Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3973 To establish judicial ethics. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 9, 2023 Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COHEN, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DELUZIO, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HOYLE of Oregon, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. LEE of Cali- fornia, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. MENG, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PORTER, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mrs. WATSON COLE- MAN, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Rules, Financial Services, Agriculture, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish judicial ethics. 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 ‘‘Judicial Ethics and 4 Anti-Corruption Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3973 IH SEC. 2. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST RULES FOR JUDGES AND 1 JUSTICES AND NONCONFLICTED FEDERAL 2 EMPLOYEE INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS. 3 (a) REQUIRED DIVESTMENTS OF CONFLICTED AS- 4 SETS.— 5 (1) STOCKS AND SECURITIES.—No judge or 6 justice may own an interest in or trade (except a di- 7 vestment required or approved by the Judicial Con- 8 ference of the United States) any stock, bond, com- 9 modity, future, and other form of security, including 10 an interest in a hedge fund, a derivative, option, or 11 other complex investment vehicle, except noncon- 12 flicted assets allowed under subsection (b). 13 (2) COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.—No judge or 14 justice may maintain ownership in commercial real 15 estate, unless ownership of such commercial real es- 16 tate is necessary for an entity described in para- 17 graph (4)(C). 18 (3) TRUSTS.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—No judge or justice 20 may maintain a financial interest in any trust, 21 including a family trust, if the Judicial Con- 22 ference of the United States determines that 23 the trust includes any— 24 (i) asset that might present a conflict 25 of interest; or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3973 IH (ii) stock, bond, commodity, future, 1 and other form of security, including an in- 2 terest in a hedge fund, a derivative, option, 3 or other complex investment vehicle, except 4 nonconflicted assets allowed under sub- 5 section (b). 6 (B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 7 not apply to a trust described in section 8 13104(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code. 9 (4) BUSINESSES AND COMPANIES.— 10 (A) PRIVATELY OWNED OR CLOSELY HELD 11 CORPORATION.—No judge or justice may main- 12 tain ownership in a privately owned or closely 13 held corporation, company, firm, partnership, or 14 other business enterprise. 15 (B) BOARD MEMBERS.—No judge or jus- 16 tice may serve on the board of directors of any 17 for-profit entity, including any corporation, 18 company, firm, partnership, or other business 19 enterprise. 20 (C) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraphs (A) and 21 (B) shall not apply to a corporation, company, 22 firm, partnership, or other business enterprise 23 that has gross receipts for the previous taxable 24 year of less than $5,000,000. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3973 IH (b) NONCONFLICTED ASSETS.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A judge or justice may 2 maintain assets that do not present a conflict of in- 3 terest, including— 4 (A) a widely held investment fund— 5 (i) described in section 13104(f)(8) of 6 title 5, United States Code; 7 (ii) that meets the requirements de- 8 scribed in paragraph (2); and 9 (iii) that is diversified because the 10 fund does not have a stated policy of con- 11 centrating the investments of the fund in 12 any industry, business, single country 13 other than the United States, or bonds of 14 any single State; 15 (B) noncommercial real estate, including 16 real estate used solely as a personal residence; 17 (C) cash, certificates of deposit, or other 18 forms of savings accounts; 19 (D) a federally managed asset, including— 20 (i) financial interests in or income de- 21 rived from— 22 (I) any retirement system under 23 title 5, United States Code (including 24 the Thrift Savings Plan under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3973 IH chapter III of chapter 84 of such 1 title); or 2 (II) any other retirement system 3 maintained by the United States for 4 officers or employees of the United 5 States, including the President, or for 6 members of the uniformed services; 7 (ii) benefits received under the Social 8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); and 9 (iii) an asset in the Federal Employee 10 Investment Account described in para- 11 graph (3); 12 (E) bonds, bills, and notes issued by gov- 13 ernmental sources, such as the Federal Govern- 14 ment, State, or other municipality; 15 (F) shares of Settlement Common Stock 16 issued under section 7(g)(1)(A) of the Alaska 17 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 18 1606(g)(1)(A)); and 19 (G) shares of Settlement Common Stock, 20 as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native 21 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602). 22 (2) WIDELY HELD INVESTMENT FUND RE- 23 QUIREMENTS.—A judge or justice may not maintain 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3973 IH a widely held investment fund described in section 1 13104(f)(8) of title 5, United States Code, unless— 2 (A) the widely held investment fund is— 3 (i) diversified, as described in para- 4 graph (1)(A)(iii); and 5 (ii) registered as a management com- 6 pany under the Investment Company Act 7 of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.); 8 (B) the widely held investment fund does 9 not present a conflict of interest; and 10 (C) any instructions to a manager of the 11 widely held investment fund are shared with the 12 Judicial Conference of the United States. 13 (3) FEDERAL EMPLOYEE INVESTMENT AC- 14 COUNT.—Section 8472 of title 5, United States 15 Code, is amended— 16 (A) in subsection (f)— 17 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking 18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking the 20 period at the end and inserting a semi- 21 colon; and 22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3973 IH ‘‘(4) not later than 3 years after the date of en- 1 actment of this paragraph, establish Federal Em- 2 ployee Investment Accounts in the Treasury of the 3 United States accounts for judges and justices to 4 maintain investments in the stock and securities 5 markets in which a judge or justice may— 6 ‘‘(A) sell an asset or security, including 7 those assets or securities that present a conflict 8 of interest under section 2(a) of the Judicial 9 Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023, and 10 invest the resulting funds into the Federal Em- 11 ployee Investment Accounts; and 12 ‘‘(B) withdraw funds from their Federal 13 Employee Investment Account at any time; 14 ‘‘(5) act in the interest of the plan participants 15 and beneficiaries of Federal Employee Investment 16 Accounts when making decisions for the purpose of 17 providing benefits to those participants and bene- 18 ficiaries; 19 ‘‘(6) establish a new and parallel system for 20 recordkeeping with respect to Federal Employee In- 21 vestment Accounts; and 22 ‘‘(7) establish a Federal Employee Investment 23 Fund to fully cover administrative costs associated 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3973 IH with managing Federal Employee Investment Ac- 1 counts, which— 2 ‘‘(A) shall be separate from the Thrift Sav- 3 ings Fund established under section 8437, ex- 4 cept with respect to administrative costs for 5 common resources; and 6 ‘‘(B) may be used for compensation to pay 7 new employees, additional resources for infor- 8 mation technology, additional call center capac- 9 ity, and any other new capacity to handle the 10 administration of Federal Employee Investment 11 Accounts.’’; 12 (B) in subsection (g)(1)— 13 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 (ii) by striking the period at the end 16 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(E) promulgate regulations for the ad- 20 ministration of Federal Employee Investment 21 Accounts.’’; and 22 (C) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 24 is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3973 IH essary to establish and maintain Federal Employee Invest- 1 ment Accounts established under subsection (f), including 2 for the purpose of reducing any fees paid by participants 3 in the Federal Employee Investment Accounts.’’. 4 (c) CIVIL FINES.—The Attorney General or the Spe- 5 cial Counsel may bring a civil action in the appropriate 6 United States district court against any judge or justice 7 who engages in conduct constituting a violation of this sec- 8 tion and, upon proof of such conduct by a preponderance 9 of the evidence, such judge or justice shall be subject to 10 a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation. 11 The imposition of a civil penalty under this subsection 12 does not preclude any other criminal or civil statutory, 13 common law, or administrative remedy, which is available 14 by law to the United States or any other person. 15 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF GIFT BAN. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7353 of title 5, United 17 States Code, is amended— 18 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 19 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘anything of value’’ and 20 inserting ‘‘a gift’’; 21 (2) in subsection (b)(2), by adding at the end 22 the following: 23 ‘‘(C) The total monetary value of any gifts 24 accepted by a Member, officer, or employee pur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3973 IH suant to subparagraph (A) as personal hospi- 1 tality during any calendar year shall not exceed 2 an amount equal to the dollar amount estab- 3 lished under paragraph (1) of section 2503(b) 4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as ad- 5 justed under paragraph (2) of such section) 6 with respect to such calendar year.’’; and 7 (3) in subsection (d)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 9 the end; 10 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 11 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(3) the term ‘gift’ means anything of value, in- 14 cluding transportation, travel, lodgings and meals, 15 whether provided in-kind, by purchase of a ticket, 16 payment in advance, or reimbursement after the ex- 17 pense has been incurred.’’. 18 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Judicial Conference of the 19 United States shall promulgate regulations to carry out 20 the amendment made by subsection (a) with respect to 21 the judicial branch. 22 SEC. 4. RESTRICT PRIVATELY FUNDED EDUCATIONAL 23 EVENTS AND SPEECHES. 24 (a) JUDICIAL EDUCATION FUND.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3973 IH (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 42 of title 28, 1 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 2 end the following: 3 ‘‘§ 630. Judicial Education Fund 4 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 5 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Board’ means the Board of the 6 Federal Judicial Center established in section 621; 7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Fund’ means the Judicial Edu- 8 cation Fund established under subsection (b); 9 ‘‘(3) the term ‘institution of higher education’ 10 has the meaning given that term under section 11 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 12 U.S.C. 1001(a)); 13 ‘‘(4) the term ‘national bar association’ means 14 a national organization that is open to general mem- 15 bership to all members of the bar; 16 ‘‘(5) the term ‘private judicial seminar’— 17 ‘‘(A) means a seminar, symposia, panel 18 discussion, course, or a similar event that pro- 19 vides continuing legal education to judges and 20 justices; and 21 ‘‘(B) does not include— 22 ‘‘(i) seminars that last 1 day or less 23 and are conducted by, and on the campus 24 of, an institute of higher education; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3973 IH ‘‘(ii) seminars that last 1 day or less 1 and are conducted by a national bar asso- 2 ciation or State or local bar association for 3 the benefit of the bar association member- 4 ship; or 5 ‘‘(iii) seminars of any length con- 6 ducted by, and on the campus of an insti- 7 tute of higher education or by a national 8 bar association or State or local bar asso- 9 ciation, where a judge or justice is a pre- 10 senter and at which judges and justices 11 constitute less than 25 percent of the par- 12 ticipants; and 13 ‘‘(6) the term ‘State or local bar association’ 14 means a State or local organization that is open to 15 general membership to all members of the bar in the 16 specified geographic region. 17 ‘‘(b) FUND.—There is established within the United 18 States Treasury a fund to be known as the ‘Judicial Edu- 19 cation Fund’. 20 ‘‘(c) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts in the Fund may 21 be made available for the payment of necessary expenses, 22 including reasonable expenditures for transportation, food, 23 lodging, private judicial seminar fees and materials, in- 24 [Text truncated for display. 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