The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has voted to approve a New York congressman’s bill on anti-swatting.
The committee unanimously agreed to send Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel’s bill to the House floor. Engel introduced the Anti-Swatting Act last year, following a string of swattings in his district, as well as in other states. Swatting is the act of provoking an emergency response team to respond to a fake crisis. The legislation seeks to enhance penalties for people who falsify their caller ID information as part of swatting. In addition, the bill would force swatters to reimburse the emergency services that respond to the hoax. Engel’s bill has 12 co-sponsors including four Republicans as well as Democrat Paul Tonko and fellow Hudson Valley Democrats Nita Lowey and Sean Patrick Maloney.
