Congress·In Committee·H.R. 5540

Justice for Exonerees Act

Wrongful Conviction: Higher Payments for Exonerees

Sep 19, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committeeNo action in 9 months

The Justice for Exonerees Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently sent to the House Committee on the Judiciary for review. There are no upcoming votes scheduled at this time, and the bill is still in the beginning phase.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

Most bills introduced in the House never make it past the committee stage unless they have a lot of support from both parties.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 10442 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 10442 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill increases the money the federal government pays to people who were wrongly sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. The current payment of $50,000 would rise to $70,000 to help these individuals rebuild their lives.
The bill adds a rule that these payments must be adjusted for inflation every year. This means the amount will automatically go up as prices for things like food and housing increase over time.
This policy specifically helps people who have been exonerated, which means their convictions were overturned. It recognizes that the current payment levels have not kept up with the economy and aims to provide a fairer amount of compensation.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Sep 19, 2025House

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Sep 19, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Justice for Exonerees Act

Bill NumberHR 5540

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.