[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 65 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S2955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KIRK:
  S. 995. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 
public officials from engaging in undisclosed self-dealing; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce the Public 
Officials Accountability Act, to ensure that our elected leaders cannot 
use their office for their own personal benefit. Public corruption has 
turned the ``Land of Honest Abe'' into the ``Land of Political 
Corruption.'' Illinois is the 6th most corrupt state in the Union, 
based on the number of public corruption convictions over the last 
decade. If just the northern district of Illinois were a state, it 
would have had the 7th highest number of public corruption convictions 
in the country in 2009. Illinois taxpayers pay the price for this in 
the form of a hidden public corruption tax. We need to make sure our 
laws help Federal prosecutors crack down on public corruption and 
restore integrity to Illinois. One such tool is the honest services 
law.
  For the past 30 years, the Department of Justice has fought public 
corruption by convicting scores of public officials who deny citizens 
the right to ``honest services.'' We are all too familiar with 
politicians failing to perform their public duties honestly in 
Illinois.
  The most famous Illinois politicians to be convicted of honest 
services fraud include former Governor Otto Kerner, late Congressman 
Dan Rostenkowski, former city of Chicago official Robert Sorich, and 
former Governor George Ryan. William Jefferson and Congressman Bob Ney 
are a few notable national figures to be convicted of this crime.
  Back in Illinois, our former governor Rod Blagojevich is currently on 
trial after having turned Illinois into a corrupt political circus and 
a national joke. A number of charges in his original indictment were 
based on honest services fraud, including those related to his alleged 
scheme to sell President Obama's U.S. Senate seat for his own personal 
gain.
  Unfortunately, last year the Supreme court drastically narrowed the 
scope of the honest services law in the famous 2010 Enron decision, 
Skilling v. U.S. The Court struck down a significant portion of the law 
because it was unconstitutionally vague. As a result of the Supreme 
Court review, U.S. prosecutors reindicted Blagojevich, leaving out all 
honest services charges so as not to complicate the case. Blagojevich 
later was convicted on just one charge.
  The Blagojevich case was not the only one affected by the decision. 
According to the Wall Street Journal, ``In 2008 and 2009, the 
government brought honest services fraud charges in more than 100 cases 
a year,'' but in 2010 ``new prosecutions using the statute slowed to a 
trickle'' due to the Supreme Court review of the issue.
  In order to continue fighting public corruption effectively, the 
Department of Justice asked Congress to enact a clear and specific 
honest services law to withstand any constitutional review. Our bill, 
the Public Officials Accountability Act, would do just that. It would 
very clearly reinstate the portion of the law the Supreme Court struck 
down in terms that remove all ambiguity. The Public Officials 
Accountability Act would restore one of prosecutors' most important 
tools and decades of congressional intent to ensure elected leaders 
cannot use their office to further their own careers or pocketbooks.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 995

       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 Officials 
     Accountability Act''.

     SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON UNDISCLOSED SELF-DEALING BY PUBLIC 
                   OFFICIALS.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 63 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting after section 1346 the 
     following new section:

     ``Sec. 1346A. Undisclosed self-dealing by public officials

       ``(a) Undisclosed Self-Dealing by Public Officials.--For 
     purposes of this chapter, the term `scheme or artifice to 
     defraud' also includes a scheme or artifice by a public 
     official to engage in undisclosed self-dealing.
       ``(b) Definitions.--As used in this section:
       ``(1) Official act.--The term `official act'--
       ``(A) includes any act within the range of official duty, 
     and any decision, recommendation, or action on any question, 
     matter, cause, suit, proceeding, or controversy, which may at 
     any time be pending, or which may by law be brought before 
     any public official, in such public official's official 
     capacity or in such official's place of trust or profit;
       ``(B) may be a single act, more than one act, or a course 
     of conduct; and
       ``(C) includes a decision or recommendation that a 
     government should not take action.
       ``(2) Public official.--The term `public official' means an 
     officer, employee, or elected or appointed representative, or 
     person acting for or on behalf of, the United States, a 
     State, or a subdivision of a State, or any department, agency 
     or branch of government thereof, in any official function, 
     under or by authority of any such department, agency, or 
     branch of government.
       ``(3) State.--The term `State' includes a State of the 
     United States, the District of Columbia, and any 
     commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
       ``(4) Undisclosed self-dealing.--The term `undisclosed 
     self-dealing' means that--
       ``(A) a public official performs an official act for the 
     purpose, in whole or in part, of benefitting or furthering a 
     financial interest of--
       ``(i) the public official;
       ``(ii) the spouse or minor child of a public official;
       ``(iii) a general business partner of the public official;
       ``(iv) a business or organization in which the public 
     official is serving as an employee, officer, director, 
     trustee, or general partner; or
       ``(v) an individual, business, or organization with whom 
     the public official is negotiating for, or has any 
     arrangement concerning, prospective employment or financial 
     compensation; and
       ``(B) the public official knowingly falsifies, conceals, 
     covers up, or fails to disclose material information 
     regarding that financial interest that is required to be 
     disclosed by any Federal, State, or local statute, rule, 
     regulation, or charter applicable to the public official.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
     chapter 63 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to section 1346 the 
     following new item:

``1346A. Undisclosed self-dealing by public officials.''.

       (c) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section 
     apply to acts engaged in on or after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
                                 ______