{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1377-114/featured_ceja-1454550499.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1377-114/featured_large_ceja-1454550499.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s1377-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-05-19","title_override":"Prosecuting Overseas Crimes Committed by U.S. Contractors","summary_override":"This bill aims to ensure that American contractors and employees working outside of the country are held accountable to U.S. laws.

The Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (CEJA) would change the federal criminal code to allow U.S. authorities to penalize federal contractors and their employees for committing certain crimes while working outside of the U.S.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be directed to create new investigative task forces to investigate, arrest, and prosecute contractors and employees who commit serious crimes overseas. The Attorney General would also be allowed to send federal agents to arrest \nalleged offenders outside of the U.S., as long as there is probable cause. This bill would apply to contractors working in the service of any agency other than the Department of Defense (DOD).

","official_title":"A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify and expand Federal criminal jurisdiction over Federal contractors and employees outside the United States, and for other purposes.","short_title":"CEJA","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2015 or the CEJA\n\n Amends the federal criminal code to grant jurisdiction over and impose penalties on federal contractors and employees who commit certain crimes outside of the United States while employed by or accompanying any agency of the United States other than the Department of Defense or while so employed and stationed or deployed in a country outside of the United States pursuant to a treaty or executive agreement in furtherance of a border security initiative with that country. Sets forth the crimes under federal law that are covered by this Act.\n\nProvides for an optional venue for offenses under this Act involving federal employees and contractors overseas in the district in which is headquartered the U.S. agency that: (1) employs the offender, or any one or two or more joint offenders; or (2) the offender is accompanying, or that any one or two or more joint offenders is accompanying.\n\nRequires the statute of limitations for an ...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO estimate of a previous version of this bill found that it would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Costs would be incurred due to investigations and prosecutions, and revenues would be collected from fines, but the overall number of cases would be small.","impact":"Overseas federal contractors and employees; people in other nations; the Department of Justice; the Attorney General; Congress.","argument_for":"There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding how U.S. laws apply to overseas contractors. This bill would eliminate the confusion, protect people overseas, and hold criminals accountable.","argument_against":"This bill needs to address whether some personnel, like intelligence employees, should be shielded from prosecution as their jobs may require them to break the law.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s1377-114","bill_id":"s1377-114","formal_id":"S. 1377","chamber":"senate","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2015-05-19T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/1377","plain_text_url":"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s1377is/html/BILLS-114s1377is.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s1377-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/1377/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2015-05-19","related_bill_ids":["hr5339-114","s2612-114"],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":36,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on the Judiciary","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSJU","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s1377-114","details":"/api/bills/s1377-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s1377-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s1377-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s1377-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":6,"slug":"s1377-114-ceja","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":785,"yea_vote_count":512,"nay_vote_count":272,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["crime-and-police"],"issue_ids":["crime-and-police"],"sponsor_id":554}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"crime-and-police","name":"Crime & Police","slug":"crime-and-police","description":"Federal legislation related to the prevention of crimes(from assault to organized crime to juvenile crime), firearms and explosives, correctional facilities and terrorism. Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.","page_title":"Crime Prevention Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/crime-and-police/black_crime-and-police-1429042040.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/crime-and-police/grey_crime-and-police-1429042040.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/crime-and-police/white_crime-and-police-1429042040.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Curmudgeon","vote_count":568,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/Om66wjm1/large_om66wjm1-1438099897.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/Om66wjm1/small_om66wjm1-1438099897.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/Om66wjm1/tiny_om66wjm1-1438099897.jpg","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/456412557859258/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/Om66wjm1/following","followers":"/api/users/Om66wjm1/followers"},"about_me":"I am 68 years of age and began reading National Review in 1963. I was on campus when the SDS communist front professional students were agitating to have us lose the Viet Nam war. I saw the effects of Reagan's tax cut in my own paycheck and the growth in our national prosperity. I am appalled to see we had forgotten in the next generation the economic lesson. Now I fear the debt cannot be paid down regardless of the policies we have yet to re employ.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"curmudgeon","issue_count":15,"is_following":null,"influence_score":8055,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":32,"following_count":28,"position_count":514,"id":"Om66wjm1","partner_id":null},{"name":"GrumpyMSgt","vote_count":1119,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/emQlapZx/large_emqlapzx-1441643923.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/emQlapZx/small_emqlapzx-1441643923.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/emQlapZx/tiny_emqlapzx-1441643923.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/emQlapZx/following","followers":"/api/users/emQlapZx/followers"},"about_me":"Retired to God's waiting room....Florida!","twitter_id":"@knottypine65","facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"grumpymsgt","issue_count":22,"is_following":null,"influence_score":8760,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":41,"following_count":46,"position_count":726,"id":"emQlapZx","partner_id":null},{"name":"Denny","vote_count":1026,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49V12Em6/large_49v12em6-1453749216.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49V12Em6/small_49v12em6-1453749216.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49V12Em6/tiny_49v12em6-1453749216.jpg","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/100003510138577/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/49V12Em6/following","followers":"/api/users/49V12Em6/followers"},"about_me":"Retired Law Enforcement","twitter_id":"","facebook_id":"","youtube_id":"","google_plus_id":null,"website":"","slug":null,"issue_count":46,"is_following":null,"influence_score":190,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":2,"following_count":2,"position_count":77,"id":"49V12Em6","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"a12107b4-ce4a-4d5c-b94b-8f94ccd78fd2","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"Our interests should focus on protecting our nationals in matters impinging on the legal actions taken by foreign nations, not prosecuting them proactively. 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Prosecuting Overseas Crimes Committed by U.S. Contractors