Senate Adopts Cornyn Anti-Corruption Amendment to STOCK Act

Press Release

The U.S. Senate Thursday unanimously adopted an amendment authored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to give prosecutors new tools to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminal conduct by public officials:

"This amendment clarifies federal public corruption laws to ensure that corrupt officials who breach their duty to the public receive just punishment under the law," said Sen. Cornyn.

The amendment, which mirrors legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, will strengthen existing federal criminal law for acts of public corruption and raise maximum statutory penalties. It will restore the crucial honest services fraud statute severely limited by the Supreme Court in 2010, so that prosecutors can once again target undisclosed self-dealing. The amendment will also clarify the definition of what it means for a public official to perform an "official act," and amend the federal bribery statute to show that corrupt payment can be made to influence more than one official act. The legislation also amends the federal gratuities statute to make clear that a public official cannot accept anything of value worth more than $1,000 given to them because of their official position other than as permitted by existing rules or regulations. The measure was adopted by voice vote as an amendment to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.

The Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act has been approved in each of the three last Congresses. Other key provisions of the Public Corruption Prosecution Improvement Act include an extension of the statute of limitations from five to six years for bribery, honest services fraud, and extortion of a public official. Public corruption cases are time-consuming to investigate, and the extension of the statute of limitations provides prosecutors the time necessary to investigate cases. The bill also raises statutory maximum penalties for select anti-corruption statutes to ensure the most serious corrupt acts result in significant jail time.

The amendment adopted Thursday reflects a bipartisan, bicameral agreement with the House of Representatives. Representatives James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) are the lead sponsors of similar legislation pending the House of Representatives that won unanimous approval by the House Judiciary Committee last year.

Senator Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Armed Services and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.

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