II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 121
To extend the statute of limitations for violations relating to pandemic-
era programs to be 10 years.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself, Ms. ERNST, and Mr. COONS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To extend the statute of limitations for violations relating
to pandemic-era programs to be 10 years.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recover Fraudulent 4
COVID Funds Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR VIOLATIONS RELAT-6
ING TO PANDEMIC-ERA PROGRAMS. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
(1) the term ‘‘pandemic-era law’’ means— 9
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•S 121 IS
(A) the Coronavirus Preparedness and Re-1
sponse Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 2
(Public Law 116–123; 134 Stat. 146); 3
(B) the Families First Coronavirus Re-4
sponse Act (Public Law 116–127; 134 Stat. 5
177); 6
(C) the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136; 7
134 Stat. 281); 8
(D) the Paycheck Protection Program and 9
Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 10
116–139; 134 Stat. 620); 11
(E) divisions M and N of the Consolidated 12
Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116– 13
260; 134 Stat. 1182); 14
(F) the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 15
(Public Law 117–2; 135 Stat. 4); or 16
(G) an amendment made by a law de-17
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (F); and 18
(2) the term ‘‘pandemic-era program violation’’ 19
means an offense or other violation of law involving 20
conduct that relates to or involves— 21
(A) a program, project, or activity that 22
was authorized or established by, or was carried 23
out under, a pandemic-era law; or 24
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(B) funding provided under a pandemic- 1
era law. 2
(b) E
XTENSION OFSTATUTE OFLIMITATIONS.— 3
(1) C
RIMES.—No person shall be prosecuted, 4
tried, or punished for any pandemic-era program 5
violation that is a criminal offense unless the indict-6
ment is found or the information is instituted— 7
(A) notwithstanding section 3282(a) of 8
title 18, United States Code, within 10 years 9
after such offense shall have been committed; or 10
(B) within such longer period of years 11
after such offense shall have been committed as 12
is otherwise provided by law. 13
(2) T
ARIFF ACT OF 1930.—Notwithstanding sec-14
tion 621 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 15
1621), no civil action, suit, or proceeding for the for-16
feiture of property accruing under the customs laws 17
of the United States related to a pandemic-era pro-18
gram violation shall be instituted unless such civil 19
action, suit, or proceeding is commenced within 10 20
years after the time when the alleged pandemic-era 21
program violation was discovered, or within 3 years 22
after the time when the involvement of the property 23
in the alleged pandemic-era program violation was 24
discovered, whichever was later, except that the time 25
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of the absence from the United States of the person 1
whose property is subject to forfeiture, or of any 2
concealment or absence of the property, shall not be 3
reckoned within the 10-year period of limitation. 4
(3) F
ALSE CLAIMS.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec-6
tion 3731(b)(1) of title 31, United States Code, 7
a civil action under section 3730 of such title 8
alleging a violation of section 3729 of such title 9
that is a pandemic-era program violation may 10
not be brought more than 10 years after the 11
date on which the violation was committed. 12
(B) N
OTICE.—Notwithstanding section 13
3808 of title 31, United States Code, a notice 14
to the person alleged to be liable with respect 15
to a claim or statement that involves a pan-16
demic-era violation shall be mailed or delivered 17
in accordance with section 3803(d)(1) of such 18
title not later than 10 years after the date on 19
which the violation of section 3802 of such title 20
is committed. 21
Æ
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