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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5717 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5717

To establish a reward system to provide monetary awards to individuals 
  who provide information relating to violations of the CAN-SPAM Act.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2008

   Mr. McCotter (for himself, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. Meeks of New York) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To establish a reward system to provide monetary awards to individuals 
  who provide information relating to violations of the CAN-SPAM Act.

    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 ``Inform and Deter Spam Act'' or the 
``ID Spam Act''.

SEC. 2. REWARD SYSTEM FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING VIOLATIONS OF THE CAN-
              SPAM ACT.

    Section 11 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7710) is amended 
to read as follows:

``SEC. 11. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT VIOLATIONS.

    ``(a) Establishment of Fund.--
            ``(1) Civil penalties.--If in any judicial or 
        administrative action brought by the Commission under this Act, 
        the Commission obtains a civil penalty against any person for a 
        violation of this Act, the amount of such civil penalty shall, 
        on the motion or at the direction of the Commission, be added 
        to and become part of a fund established for the providing of 
        rewards to individuals who provide information concerning a 
        violation of this Act.
            ``(2) Acceptance of additional donations.--The Commission 
        is authorized to accept, hold, administer, and utilize gifts, 
        bequests and devises of property, both real and personal, to 
        the United States for a fund described in paragraph (1). Such 
        gifts, bequests and devises of money and proceeds from sales of 
        other property received as gifts, bequests and devises shall be 
        deposited in the fund established under paragraph (1) and shall 
        be available for the purposes of such fund as described in such 
        paragraph.
    ``(b) Eligibility and Amount of Reward.--The Commission may grant a 
reward in an amount not to exceed $100,000 to any individual determined 
by the Commission to have provided valuable information concerning a 
violation of this Act which resulted in the imposition of a final court 
order against the person or persons found in violation of this Act.
    ``(c) Reward Determination Sole Discretion of the Commission.--The 
Commission shall have the sole discretion to determine the eligibility 
for and the amount of any reward granted under this section. Any 
decision by the Commission relating to the granting of a reward, 
including whether, to whom, or in what amount shall be final and shall 
not be subject to judicial review. No person is authorized under this 
section to make any offer or promise or to otherwise bind the 
Commission with respect to the payment of any reward authorized under 
this section.
    ``(d) No Grant of Immunity.--The receipt of a reward under this 
section shall not constitute immunity from criminal liability.
    ``(e) Unlawful To Provide False Information.--
            ``(1) Conduct prohibited.--It shall be unlawful for any 
        person to provide any information to the Commission that such 
        person knows or should know to be false.
            ``(2) Penalties.--Any person who violates paragraph (1) 
        shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or 
        imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. Any person who 
        violates paragraph (1) may be held civilly liable to the United 
        States and assessed a civil penalty not to exceed $100,000.
    ``(f) Regulations.--The Commission is authorized to issue such 
regulations as may be necessary to carry out the reward system 
authorized by this section. Such regulations may include establishing 
procedures for filing a claim of a reward under this section and 
procedures for maintaining the anonymity of informants who provide 
information to the Commission concerning violations of this Act.''.

SEC. 3. STUDY ON THE UTILITY OF THE REWARD SYSTEM.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
every 2 years thereafter, the Federal Trade Commission shall transmit a 
report to Congress on the utility of the reward system established 
under section 1, including the number and amount of rewards granted and 
the number of successful enforcement actions resulting from information 
reported to the Commission for which a reward was granted.
                                 <all>
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