Velazquez pushes new hate crime hotline bill

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens) introduced the National Hate Crimes Hotline Act of 2016 last Wednesday in response to an increase in hate crimes throughout the country.

With this bill, the U.S. attorney general would oversee a toll-free national hotline to which hate crimes could be more centrally reported. There would also be a secure internet site where citizens can report bias incidents.

“The first part of solving any problem requires admitting there is one,” Velazquez said in a press release. “We need a mechanism for improving the reporting of these crimes so that we can better tackle the problem.”

Velazquez hopes to get this bill passed in the new legislative session.

“I fully intend to push this legislation forward as we move into 2017,” she said.