I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3679 

To prohibit the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or 

other agreements to, providing any other Federal funds to, or engaging 

in activities that promote certain corporations or companies guilty of 

certain felony convictions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 

Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mr. STARK, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 

Mr. ELLISON, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. OBEY, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Federal Government from awarding contracts, grants, or other agreements to, providing any 

other Federal funds to, or engaging in activities that 

promote certain corporations or companies guilty of certain felony convictions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Against Corporations 

5 Organizing to Rip-off the Nation Act’’ or the ‘‘ACORN 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 (1) According to the Corporate Fraud Task 

3 Force Report to the President, 2008, in fiscal year 

4 2007, United States Attorneys’ offices opened 878 

5 new criminal health care fraud investigations involv6 ing 1,548 potential defendants. Federal prosecutors 

7 had 1,612 health care fraud criminal investigations 

8 pending, involving 2,603 potential defendants, and 

9 filed criminal charges in 434 cases involving 786 de10 fendants. A total of 560 defendants were convicted 

11 for health care fraud-related crimes during the year. 

12 (2) On September 2, 2009, it was announced 

13 that Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & 

14 Upjohn Company Inc., agreed to pay $2.3 billion, 

15 the largest health care fraud settlement in the his16 tory of the Department of Justice, to resolve crimi17 nal liability from the illegal promotion of certain 

18 pharmaceutical products. 

19 (3) Pharmacia & Upjohn Company agreed to 

20 plead guilty to a felony violation of the Federal 

21 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding 

22 Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. 

23 (4) Pharmacia & Upjohn Company marketed 

24 ‘‘off-label’’ uses of Bextra for several uses and dos25 ages that the Food and Drug Administration de26 clined to approve due to safety concerns. 


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1 (5) The Assistant Attorney General for the 

2 Civil Division has stated, ‘‘Illegal conduct and fraud 

3 by pharmaceutical companies puts the public health 

4 at risk, corrupts medical decisions by health care 

5 providers, and costs the Government billions of dol6 lars.’’. 

7 (6) The Director of the Defense Department’s 

8 Criminal Investigative Services stated, ‘‘The off-label 

9 promotion of pharmaceutical drugs by Pfizer signifi10 cantly impacted the integrity of TRICARE, the De11 partment of Defense’s health care system. This ille12 gal activity increases patients’ costs, threatens their 

13 safety and negatively affects the health care services 

14 to the over nine million military members, retirees 

15 and their families who rely on this system.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS AND OTHER 

17 ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN COR18 PORATIONS OR COMPANIES. 

19 (a) PROHIBITIONS.—Subject to subsection (e), with 

20 respect to any covered corporation or company or applica21 ble individual the following prohibitions apply: 

22 (1) No Federal contract, grant, cooperative 

23 agreement, or any other form of agreement (includ24 ing a memorandum of understanding) may be 

25 awarded to or entered into with the corporation or 


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1 company for a 5-year period beginning 30 days after 

2 the date of the criminal conviction involved or termi3 nation of charter (as the case may be). 

4 (2) No Federal funds in any other form may be 

5 provided to the corporation or company for such 5- 

6 year period. 

7 (3) No Federal employee or contractor may 

8 promote in any way (including recommending to a 

9 person or referring to a person for any purpose) the 

10 corporation or company for such 5-year period. 

11 (4) No covered corporation or company or ap12 plicable individual may contribute funds to a can13 didate for Federal office, Federal political action 

14 committee, or Federal or State political party during 

15 such a 5-year period. 

16 (5) No more than $1,000,000 in any calendar 

17 year may be used by the corporation or company, or 

18 applicable individual, for the purpose of lobbying 

19 Congress or Federal employees during such 5-year 

20 period. 

21 (b) COVERED CORPORATION OR COMPANY.—In this 

22 section, the term ‘‘covered corporation or company’’ means 

23 any of the following: 

24 (1) Any corporation or company guilty of felony 

25 criminal violations under any Federal or State law— 


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1 (A) including a felony violation of the Fed2 eral Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, sections 

3 3729 through 3733 of title 31, United States 

4 Code (formerly known as the False Claims 

5 Act), or a violation for the filing of a fraudulent 

6 form with any Federal or State regulatory 

7 agency; but 

8 (B) excluding a violation for which the cor9 poration or company has fully completed all 

10 terms of criminal sentencing or a criminal set11 tlement agreement as of the date of the enact12 ment of this Act. 

13 (2) Any corporation or company that had its 

14 State corporate charter terminated due to its failure 

15 to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure 

16 requirements. 

17 (3) Any corporation or company that, within 

18 the 5-year period beginning 30 days after the date 

19 of conviction of an applicable individual of a viola20 tion described in subsection (c)(2)(B)— 

21 (A) employs the applicable individual, in a 

22 permanent or temporary capacity; 

23 (B) has under contract or retains the ap24 plicable individual; or 


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1 (C) has the applicable individual acting on 

2 the behalf of the corporation or company or 

3 with the express or apparent authority of the 

4 corporation or company. 

5 (c) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) The term ‘‘corporation or company’’ in7 cludes Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. 

8 and any Pfizer-related affiliate. 

9 (2) The term ‘‘applicable individual’’ means, 

10 with respect to a corporation or company, an indi11 vidual who— 

12 (A) is a director, officer, or executive of 

13 the corporation or company; and 

14 (B) has been found guilty of a felony viola15 tion under Federal or State law in relation to 

16 the individual’s conduct in the individual’s ca17 pacity as a director, officer, or executive of a 

18 corporation or company. 

19 (d) REVISION OF FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULA20 TION.—The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be re21 vised to carry out the provisions of this Act relating to 

22 contracts. 

23 (e) PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Presi24 dent may waive a prohibition in subsection (a) with reVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:51 Oct 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3679.IH H3679

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1 spect to a corporation, company, or applicable individual 

2 if the President— 

3 (1) determines such a waiver is in the national 

4 interest; and 

5 (2) provides notice to all appropriate Congres6 sional committees of the intent to grant such waiver 

7 15 days before the date such waiver is granted. 

Æ 


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