The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted 14-to-4 to approve a bill that would strengthen public corruption laws and help close what critics call a gap in prosecutorial power left by the Supreme Court in a ruling last year.
Authored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee’s chairman, and John Cornyn (R-Texas), the “Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act” would raise maximum penalties, clarify what official actions signal corruption and make clear that officials cannot accept things of value given to them because of their position. It would also extend the statute of limitations from five to six years for bribery, honest services fraud and extortion of a public official.
“This kind of corruption erodes the trust the American people have in those given the privilege of public service,” Leahy said in a statement. “Prosecutors and law enforcement need meaningful tools to help stamp out corruption.”
Leahy and Cornyn have introduced similar legislation on public corruption during the last three Congresses.
But this time, Leahy also pushed for a provision allowing prosecutors to target undisclosed “self-dealing” by public officials – or secret acts that serve an official’s financial self-interest – in a direct response to the Supreme Court ruling in Skilling v. United States, which narrowed the scope of honest services fraud to bribery and kickbacks schemes.
Leahy authored another bill seeking to similarly broaden the honest services fraud statute after the ruling last year. That bill never left committee, but portions of it were included in the measure endorsed Thursday, said Democratic committee spokeswoman Erica Chabot in an email.
Prosecutors historically used the honest services fraud statute as a broad tool in public corruption cases because it didn’t depend on a direct quid pro quo like in bribery or kickback cases. That is, until the court found it unconstitutionally vague.
Since then, the DOJ has urged legislators to fill the hole left by Skilling and several other rulings, and in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mary Patrice Brown said the Justice Department would back similar legislation coming through the House.
The Senate version, approved Thursday, originated as part of a bicameral agreement between the senators and Reps. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.).
“Public corruption is not a Republican or Democrat problem. It is a problem across this country,” Cornyn said in a statement. “Our citizens deserve to be governed by the rule of law, not the rule of men. I’ve worked with Senator Leahy on several bipartisan bills and this bill is another great example of our combined effort to help clean up government and promote transparency.”
