Future Caucus Members Fight to Grant Americans Legal Recourse Against Foreign Actors

UPDATE: As of June 1, 2021, Future Caucus members Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL-7) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA-6) have signed on in support of the HACT Act. The bill now has 19 Democratic and 12 Republican co-sponsors.

HR1607, the HACT Act, was recently introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Colin Allred (TX-32). The bill, which is active and has been referred to the House Judiciary committee, is co-sponsored by MAP’s Congressional Future Caucus members Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-3), Rep. Joe Neguse (CO-2), and Rep. Jaime Herrea Beutler (WA-3).  

The bill seeks to address the growing threat of foreign cybersecurity attacks against the United States, ranging from the recent SolarWinds intrusion, to the hacks of the Democratic and Republican National Committees in 2016, to the theft of personal data from the Office of Personnel Management, which impacted over 22 million Americans. 

The bill would grant American victims legal recourse against foreign governments or their agents in cases of malicious hacking. The legislation would grant an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act which shields foreign state actors from legal accountability by preventing American citizens from pursuing legal action against foreign states engaged in hacking. 

The HACT Act would push back against the growing cyber attacks originating from Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, and other malicious operators by providing a deterrent that will prompt foreign actors to think carefully and weigh the consequences before proceeding with a cyber attack against the United States. The legislation would allow American citizens to pursue the foreign assets, held in the United States, of countries that steal private information from American individuals, businesses, and institutions. 

The bipartisan legislation currently has ten Democratic co-sponsors and seven Republican co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.