New federal crime for staged car accidents with tough punishments.
H.R. 10269 — Stop Auto Fraud Act of 2026 · Filed by Laura Gillen (D-NY) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 3, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill makes staging a fake car accident a federal crime. People who stage accidents and file false claims face prison time. The punishment is up to 10 years for basic fraud. It goes up to 20 years if someone gets seriously hurt. Life in prison is possible if someone dies. Money from fines goes into the Highway Trust Fund.
Who it affects
People who stage car accidents and file false claims face federal charges. Insurance companies and honest customers benefit because fraud goes down. Insurance costs less when fraud drops.
One thing to notice
Fines go to the Highway Trust Fund instead of to fraud victims. The law covers any staged accident, even small ones.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Sep 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 3, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- staged accident — A car crash that people plan and fake on purpose to get insurance money.
- federal crime — A crime that breaks U.S. laws, not just state laws. Federal crimes are tried in federal court.
- false claims — Lying to an insurance company to get money for something that did not really happen.
- Highway Trust Fund — A government account that pays for roads, bridges, and highway projects.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,444 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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