BOLIVAR Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 621 To prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with the Maduro regime, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. WALTZ (for himself, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. SALAZAR, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. POSEY, and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with the Maduro regime, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Banning Operations 4 and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian 5 Regime Act’’ or the ‘‘BOLIVAR Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H621.IH H621 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 621 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH PERSONS 1 THAT HAVE BUSINESS OPERATIONS WITH 2 THE MADURO REGIME. 3 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided under sub- 4 sections (c), (d), and (e), the head of an executive agency 5 may not enter into a contract for the procurement of 6 goods or services with any person that has business oper- 7 ations with an authority of the government of Venezuela 8 that is not recognized as the legitimate government of 9 Venezuela by the United States Government. 10 (b) EXCEPTIONS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The prohibition under sub- 12 section (a) does not apply to a contract that the 13 head of an executive agency and the Secretary of 14 State jointly determine— 15 (A) is necessary— 16 (i) for purposes of providing humani- 17 tarian assistance to the people of Ven- 18 ezuela; 19 (ii) for purposes of providing disaster 20 relief and other urgent life-saving meas- 21 ures; or 22 (iii) to carry out noncombatant evacu- 23 ations; or 24 (B) is vital to the national security inter- 25 ests of the United States. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H621.IH H621 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 621 IH (2) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The head 1 of an executive agency shall notify each appropriate 2 congressional committee, the Committee on Foreign 3 Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the 4 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate of 5 any contract entered into on the basis of an excep- 6 tion provided for under paragraph (1). 7 (c) OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL LI- 8 CENSES.—The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not 9 apply to a person that has a valid license to operate in 10 Venezuela issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control 11 of the Department of the Treasury. 12 (d) AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN VEN- 13 EZUELA.—The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not 14 apply to contracts related to the operation and mainte- 15 nance of the United States Government’s consular offices 16 and diplomatic posts in Venezuela. 17 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 (1) BUSINESS OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘busi- 19 ness operations’’ means engaging in commerce in 20 any form, including acquiring, developing, maintain- 21 ing, owning, selling, possessing, leasing, or operating 22 equipment, facilities, personnel, products, services, 23 personal property, real property, or any other appa- 24 ratus of business or commerce. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H621.IH H621 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 621 IH (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 1 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 2 133 of title 41, United States Code. 3 (3) GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA.—The term 4 ‘‘government of Venezuela’’ includes the government 5 of any political subdivision of Venezuela, and any 6 agency or instrumentality of the Government of Ven- 7 ezuela. For purposes of this paragraph, the term 8 ‘‘agency or instrumentality of the Government of 9 Venezuela’’ means an agency or instrumentality of a 10 foreign state as defined in section 1603(b) of title 11 28, United States Code, with each reference in such 12 section to ‘‘a foreign state’’ deemed to be a reference 13 to ‘‘Venezuela’’. 14 (4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means— 15 (A) a natural person, corporation, com- 16 pany, business association, partnership, society, 17 trust, or any other nongovernmental entity, or- 18 ganization, or group; 19 (B) any governmental entity or instrumen- 20 tality of a government, including a multilateral 21 development institution (as defined in section 22 1701(c)(3) of the International Financial Insti- 23 tutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262r(c)(3))); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H621.IH H621 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 621 IH (C) any successor, subunit, parent entity, 1 or subsidiary of, or any entity under common 2 ownership or control with, any entity described 3 in subparagraph (A) or (B). 4 (f) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply with re- 5 spect to any contract entered into on or after the date 6 of the enactment of this section. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H621.IH H621 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS