Within the

laws of the United States The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...

, The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011, also known as , , is a

federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

allowing the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

extra jurisdiction to make arrests and suppress protests in cases of trespass on restricted locations and intentional disruption of government functions. H.R. 347 is a revision to section 1752 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Introduced by representative Thomas Rooney (FL-16), it makes punishable by up to 10 years' jail time or fine any person who does "or conspires to" enter any "restricted building or grounds" or within certain "proximity" without lawful authority to do so, attempting to disrupt the orderly conduct of government business. It defines restricted building or grounds as "any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area" of * the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

or its grounds, or the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

official residence An official residence is the House, residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, Clergy, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-relate ...

or its grounds * a building or grounds where the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting * a building or grounds that is so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance. The law passed Congress and was signed by

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

on March 8, 2012.

Criticism

Media outlets have said that this act may restrict freedom of assembly and dissent.

References

External links

For the official bill, and more information see the links below:
GovTrack

GPO website
Acts of the 112th United States Congress United States federal defense and national security legislation {{US-law-stub