Sponsors (7)
Official title: Increase the penalties for various violations of Federal law.
Introduced May 20, 2025 by Mark R. Warner · Last progress May 20, 2025
The bill clarifies and raises some penalties to strengthen deterrence and give victims and enforcement authorities clearer remedies for improper handling of federal tax and benefits data, but it shifts costs to taxpayers and agencies and risks under‑ or over‑deterring certain misconduct through uniform $5,000 fines and much higher criminal maximums.
Individuals whose federal records are mishandled (taxpayers, federal employees, patients) can recover much larger statutory damages (up to $30,000 vs. $5,000), increasing direct compensation for harms.
Taxpayers benefit from clearer, uniform per‑occurrence penalties (a $5,000 civil fine) for unauthorized disclosure of tax, SSA, and HHS information, which helps deter casual leaks and gives victims a predictable remedy.
Individuals convicted of unlawfully obtaining federal information face much higher maximum criminal fines (up to $750,000), strengthening financial deterrence and giving prosecutors and courts greater leverage in computer‑intrusion cases involving federal data.
Taxpayers could face higher federal costs and larger taxpayer‑funded payouts if increased damages and fines lead to more successful claims or larger awards.
Some victims may receive smaller compensation and weaker deterrence if the new uniform $5,000 per‑occurrence penalty replaces previously higher statutory amounts for certain disclosures, reducing recourse for large‑scale or repeated breaches.
Federal agencies will incur higher compliance, legal‑defense, and administrative costs (including updates to guidance and training), which could divert resources from programs or require budget increases.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Raises or standardizes fines for unauthorized access or disclosure of federal records, tax-return information, and certain computer-based data thefts across multiple statutes.
Increases statutory monetary penalties for a set of federal privacy, computer-crime, tax-return disclosure, and census-disclosure offenses. The bill raises or standardizes fine amounts in several existing statutes so unauthorized access to or disclosure of federal records, taxpayer returns, SSA/HHS-held return information, and census data carries larger financial penalties.