Count the Crimes to Cut Act

Summary of H.R. 2159: Count the Crimes to Cut Act

This bill requires the federal government to create and maintain a comprehensive, publicly accessible list of all federal criminal laws and regulations. Specifically, it directs the Office of the Law Revision Counsel — the office responsible for organizing federal laws — to count and catalog every federal statute and regulation that carries criminal penalties. This list would need to be updated regularly and made available to the public.

The core problem this bill is trying to address is that the total number of federal crimes is not currently known with certainty. Legal experts have estimated there may be thousands of federal criminal offenses scattered across numerous laws and agency regulations, but no official, complete count exists. This bill would bring transparency to that system by requiring an organized accounting of all these laws in one place.

This bill primarily affects legal professionals, lawmakers, and policymakers, but it has broader implications for everyday Americans as well. Ordinary citizens and businesses could benefit from greater clarity about what actions are considered federal crimes, since the current lack of a centralized list makes it difficult for people to fully understand the laws they are expected to follow. The title of the bill suggests its longer-term purpose may be to identify areas where federal criminal law could potentially be reduced or streamlined.

The bill passed the House by voice vote and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has approved moving it forward. It has not yet become law.