{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kim.senate.gov/press_release/senator-kim-introduces-series-of-legislation-to-root-out-corruption-in-government/", "Senator Kim Introduces Series of Legislation to Root Out Corruption in Government", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "NJ", "Andy Kim", "K000394", "www.kim.senate.gov", "kim", "https://www.kim.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "The three bills build on Senator Kim\u2019s anti-corruption agenda to restore trust and integrity in government and fix America\u2019s broken politics\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.) introduced three new bills to tackle public corruption and empower individuals to hold government officials accountable for betraying the public\u2019s trust.\n\n\u201cAmericans look at their government and think, \u2018corruption.\u2019 They\u2019ve lost trust that their public officials are looking out for them first, instead of themselves. It\u2019s a threat to our democracy and our responsibility to fix,\u201d said Senator Kim. \u201cIt isn\u2019t enough to call out each corrupt act of the Trump administration. We need to dig deeper and move true legislative solutions forward that take on corruption no matter your party, position, or how wealthy you are. Enough is enough.\u201d\n\nAll three bills are co-sponsored by Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.).\n\nAnti-Bribery Improvement Act (aka \u201cthe McDonnell Fix\u201d)\n\nIn 2016, the Supreme Court ruled in McDonnell v. United States to narrow federal bribery law and the definition of \u201cofficial act,\u201d making it harder to prosecute public officials who accept loans, gifts, or anything of value from individuals seeking an action from the public official in return.\n\nFor example, their ruling would allow a public official to accept $175,000 in loans and gifts from an individual seeking government approval of a nutritional supplement.\n\nSenator Kim\u2019s Anti-Bribery Improvement Act expands the current definition of bribery to include buying or selling access to a federal official by:\n\nExpanding the federal bribery statute to explicitly criminalize corrupt access to public officials by defining \u201caccess\u201d to mean \u201cuse of a public official\u2019s ability to influence any decision or action on any question or matter, which may at any time be pending, or which may by law be brought before such public official, in such official\u2019s official capacity, or in such official\u2019s place of trust or profit.\u201d; and\n\nAddressing the Supreme Court\u2019s concern about criminalizing routine legislative work by requiring a showing of an express agreement to exchange access for the thing of value.\n\nNo Gratuities for Governing Act (aka \u201cthe Snyder Fix\u201d)\n\nIn 2024, the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in Snyder v. United States all but permitted government officials to accept gratuities, which are \u201ctypically payments made to an official after an official act as a token of appreciation.\u201d Notably, their ruling pointed out that federal corruption law prohibits bribes, which is defined as payments made before the official act.\n\nFor example, their ruling allows a public official to ask for and accept $13,000 from a local company after the company has just been awarded a public contract worth $1 million, but if the $13,000 was given before the contract was awarded then it would be corruption.\n\nSenator Kim\u2019s No Gratuities for Governing Act would prevent corrupt use of gratuities and make it easier to prosecute the solicitation and acceptance of these \u201ctips\u201d by:\n\nEstablishing a gratuity threshold of $1,000 or more for any official act by a state, local, or tribal official involved in government business or contracts valued at $5,000 or more;\n\nImposing sentencing of up to two years in line with federal officials who accept gratuities; and\n\nAligning the maximum sentence for state, local, or tribal officials convicted of bribery to 15 years from 10 in line with the maximum sentence for federal officials.\n\nThis bill is the Senate companion to Representative Dan Goldman\u2019s H.R.4175 No Gratuities for Governing Act.\n\nHonest Services Fraud Improvement Act (aka \u201cPrivate Right of Action\u201d)\n\nTo combat corruption, prosecutors have often relied on the federal statutory provisions that criminalize \u201ca scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services\u201d through \u201cwire, radio, or television communication.\u201d However, over the years, the courts have narrowed the scope of the provision based on concerns that the statute is vague, ultimately limiting its application to mail and wire fraud cases where bribes or kickbacks are involved, and thus eliminating the statute\u2019s use for general self-dealing and conflicts of interest.\n\nSenator Kim\u2019s Honest Services Fraud Improvement Act would create a private right of action to empower individuals to hold their public officials accountable and allow them to sue public officials for honest services fraud. Specifically, this bill would:\n\nHold liable any local, state, and federal government officials engaged in quid pro quo bribery when the U.S. Department of Justice foregoes prosecuting.\n\nWhere the government is pursuing a separate criminal enforcement action, allow DOJ to intervene ex parte and under seal in place of the individual.\n\nJust as with private rights of action under the False Claims Act, an individual who brings a claim under this bill is entitled to a share of the damages, with any punitive damages going into DOJ\u2019s Asset Forfeiture Fund.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kim.senate.gov/press_release/senator-kim-introduces-series-of-legislation-to-root-out-corruption-in-government/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.039715949445963, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}