Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act HR 1913 Passed by a vote of 249 to 175.  You can go to:  http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll223.xml  to read the roll call vote.  Republicans helping to pass this bill are:

Bono Mack, Cao, Cassidy, Castle, Coffman, Dent,Diaz-Balart, L.,Diaz-Balart, M.,Frelinghuysen, Gerlach, Lance, LoBiondo, Platts, Reichert, Ros-Lehtinen, and Walden.  Seventeen brave Democrats voted No.  

There are 120 Co-Sponsors on this bill, many of which will greatly surprise you, you can view them at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR01913:@@@P

I read this bill, and it appears to me that it basically reinforces laws on the books that apply to everyone already.  It gives grants to states or local governments to prosecute these hate crimes.  Here is the general verbiage of the bill:

`(a) In General-

 `(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person--

 `(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

 `(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

 `(i) death results from the offense; or

 `(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

 `(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-

 `(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person--

 `(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

 `(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

 `(I) death results from the offense; or

 `(II) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

 `(B) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED- For purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances described in this subparagraph are that--

 `(i) the conduct described in subparagraph (A) occurs during the course of, or as the result of, the travel of the defendant or the victim--

 `(I) across a State line or national border; or

 `(II) using a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce;

 `(ii) the defendant uses a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in connection with the conduct described in subparagraph (A);

 `(iii) in connection with the conduct described in subparagraph (A), the defendant employs a firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or other weapon that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; or

 `(iv) the conduct described in subparagraph (A)--

 `(I) interferes with commercial or other economic activity in which the victim is engaged at the time of the conduct; or

 `(II) otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.

 `(b) Certification Requirement- No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, or any Assistant Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney General that--

 `(1) such certifying individual has reasonable cause to believe that the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person was a motivating factor underlying the alleged conduct of the defendant; and

 `(2) such certifying individual has consulted with State or local law enforcement officials regarding the prosecution and determined that--

 `(A) the State does not have jurisdiction or does not intend to exercise jurisdiction;

 `(B) the State has requested that the Federal Government assume jurisdiction;

 `(C) the State does not object to the Federal Government assuming jurisdiction; or

 `(D) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.

 `(c) Definitions-

 `(1) In this section--

 `(A) the term `explosive or incendiary device' has the meaning given such term in section 232 of this title; and

 `(B) the term `firearm' has the meaning given such term in section 921(a) of this title.

 `(2) For the purposes of this chapter, the term `gender identity' means actual or perceived gender-related characteristics.

 `(d) Rule of Evidence- In a prosecution for an offense under this section, evidence of expression or associations of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the rules of evidence governing impeachment of a witness.'.

 (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

 `249. Hate crime acts.'.

 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.

 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the Constitution.

It appears to me that this does not criminalize the "thought".  Free speech is protected by the Constitution, have there been any amendments to this that mean otherwise?