Bill lowers the amount of property damage needed for federal charges.
H.R. 9575 — Hold Vandals Accountable Act of 2026 · Filed by Pat Fallon (R-TX) · Introduced Jul 2, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill changes federal law about damaging U.S. government property. Prosecutors can now charge federal crimes for damage worth $500 or more. Right now, the damage must be worth $1,000 or more.
Who it affects
People who damage U.S. government property could face federal charges more often. Federal prosecutors would handle more cases.
One thing to notice
The bill lowers the dollar amount by half but does not explain why $500 is the right number.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 2, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 2, 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
- federal — run by the U.S. government, not by a state or city.
- prosecutors — lawyers who bring criminal charges against people on behalf of the government.
- charges — formal accusations that someone broke a law.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (240 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 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 2026-09-23.
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