the crime of arson.
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.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 10 actions.
- Oct 12, 1982Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 97-298.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 1, 1982PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Sep 28, 1982Resolving differencesResolving differences · House Agreed to Senate Amendments by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 22, 1982FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
- Aug 2, 1982FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- Jul 28, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Judiciary Committee
- Jul 20, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Judiciary Committee
- May 20, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
- 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.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.