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To amend title 28, United States Code, to adjust the penalty for unjust conviction and imprisonment, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends federal law governing compensation for individuals who were unjustly convicted and imprisoned. It increases the base compensation amount from $50,000 to $70,000. The bill also requires this compensation amount to be automatically adjusted annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Maxine Waters’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- GUSTAR KAPLAN NUSBAUM PLLC $9,900
- INVARIANT $8,300
- SLA WORLDWIDE $6,950
- MINDSET $6,800
- EGAN-JONES RATINGS CO. $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Maxine Waters → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Sep 19, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Sep 19, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 19, 2025
Ms. Waters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 28, United States Code, to adjust the penalty for unjust conviction and imprisonment, 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 “Justice for Exonerees Act”.
SEC. 2. PENALTY FOR UNJUST CONVICTION AND IMPRISONMENT.
Section 2513 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (e), by striking “$50,000” and inserting “$70,000”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(f) The amount of damages awarded under subsection (e) shall be adjusted for inflation annually, based on the Consumer Price Index.”. <all>
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