Skip to main content
GWGovwatch
CongressBillsCommitteesPresidentMoneyPulseMisconductElectionsMap
Donate

Weekly accountability digest

One email a week with new votes, moving bills, and misconduct updates. No spam.

GW

Govwatch. Public data about Congress, in one place, in plain English.

Built with public data. Not affiliated with the U.S. government.

Explore

  • Officials
  • Legislation
  • Committees
  • Congress Pulse
  • Trending Topics
  • Bipartisan Leaderboard
  • Weekly Digest
  • Misconduct
  • Predictions

Learn

  • How Congress Works
  • How a Bill Becomes Law
  • Campaign Finance 101
  • Glossary

Tools

  • My Representatives
  • Compare Members
  • Bill Watchlist
  • Search
  • District Map
  • Follow the Money
  • Watch Live

Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Data Sources

Congress.gov API v3
Bills, members, votesGovInfo API
Floor speeches, reports, bill textFederal Election Commission (FEC)
Campaign financeVoteView (UCLA)
Ideology scores (DW-NOMINATE)GovTrack.us
Misconduct data (CC0)U.S. Census Bureau
District demographics
Support This Project

This site is free. Donations help cover hosting, API fees, and keeping the data fresh.

All data is sourced from official government APIs and public records. This site is for informational purposes only.

© 2026 Govwatch

HR5540Referred to Committee

Justice for Exonerees Act

Share:
Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2025-09-19
Introduced
0
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters
Democrat · CA · Representative
Votes with party: 97.9% (526 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/W000187

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (0)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

No cosponsors on record. Bills can pass without cosponsors — this often means the sponsor introduced the bill alone, either because it's a messaging bill, a chairman's mark, or simply early in the legislative cycle.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

2025-09-19

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

  • House Committee on the JudiciaryReferred To · 2025-09-19

Previously

  • Judiciary CommitteeReferred To · 2025-09-19

Plain-English Summary

Justice for Exonerees Act This bill increases the maximum amount of damages that an individual who was unjustly convicted and incarcerated may be awarded and requires that this amount be adjusted annually for inflation.

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

Subjects

Law
Full bill text is not yet cached locally.
Open text viewRead on Congress.gov

Related legislation

Bills by the same sponsor or covering overlapping subjects.

  • HR4544American Access to Banking Act
    Passed House · 2026-05-21
  • HR8777GUIDANCE Act of 2026
    Referred to Committee · 2026-05-13
  • HJRES179Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to "Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-04: Insufficient Data Protection or Security for Sensitive Consumer Information".
    Referred to Committee · 2026-05-07
  • HJRES170Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to "The Fair Credit Reporting Act's Limited Preemption of State Laws".
    Referred to Committee · 2026-04-30