Sponsor
Maxine Waters
Representative · D-CA
The bill raises and inflation-protects compensation for wrongfully convicted people to improve their financial stability, but increases federal costs and creates ongoing administrative obligations.
Wrongfully convicted people (especially low-income exonerees) will receive a higher minimum federal compensation—$70,000 instead of $50,000—providing greater immediate financial relief.
Wrongfully convicted people will have awards indexed to inflation, so compensation maintains its purchasing power over time.
Exonerees (particularly low-income individuals) will be less likely to see their compensation eroded over years, improving post-release financial stability and access to services.
All taxpayers will face higher federal expenditures because increasing statutory awards raises the program's cost.
Federal agencies and employees will incur ongoing budgetary obligations and additional administrative workload to implement and maintain annual inflation indexing and payments.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Raises the federal minimum award for unjust conviction from $50,000 to $70,000 and requires annual CPI indexing of the award.
Representative · D-CA
Official title: To amend title 28, United States Code, to adjust the penalty for unjust conviction and imprisonment, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 19, 2025 by Maxine Waters · Last progress September 19, 2025
Increases the federal statutory minimum compensation for persons unjustly convicted and imprisoned from $50,000 to $70,000 and requires that the award amount be adjusted upward each year for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The bill applies to damages paid under the existing federal wrongful-conviction statute and directs automatic annual CPI indexing after enactment.