[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3679 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3679

To prohibit the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or 
other agreements to, providing any other Federal funds to, or engaging 
in activities that promote certain corporations or companies guilty of 
                      certain felony convictions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 2009

Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. Stark, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
 Ellison, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Obey, and Ms. Woolsey) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight 
                         and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or 
other agreements to, providing any other Federal funds to, or engaging 
in activities that promote certain corporations or companies guilty of 
                      certain felony convictions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Against Corporations Organizing to 
Rip-off the Nation Act'' or the ``ACORN Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

            (1) According to the Corporate Fraud Task Force Report to 
        the President, 2008, in fiscal year 2007, United States 
        Attorneys' offices opened 878 new criminal health care fraud 
        investigations involving 1,548 potential defendants. Federal 
        prosecutors had 1,612 health care fraud criminal investigations 
        pending, involving 2,603 potential defendants, and filed 
        criminal charges in 434 cases involving 786 defendants. A total 
        of 560 defendants were convicted for health care fraud-related 
        crimes during the year.
            (2) On September 2, 2009, it was announced that Pfizer Inc. 
        and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., agreed to 
        pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in 
        the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal 
        liability from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical 
        products.
            (3) Pharmacia & Upjohn Company agreed to plead guilty to a 
        felony violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for 
        misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead.
            (4) Pharmacia & Upjohn Company marketed ``off-label'' uses 
        of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the Food and Drug 
        Administration declined to approve due to safety concerns.
            (5) The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division 
        has stated, ``Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical 
        companies puts the public health at risk, corrupts medical 
        decisions by health care providers, and costs the Government 
        billions of dollars.''.
            (6) The Director of the Defense Department's Criminal 
        Investigative Services stated, ``The off-label promotion of 
        pharmaceutical drugs by Pfizer significantly impacted the 
        integrity of TRICARE, the Department of Defense's health care 
        system. This illegal activity increases patients' costs, 
        threatens their safety and negatively affects the health care 
        services to the over nine million military members, retirees 
        and their families who rely on this system.''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT 
              TO CERTAIN CORPORATIONS OR COMPANIES.

    (a) Prohibitions.--Subject to subsection (e), with respect to any 
covered corporation or company or applicable individual the following 
prohibitions apply:
            (1) No Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or 
        any other form of agreement (including a memorandum of 
        understanding) may be awarded to or entered into with the 
        corporation or company for a 5-year period beginning 30 days 
        after the date of the criminal conviction involved or 
        termination of charter (as the case may be).
            (2) No Federal funds in any other form may be provided to 
        the corporation or company for such 5-year period.
            (3) No Federal employee or contractor may promote in any 
        way (including recommending to a person or referring to a 
        person for any purpose) the corporation or company for such 5-
        year period.
            (4) No covered corporation or company or applicable 
        individual may contribute funds to a candidate for Federal 
        office, Federal political action committee, or Federal or State 
        political party during such a 5-year period.
            (5) No more than $1,000,000 in any calendar year may be 
        used by the corporation or company, or applicable individual, 
        for the purpose of lobbying Congress or Federal employees 
        during such 5-year period.
    (b) Covered Corporation or Company.--In this section, the term 
``covered corporation or company'' means any of the following:
            (1) Any corporation or company guilty of felony criminal 
        violations under any Federal or State law--
                    (A) including a felony violation of the Federal 
                Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, sections 3729 through 3733 
                of title 31, United States Code (formerly known as the 
                False Claims Act), or a violation for the filing of a 
                fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory 
                agency; but
                    (B) excluding a violation for which the corporation 
                or company has fully completed all terms of criminal 
                sentencing or a criminal settlement agreement as of the 
                date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Any corporation or company that had its State corporate 
        charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or 
        State lobbying disclosure requirements.
            (3) Any corporation or company that, within the 5-year 
        period beginning 30 days after the date of conviction of an 
        applicable individual of a violation described in subsection 
        (c)(2)(B)--
                    (A) employs the applicable individual, in a 
                permanent or temporary capacity;
                    (B) has under contract or retains the applicable 
                individual; or
                    (C) has the applicable individual acting on the 
                behalf of the corporation or company or with the 
                express or apparent authority of the corporation or 
                company.
    (c) Additional Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``corporation or company'' includes Pfizer, 
        Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. and any Pfizer-related 
        affiliate.
            (2) The term ``applicable individual'' means, with respect 
        to a corporation or company, an individual who--
                    (A) is a director, officer, or executive of the 
                corporation or company; and
                    (B) has been found guilty of a felony violation 
                under Federal or State law in relation to the 
                individual's conduct in the individual's capacity as a 
                director, officer, or executive of a corporation or 
                company.
    (d) Revision of Federal Acquisition Regulation.--The Federal 
Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to carry out the provisions of 
this Act relating to contracts.
    (e) Presidential Waiver Authority.--The President may waive a 
prohibition in subsection (a) with respect to a corporation, company, 
or applicable individual if the President--
            (1) determines such a waiver is in the national interest; 
        and
            (2) provides notice to all appropriate Congressional 
        committees of the intent to grant such waiver 15 days before 
        the date such waiver is granted.
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