Representative Johnson Pushes Bill To Battle Public Corruption, Increase Accountability

Press Release

In an effort to combat public corruption, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) introduced the "Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act or [H.R. 2822] on June 10, which would provide the officials who investigate and prosecute public corruption charges with much-needed resources--time and money.

In addition to strengthening federal public corruption laws by closing loopholes in the federal bribery and illegal gratuities statute, H.R. 2822 authorizes an additional $25 million for each of the next five years to give federal investigators and prosecutors the necessary resources to pursue and deal with the problem.

It also gives investigators more time to develop their cases by extending the statute of limitations for serious public corruption offenses from five years to six.

The legislation offers crucial amendments to the federal illegal gratuities statute to compensate for the overly narrow interpretation by two recent federal court decisions.

"This bill will send a clear signal to government officials who would abuse their position that Congress will not tolerate corruption," said Johnson. "If we are serious about addressing the egregious misconduct of those that exploit their positions for personal gain, we must enact meaningful legislation to restore Americans' faith in their government officials."

If passed and signed into law, the PCPIA would serve as an important complement to the federal bribery statute because it would prevent a public official from accepting gifts or favors even where the explicit quid pro quo [you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours] required for a bribery conviction is not involved.

Companion legislation S. 49 has been introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy [D-VT] and John Cornyn [R-TX] in the Senate.

Johnson's bill has now been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

Source