Kayleigh’s Law Act of 2026

Lifetime federal no-contact orders for victims

This bill would require federal courts, when the Government or a victim asks, to include a lifetime order banning a defendant from contacting a victim in sentences for specified felonies. It would define "contact" to include any direct or indirect written, oral, electronic, digital, or physical communication, including through intermediaries or automated systems. The order would last for the defendant's life unless a court ends or suspends it on narrow grounds. Only a victim who says the conviction was pardoned or commuted, or a defendant who says the conviction was dismissed or overturned on appeal, could move to end or pause the order, and the court must hold a hearing and may consider evidence. If enacted, the court would be able to punish violations as contempt of court, and victims would not be charged any fee to get the order. The bill would apply to felony crimes of violence and listed federal sexual and trafficking offenses (for example, 18 U.S.C. 1591; 2241–2245; 2251; 2251A; 2252; 2252A; 2254; 2255; 2260; 2421–2427). This would take effect upon enactment.