PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.
H.R.1203 / 119th Congress

Stop VOYEURS Act of 2025

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Official summary

No official summary is available in the imported record yet.

Who introduced it

Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] · R–SC

Committees

  • Judiciary Committee
1 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.

  1. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

  2. Introduced in House

  3. Introduced in House

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.

Source last updated: May 2, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

Explore the bill from different angles

Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.

Neutral evidence review

Objective

Analyze H.R.1203 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.

View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact

Progressive lens

Examine H.R.1203 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.

View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope

Conservative lens

Examine H.R.1203 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.

View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power

Liberty lens

Examine H.R.1203 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.

View full prompt & sources

Read the proposal in plain language

AI-generated · Source-checked by AI · Oct 29, 2026

Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-11 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.

What it would do

The bill proposes to change when the federal video-voyeurism law applies. For people whose conduct meets the existing offense requirements, it would replace the current location condition with any one of seven listed circumstances. These include connections to commerce across state or national borders, such as using an object that previously traveled in that commerce, and conduct in any U.S. territory or possession. The bill would also raise the maximum prison term from one year to five years. The existing offense requirements are not reproduced in the supplied sources.

Check the sources
(A) by striking , in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and inserting , in a circumstance described in subsection (d),; and (B) by striking imprisoned not more than one year and inserting imprisoned not more than 5 years;
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11
(5) any equipment, item, or other object that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11
(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or (7) the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

How it would work

Section 1 would give the bill the short title “Stop VOYEURS Act of 2025.”

Check the source
This Act may be cited as the Stop Victimizers and Offenders from Yielding Explicit Unconsented Recordings Surreptitiously Act of 2025 or as the Stop VOYEURS Act of 2025.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

Section 2 would amend 18 U.S.C. § 1801(a), replacing the phrase referring to the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States with a reference to circumstances in a new subsection (d). It would raise the maximum prison term from one year to five years; the amendment does not specify a mandatory minimum prison term.

Check the source
Section 1801 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) by striking , in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and inserting , in a circumstance described in subsection (d),; and (B) by striking imprisoned not more than one year and inserting imprisoned not more than 5 years;
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

One circumstance would cover travel by either the offender or the victim in interstate or foreign commerce, or using a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of that commerce, to further or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a). Another would cover the offender's use of such a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality to further or in connection with that conduct.

Check the sources
(1) the offender or victim traveled in interstate or foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a);
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11
(2) the offender used a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a);
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

A direct or indirect payment of any kind made to further or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a) could supply another basis for coverage if it used a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, or was in or affected that commerce.

Check the source
(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

Another circumstance would cover an offender's transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of a communication related to or furthering the conduct described in subsection (a). The provision expressly includes computer, mail, wire, and electromagnetic transmissions.

Check the source
(4) the offender transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means or in manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

Using equipment, an item, or another object that had traveled in interstate or foreign commerce to perform the conduct described in subsection (a) would be a separate basis for coverage.

Check the source
(5) any equipment, item, or other object that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

The remaining circumstances would cover conduct within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or any U.S. territory or possession, and conduct that otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.

Check the source
(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or (7) the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-02-11

What the record shows

The official-actions snapshot updated May 2, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Judiciary Committee on February 11, 2025.

Check the source
Source snapshot updated 2025-05-02T14:52:58Z. 2025-02-11: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 2025-02-11: Introduced in House
Official legislative record · 2025-05-02T14:52:58Z

Riders & Targeted Benefits

Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-11. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.

This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.

Riders

Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.

None identified in the reviewed text

No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.

Earmarks

Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.

None identified in the reviewed text

No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials; formal earmark disclosures and related materials were not supplied.

Other targeted benefits

Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.

None identified in the reviewed text

No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption, preferential treatment, or exception warranting a finding was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.

What this analysis cannot establish

  • The complete introduced bill is supplied, but the existing text of 18 U.S.C. § 1801 is not reproduced. The sources therefore do not establish the offense's full elements, definitions, exceptions, other penalties, or existing enforcement framework. They also do not establish how the express reference to any U.S. territory or possession compares with existing territorial coverage.
  • The bill does not specify a special implementation date or termination condition.
  • The supplied history is limited to the May 2, 2025 snapshot. It does not establish whether the bill later advanced, changed, or became law.
  • No member earmark requests or disclosures, committee reports, conference materials, or amendment attachment history are supplied.

Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: May 2, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI