Congress expands rewards for tips on threats to police
S. 3453 — No Bounties on Badges Act · Filed by Rick Scott (R-FL) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to authorize the Attorney General to offer monetary rewards to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest, conviction, or prevention of acts in which someone offers a bounty or payment for harming or killing a U.S. law enforcement officer. It expands an existing rewards program (originally for terrorism and espionage) to cover bounty-offering against police.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: it expands an existing federal rewards program to cover bounty-offers against police. It is a targeted public-safety provision with no hidden riders or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- The bill does not define 'bounty' or 'offering money or other pecuniary compensation' — this could capture speech acts (social media posts offering rewards, hypothetical statements) as well as serious criminal solicitation, potentially creating ambiguity in enforcement.
- Rewards are available for information leading to arrest or conviction 'in any country' — this extends U.S. law enforcement incentives internationally, which may create diplomatic or jurisdictional complications.
- The bill does not specify a cap on reward amounts or criteria for determining reward size, leaving discretion entirely to the Attorney General.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a financial incentive for citizens to report threats against law enforcement, which strengthens public safety and law enforcement's ability to prevent violence. It does not restrict citizen rights, impose new penalties on ordinary people, or create liability — it only adds a reward mechanism for information.
Who stands to gain
- Individual informants (citizens providing information)
Named in the bill
Attorney General, U.S. law enforcement officers, 18 USC Chapter 204, 18 USC § 3071
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Republicans.
- Dec 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,158 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
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