No Gratuities for Governing Act of 2025
HB4175, titled the No Gratuities for Governing Act of 2025, would amend 18 U.S.C. § 666, the federal statute covering theft, bribery, and related offenses involving programs that receive federal funds. The bill is aimed at clarifying and expanding the illegal gratuities portion of that law by expressly creating a separate offense for giving or receiving things of value in connection with official acts tied to organizations, state governments, local governments, and Indian tribal governments, where the underlying transaction involves $5,000 or more and the gratuity is $1,000 or more.
The bill also increases the maximum penalty for the existing offense from 10 years to 15 years and reorganizes the statute’s subsections to accommodate the new language. In practical terms, it would strengthen federal anti-corruption enforcement by making it clearer that gratuities connected to official acts in federally funded programs are punishable, not just classic bribery, and by raising the potential punishment for covered conduct.
If enacted, the bill would amend federal criminal law in title 18, specifically 18 U.S.C. § 666, which is used to prosecute corruption involving organizations and state, local, and tribal governments that receive federal funds. It would add a new gratuities offense, adjust the statutory structure, and increase the maximum prison term for the existing offense, thereby broadening prosecutorial tools and potentially increasing exposure for public officials, agents of covered entities, and those who provide or accept improper payments or gifts.
The available record shows no committee transcript or vote history, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge broad sentiment. Based on the bill’s bipartisan sponsorship by Representatives Goldman and Ciscomani and its anti-corruption framing, the measure appears to be presented as a targeted clarification of federal law rather than a controversial policy overhaul. The overall tone from the bill text is enforcement-oriented and reform-minded.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials because there are no committee transcripts or recorded votes. Potential areas of debate, however, are implicit in the text: whether the bill’s new gratuities offense could broaden federal criminal liability too far, whether the $1,000 and $5,000 thresholds are appropriately calibrated, and whether increasing the maximum penalty from 10 to 15 years is necessary. Any opposition would likely focus on overcriminalization, federalism concerns, or the risk of capturing conduct that is less clearly corrupt than bribery.