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S 5102
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Closing Bribery Loopholes Act

To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify certain conduct that is prohibited for purposes of bribery of public officials and witnesses, and for other purposes.

Introduced Jul 23, 2026

Latest action (Jul 23, 2026) Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Referred to
Judiciary Committee
Policy area
Crime and Law Enforcement
Issues
Criminal Justice

Summary
  • Amends the definition of "official act" for purposes of federal bribery law to clarify what conduct is prohibited
  • Expands the definition to include any act within the range of official duty and any decision, recommendation, or action on any question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding, or controversy
  • Clarifies that an official act may consist of a single act, multiple acts, or a course of conduct to effect the official act
  • Clarifies that an official act may occur whether or not it successfully achieves a desired outcome

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)

Actions (2)
  1. Jul 23, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
  2. Jul 23, 2026 Introduced in Senate

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in Senate · Jul 23, 2026

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

July 23, 2026

Mr. Schiff 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 clarify certain conduct that is prohibited for purposes of bribery of public officials and witnesses, 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 “Closing Bribery Loopholes Act”.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF OFFICIAL ACT.

Section 201(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

“(3)(A) the term ‘official act’ means 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, including any pardon, commutation, or reprieve, or an offer of any such pardon, commutation, or reprieve; and

“(B) for purposes of subparagraph (A), an official act—

“(i) may be comprised of a single act, more than one act, or a course of conduct to effect the official act; and

“(ii) may occur whether or not it successfully achieves a desired outcome.”. <all>

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