Sponsor
Brittany Pettersen
Representative · D-CO
Representative · D-CO
The bill reduces certain FTCA suits and modestly limits government liability—protecting federal employees and restricting litigants with specified convictions—at the cost of narrowing remedies for harmed individuals (including those with minor or disputed convictions), shifting financial burdens to victims, and creating legal uncertainty over scope.
Federal law-enforcement officers face fewer FTCA suits from people convicted of assault, felonies against officers, obstruction, or related offenses, reducing litigation risk and potential distraction for officers.
People convicted of election-interference or related obstruction offenses are barred from FTCA recovery, limiting opportunities for convicted actors to use civil suits to challenge or profit from federal actions.
The federal government may see modest reductions in litigation and administrative costs by disqualifying certain convicted individuals from FTCA recovery, potentially lowering some taxpayer liability payouts.
People with convictions can be entirely barred from seeking FTCA damages for harms caused by federal actors, meaning some harmed individuals may be denied compensation for federal torts.
Removing FTCA remedies shifts financial burdens onto individuals harmed by federal actors when claims are barred, which can disproportionately hurt middle-class and low-income victims left without compensation.
Barring FTCA claims 'regardless of whether any sentence was entered' can prevent recovery for people with minor, vacated, or unsentenced convictions, denying remedies in borderline or technical conviction cases.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Precludes individuals convicted of specified federal offenses from bringing FTCA claims against the United States, even if pardoned or commuted.
Amends the Federal Tort Claims Act to prevent private individuals convicted of certain federal offenses from suing the United States under the FTCA. The change bars FTCA claims by people convicted (even if later pardoned or commuted) of crimes such as assault or battery on federal officers, offenses interfering with federal elections, obstruction of federal processes, felonies involving confrontations with federal officers, and felonies involving theft or misuse of federal funds or interference with appropriations and oversight. The amendment is a narrow change to the FTCA exceptions: it renumbers the existing clause and adds a new categorical ban on claims by the specified class of convicted offenders. It does not create new causes of action, change damages rules, or specify funding or administrative procedures; it simply removes access to FTCA remedies for people with those convictions.
Official title: To amend title 28 to include additional limitations on the intentional tort exception, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 20, 2026 by Brittany Pettersen · Last progress July 20, 2026