Bill: Draft Congressional Gift Restriction Repeal Act

[zLost]

A
BILL
To

Amend the Legislative Standards Act​

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Congressional Gift Restriction Repeal Act'.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by ToadKing and Senator EATB.
(4) This Act has been sponsored by Representative zLost.
(5) This Act has been co-sponsored by Senator EATB.

2 - Reasons
(1) To align Congressional ethical standards with those of the Executive and Judicial branches, which face no similar gift restrictions.
(2) To recognise that existing criminal law, specifically the offence of Bribery under the Criminal Code Act, adequately addresses improper influence through gifts or items of value.
(3) To remove unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions that treat members of Congress as less trustworthy than their counterparts in other branches of government.
(4) To eliminate an unenforceable and impractical provision that creates confusion without providing meaningful protection against corruption.
(5) To prevent bad actors, especially the ones who come from Jurassic Park, from exploiting this provision by “gift spamming” members of Congress in an attempt to unwittingly catch them in technical violations of the gift surrender requirements.

3 - Amendments
(1) Section 16 of the Legislative Standards Act shall be amended as follows:

"16 - Congressional Funds

(1) The reference to the legislative budget in this bill relates to the respective balance of the 'DCGovernmentLEG' account.

(2) The legislative branch may pass bills to limit or enforce spending on a specific subject.

(3) Spending remains subject to all bills regarding appropriations, including the logging and transparency of such spending.

(4) The Office of Congressional Affairs is responsible for appropriating the proper funds once a motion is passed, unless otherwise directed in such motion.

(5) Congressional members are barred from appropriating themselves and or accepting bonuses for the purpose of extra remuneration.

(a) Members of the Office of Congressional Affairs are exempt from this.

(b) Representatives and Senators may still receive appropriations to assist them in the course of their official duties.

(6) Any official gifts made to a Representative or Senator are to be property of the state and should be surrendered to the Office of Congressional Affairs at the member's first opportunity.

(a) The Office of Congressional Affairs may choose to display or simply retain and archive these gifts."

4 - Clarification
(1) This Act does not diminish or affect the applicability of the Bribery offence as defined in the Criminal Code Act.
(2) Members of Congress remain subject to criminal prosecution for Bribery if they accept items or services of value intended to influence their official duties.