No Payoffs for Pardons Act
Sponsored By: Representative Morelle, Joseph D. [D-NY-25]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would require _financial disclosures from people who receive or benefit from executive clemency_ and would expand federal bribery rules to treat clemency as a thing of value tied to official acts.
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- Recipients and beneficiaries: It would force pre‑clemency and post‑clemency filings that list dates, descriptions, and values above a materiality threshold. Filers would report annually for 4 years and the Attorney General must host a public, machine‑readable portal.
- Officials and candidates: It would add the President and Vice President to bribery coverage, treat any pardon, commutation, reprieve, or remission as an “official act” and define clemency itself as “anything of value,” extending bribery liability to candidates for office.
- Enforcement and limits: The Department of Justice would gain civil and criminal enforcement and investigative authority, with penalties and monetary thresholds indexed for inflation. Both the clemency disclosure actions and clemency‑related bribery prosecutions get a 10‑year limitations period.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.
Bribery law covers pardons and candidates
If enacted, the federal bribery law would treat any pardon, commutation, reprieve, remission of fine or restitution, or other executive clemency as an "official act" and as "anything of value." The change would explicitly name the President and Vice President among covered officials and would cover any candidate with respect to official acts the candidate would have authority to perform upon taking office. The bill would also add a 10‑year statute of limitations for bribery offenses under the bribery law that arise from or relate to clemency.
New reporting rules for clemency
If enacted, people who receive federal pardons or other clemency would have to report certain gifts, payments, or benefits they got. A report would be due within 90 days after clemency, and annual reports would be required for the four calendar years after the year clemency was granted. Reports would be required only when covered benefits total at least $10,000 in any 12-month period (the Attorney General would adjust this threshold by CPI‑U at least every 5 years). Payments made only for bona fide legal representation would be exempt, but mixed payments would need allocation and documentation. The Attorney General would publish filings on a searchable, machine‑readable DOJ website within 30 days and build an online filing portal within 90 days of enactment. The bill would allow civil penalties (up to $50,000 per violation, inflation‑adjusted) for knowing violations and criminal penalties (fine and/or up to 5 years in prison) for willful violations.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Morelle, Joseph D. [D-NY-25]
NY • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov