Pardon Disclosure Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2659 To require a Member of Congress who makes and any individual who receives a request from a Member of Congress for a presidential pardon to disclose the request to the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate or the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 17, 2023 Mr. TORRES of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require a Member of Congress who makes and any indi- vidual who receives a request from a Member of Congress for a presidential pardon to disclose the request to the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate or the Com- mittee on Ethics of the House of Representatives, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2659 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pardon Disclosure 2 Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF PRESIDENTIAL PARDON RE- 4 QUESTS TO CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COM- 5 MITTEES. 6 (a) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—If a Member of 7 Congress makes a request for a presidential pardon to be 8 granted to the Member or to any other individual, the 9 Member who made the request and any individual who re- 10 ceives the request from the Member shall each disclose the 11 request to the supervising ethics committee in accordance 12 with the requirements under subsection (b). 13 (b) DEADLINE FOR DISCLOSURE.—A Member of 14 Congress who makes a request described in subsection (a) 15 or any individual who receives a request described in sub- 16 section (a) shall each disclose such request to the super- 17 vising ethics committee— 18 (1) in the case of any such request made or re- 19 ceived after the date of the enactment of this Act, 20 not later than 30 days after the date such request 21 is made or received; and 22 (2) in the case of any such request made or re- 23 ceived during the period that begins on January 1, 24 2021, and ends on the date of the enactment of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2659 IH Act, not later than 30 days after the date of the en- 1 actment of this Act. 2 (c) CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 4 bring a civil action in an appropriate district court 5 of the United States against any person who vio- 6 lates, or whom the Attorney General has reason to 7 believe is engaging in conduct that violates, sub- 8 section (a). 9 (2) CIVIL PENALTY.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the court finds by a 11 preponderance of the evidence that a person 12 violated subsection (a), the court shall impose 13 against the person a civil penalty of not more 14 than $100,000. 15 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—A civil 16 penalty under this subsection may be in addi- 17 tion to any other criminal or civil statutory, 18 common law, or administrative remedy available 19 to the United States. 20 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi- 21 nitions apply: 22 (1) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘‘Mem- 23 ber of Congress’’ includes a Delegate or Resident 24 Commissioner to the Congress. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2659 IH (2) SUPERVISING ETHICS COMMITTEE.—The 1 term ‘‘supervising ethics committee’’ means— 2 (A) in the case of any request described in 3 subsection (a) with respect to a Member of the 4 Senate, the Select Committee on Ethics of the 5 Senate; and 6 (B) in the case of any request described in 7 subsection (a) with respect to a Member of the 8 House of Representatives, the Committee on 9 Ethics of the House of Representatives. 10 SEC. 3. RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PRES- 11 IDENTIAL PARDON DISCLOSURE REQUIRE- 12 MENT. 13 Clause 2 of rule XXVI of the Rules of the House of 14 Representatives is amended by striking the period at the 15 end and inserting ‘‘, except that Members, Delegates, and 16 the Resident Commissioner shall also include in each an- 17 nual financial disclosure report required under such title 18 the disclosure of any request made by the Member, Dele- 19 gate, or Resident Commissioner for a presidential pardon 20 to be granted to the Member, Delegate, or Resident Com- 21 missioner or to any other individual.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS