Bill: Rejected Perjury Act Amendment Act

[HKE101]

A
BILL
TO

Amend the Perjury Act

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 Perjury Act Amendment Act
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act is proposed by Representative Hong_Kong_101
(4) This Act is co-sponsored by Senator Overloard of Peonys

2 - Reasons
(1) The definition of Perjury given in the Perjury Act requires clarification to exclude cases where a party has been charged with perjury despite no evidence being presented to show that they made a claim that they definitively knew was false.

3 - Amendment

3 – New Law
(1) Giving knowingly incorrect testimony to the Government shall be considered Perjury.
(2) At the beginning of court cases, both parties are to be made aware that giving knowingly false testimony is highly illegal.
(3) Perjury charges may be made against any individual and no individual may be convicted of Perjury without a trial.
(4) Any person convicted of Perjury may appeal their conviction to be considered by a higher court unless either no higher court exists or the higher court declines to hear their appeal.
(5) Perjury shall carry a sentence up to 2 hours of jail time and a fee of up to $50,000 but no less than $1,000, at the discretion of the court.

Will be changed to the following:

3 – New Law
(1) The criminal offense of Perjury will be defined as giving knowingly and objectively false testimony while under oath to either the Courts or Congress.
(a) For the purposes of this Act, under oath will be taken to mean that the person giving testimony has explicitly been made aware by a Court or by Congress that they are under the obligation to give complete and truthful testimony.
(b) For an individual to be charged with Perjury, they must have made a statement that was objectively false. Differences in the interpretation of words, or the expression of opinions, will not under any circumstance give rise to a charge of Perjury.
(2) Before any testimony is heard in the District Court, Federal Court, Supreme Court, or in any Congressional hearing, all attestants must be made aware of this Act, and specifically the definition of Perjury under this Act and the penalty attached to it.
(3) Should a Court or chamber of Congress believe that an attestant has committed perjury in a case assigned to it or a hearing conducted by its members, it will refer the matter to the Department of Legal Affairs for prosecution.
(a) Because Perjury is a criminal offense, the Department of Legal Affairs will be exclusively responsible for the prosecution of alleged perjurors.
(b) To limit administrative difficulties, no government body may directly be charged with Perjury, nor may any Court or chamber of Congress request that a government body be charged with Perjury.
(c) Should a representative of a government body be suspected of committing Perjury, they may personally be prosecuted for Perjury under the process outlined in (3) and (3)(a).
(d) Any government employee may be likewise prosecuted for Perjury should they have knowingly instructed a subordinate to commit Perjury.
(4) All cases of Perjury will be tried in the Federal Court. Should a case concern an alleged act of Perjury that was also committed in a separate case in the Federal Court, the judge presiding over the case in which Perjury was alleged to be committed will be prohibited from presiding over the case in which the alleged perjuror is prosecuted for that offense.
(5) Any person who has been convicted of Perjury may appeal for their conviction to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
(6) A person convicted of Perjury may be fined up to 30,000 Redmont Dollars if it is their first conviction for Perjury, or up to 70,000 Redmont Dollars for any subsequent conviction of Perjury.