Foreign Influence Transparency Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1535 To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to limit the exemption from the registration requirements of such Act for persons engaging in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do not promote the political agenda of a foreign government, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 3, 2021 Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GOODEN of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. POSEY, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. GUEST, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. MAST, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. CARTER of Texas, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. ISSA, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. DUNN, Mr. BROOKS, and Mr. FITZGERALD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to limit the exemption from the registration requirements of such Act for persons engaging in activities in further- ance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or sci- entific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do not promote the political agenda of a foreign government, VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1535.IH H1535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1535 IH to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, 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 ‘‘Foreign Influence 4 Transparency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG- 6 ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN- 7 GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF 8 CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO- 9 MOTING POLITICAL AGENDA OF FOREIGN 10 GOVERNMENTS. 11 (a) LIMITATION ON EXEMPTION.—Section 3(e) of the 12 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 13 613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end 14 and inserting the following: ‘‘, but only if the activities 15 do not promote the political agenda of a government of 16 a foreign country;’’. 17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 18 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried 19 out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1535.IH H1535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1535 IH SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREE- 1 MENTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu- 3 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 4 (1) in the section heading, by adding ‘‘AND 5 AGREEMENTS’’ at the end; 6 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘$50,000’’; 8 (3) in subsection (b)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 10 by inserting before the period at the end the 11 following: ‘‘, including the content of each such 12 contract’’; and 13 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 14 the period the following: ‘‘, including the con- 15 tent of each such contract’’; 16 (4) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including 17 the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’; 18 (5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), 19 and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respec- 20 tively; 21 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(e) CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AGREEMENTS.— 24 ‘‘(1) DEFINED TERM.—In this subsection, the 25 term ‘Confucius Institute’ means a cultural institute 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1535.IH H1535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1535 IH directly or indirectly funded by the Government of 1 the People’s Republic of China. 2 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—Any institu- 3 tion that has entered into an agreement with a Con- 4 fucius Institute shall immediately make the full text 5 of such agreement available— 6 ‘‘(A) on the publicly accessible website of 7 the institution; 8 ‘‘(B) to the Department of Education; 9 ‘‘(C) to the Committee on Health, Edu- 10 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 11 ‘‘(D) to the Committee on Education and 12 Labor of the House of Representatives.’’; and 13 (7) in subsection (i), as redesignated— 14 (A) in paragraph (2), by amending sub- 15 paragraph (A) to read as follows: 16 ‘‘(A) a foreign government, including— 17 ‘‘(i) any agency of a foreign govern- 18 ment, and any other unit of foreign gov- 19 ernmental authority, including any foreign 20 national, State, local, and municipal gov- 21 ernment; 22 ‘‘(ii) any international or multi- 23 national organization whose membership is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1535.IH H1535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1535 IH composed of any unit of foreign govern- 1 ment described in clause (i); and 2 ‘‘(iii) any agent or representative of 3 any such unit or such organization, while 4 acting as such;’’; and 5 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before 6 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the 7 fair market value of an in-kind gift’’. 8 (b) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE WITH DISCLOSURE 9 REQUIREMENT.—Any institution of higher education (as 10 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that is not in compliance with 12 the disclosure requirements set forth in section 117 of 13 such Act (20 U.S.C. 1011f) shall be ineligible to enroll 14 foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor 15 Program. 16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received 18 or contracts or agreements entered into, or other activities 19 carried out, on or after the date of the enactment of this 20 Act. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1535.IH H1535 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS