Corporate Executive Accountability Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1010 To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish criminal liability for negligent executive officers of major corporations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 3, 2019 Ms. WARREN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish criminal liability for negligent executive officers of major corpora- tions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Corporate Executive 4 Accountability Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL LIABILITY. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title 18, United States 7 Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 23 the fol- 8 lowing: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:53 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1010.IS S1010 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1010 IS ‘‘CHAPTER 24—CORPORATIONS 1 ‘‘Sec. ‘‘451. Negligence of executive officers. ‘‘§ 451. Negligence of executive officers 2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered corporation’ means a 4 corporation that generates more than 5 $1,000,000,000 in revenue on an annual basis; and 6 ‘‘(2) the term ‘executive officer’ includes any in- 7 dividual who— 8 ‘‘(A) is described in section 240.3b–7 of 9 title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 10 successor regulation thereto; and 11 ‘‘(B) by reason of the position of the indi- 12 vidual in the corporation, has the responsibility 13 and authority to take necessary measures to 14 prevent or remedy violations. 15 ‘‘(b) CRIMINAL LIABILITY.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for an 17 executive officer of a covered corporation to neg- 18 ligently permit or fail to prevent a violation of law 19 described in paragraph (2). 20 ‘‘(2) VIOLATIONS DESCRIBED.—A violation of 21 law described in this paragraph is— 22 ‘‘(A) any criminal violation of Federal or 23 State law for which the covered corporation was 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:53 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1010.IS S1010 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1010 IS convicted or entered into a deferred or non- 1 prosecution agreement; 2 ‘‘(B) any civil violation of Federal or State 3 law— 4 ‘‘(i) for which the covered corporation 5 was found liable or entered into a settle- 6 ment agreement with any State or Federal 7 agency; and 8 ‘‘(ii) that affects the health, safety, fi- 9 nances, or personal data of— 10 ‘‘(I) not less than 1 percent of 11 the population of the United States; 12 or 13 ‘‘(II) not less than 1 percent of 14 the population of a State; or 15 ‘‘(C) any criminal or civil violation of Fed- 16 eral or State law, for which the covered cor- 17 poration was convicted or found liable, as the 18 case may be, that was committed while the cov- 19 ered corporation was operating under a civil or 20 criminal judgment of any court, a deferred 21 prosecution or non-prosecution agreement, or 22 settlement with any State or Federal agency re- 23 lating to a different criminal or civil violation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:53 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1010.IS S1010 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1010 IS ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any executive officer who violates 1 subsection (b) shall— 2 ‘‘(1) for a first offense, be fined in accordance 3 with this title, imprisoned for not more than 1 year, 4 or both; and 5 ‘‘(2) for a second or subsequent offense, be 6 fined in accordance with this title, imprisoned for 7 not more than 3 years, or both.’’. 8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 9 The table of chapters in part I of title 18, United States 10 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 11 chapter 23 the following: 12 ‘‘24. Corporations ................................................................................... 451’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:53 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1010.IS S1010 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS