[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4444 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4444
To limit donations made pursuant to settlement agreements to which the
United States is a party, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 22, 2022
Mr. Lankford (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, and Mr. Tillis) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To limit donations made pursuant to settlement agreements to which the
United States is a party, and for other purposes.
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 ``Safeguarding Awards for Victims and
Enforcement Settlements Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON DONATIONS MADE PURSUANT TO SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS
TO WHICH THE UNITED STATES IS A PARTY.
(a) Limitation on Required Donations.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), an
official or agent of the Government may not enter into or
enforce any settlement agreement on behalf of the United
States, directing or providing for a payment or loan, in cash
or in kind, to any person or entity other than the United
States that is not a party to the dispute.
(2) Exceptions.--An official or agency of the Government
may enter into or enforce a settlement agreement on behalf of
the United States described in paragraph (1) only if--
(A) the payment or loan provides restitution for or
is otherwise intended to directly remedy actual harm
(including to the environment) directly caused by the
party making the payment or loan, and, to the extent
any victim thereof was an identifiable person, suffered
by the payee or lendee, which shall not include an
agreement that requires a defendant in an environmental
case, in lieu of payment to the Federal Government, to
expend funds to provide goods or services to third
parties for supplemental environmental projects;
(B) the payment or loan constitutes payment for
services rendered in connection with the case,
including for settlement or compliance monitoring or
for divestiture trustee services, or a payment pursuant
to section 3663 of title 18, United States Code;
(C) in cases of foreign official corruption, a
trusted third party is required to facilitate the
repatriation and use of funds to directly benefit those
harmed by the foreign corruption; or
(D) payment is expressly authorized by statute or
regulation, including restitution and forfeiture.
(b) Prohibition on Cy-Pres Redistributions in Settlements.--Except
as otherwise provided by law, when the United States has entered into a
settlement involving a fund for payments to individual claimants,
amounts remaining after all claims on the settlement fund have been
satisfied shall be repaid proportionally to each party who contributed
to the settlement fund.
(c) Effective Date.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to any
settlement agreement concluded on or after the date of enactment of
this Act.
(d) Reports on Settlement Agreements.--
(1) In general.--Not later than September 30 of the first
fiscal year that begins after the date of the enactment of this
Act, and of each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each
Federal agency shall submit electronically to the Congressional
Budget Office a report on each settlement agreement described
in subsection (a)(1) entered into by that Federal agency during
such fiscal year (other than a settlement agreement for a qui
tam action or under section 586(a) of title 28, United States
Code) that meets the requirements of an exception described in
subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (a)(2), which shall
include including the parties to each such settlement
agreement, the source of the settlement funds, and where and
how such funds were and will be distributed.
(2) Prohibition on additional funding.--No additional funds
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection.
(3) Sunset.--This subsection shall cease to be effective on
the date that is 7 years after the date of enactment of this
Act.
(e) Annual Audit Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Not later than September 30 of the first
fiscal year that begins after the date of the enactment of this
Act, and of each fiscal year thereafter, the Inspector General
of each Federal agency shall submit a report on any settlement
agreement entered into by that Federal agency during such
fiscal year in violation of this section to--
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee
on the Budget, and the Committee on Appropriations of
the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee
on the Budget, and the Committee on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives.
(2) Prohibition on additional funding.--No additional funds
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Payment.--The term ``payment'' means any transfer of
money, cash, or other consideration, including constructive
transfer in lieu of money.
(2) Settlement agreement.--The term ``settlement
agreement'' means a settlement agreement resolving a civil
action or potential civil action, participation in any pretrial
diversion program, a plea agreement, a deferred prosecution
agreement, or a non-prosecution agreement.
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