[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 90 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 90

      To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide increased 
         imprisonment for certain offenses by public officials.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

 Mr. Cardoza introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide increased 
         imprisonment for certain offenses by public officials.

    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 ``Public Official Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter D of chapter 227 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3587. Increased imprisonment for certain offenses by public 
              officials.
    ``(a) General Rule.--In any Federal criminal case in which a public 
official is convicted of an offense against the United States--
            ``(1) consisting of conduct during the course of official 
        duty, intended to enrich that official; and
            ``(2) involving bribery, fraud, extortion, or theft of 
        public funds greater than $10,000;
the sentencing judge may increase the sentence of imprisonment by an 
amount of up to 2 years. The sentencing judge may double the sentence 
of imprisonment that would otherwise be imposed in that case: Provided, 
however, That in no instance may the sentencing judge be allowed to 
increase the sentence by more than 2 years.
    ``(b) Definition.--In this section, the term `public official' 
means--
            ``(1) an elected official of the United States or of a 
        State or local government;
            ``(2) a presidentially-appointed official; and
            ``(3) an official appointed to a State or local 
        governmental office by an elected official of a State or local 
        government.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
subchapter D of chapter 227 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following new item:

``3587. Increased imprisonment for certain offenses by public 
                            officials.''.
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