What This Bill Does
This bill creates a new office called the Transparent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office (TASCO) within the federal government. TASCO will gather information about U.S. sanctions (penalties imposed on individuals and organizations) from multiple government agencies and put it all in one searchable website that anyone can access. The bill requires this information to be easy to find, download and understand.
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Who It Affects
- The President and Secretary of State (who appoint the Director)
- Multiple federal agencies that enforce sanctions (State Department, Treasury Department, Commerce Department)
- Members of the public, researchers, media outlets and non-governmental organizations who want to look up sanctions information
- Individuals and businesses that might be affected by U.S. sanctions
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Key Provisions
- The President must ensure all materials about sanctions are collected in one machine-readable database (a format computers can easily read and process) (Sec. 3(a))
- TASCO must create a public website with a searchable, downloadable database of all individuals and entities under U.S. sanctions within 180 days of the bill becoming law (Sec. 3(d)(1)(A))
- The database must include specific information for each sanctioned person or organization: their name, aliases, country of origin, reason for sanction, type of sanction (travel, financial or trade), and other relevant details (Sec. 3(d)(1)(D))
- TASCO must update the database within 30 days whenever new sanctions are imposed (Sec. 3(d)(1)(E))
- The Secretary of State must submit a report to Congress within one year describing how many people used the website and whether the information is accessible to the public (Sec. 3(d)(2))
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What Changes
If this bill becomes law, information about U.S. sanctions that currently lives in different government agency systems will be consolidated into one public website. Citizens, businesses and researchers will be able to search and download comprehensive sanctions information without contacting multiple agencies. The government will have a dedicated office responsible for keeping this information current and easy to use.
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Important Definitions
- **Machine-readable database**: A format that computers can automatically read and process
- **Civil service**: Federal government employees hired through a competitive selection process
- **Covered Federal actor**: The Secretaries of State, Treasury and Commerce, plus any other federal department or agency involved in imposing or enforcing U.S. sanctions
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1132
To require publicly available information relating to sanctions to be both
user-friendly and consolidated on a publicly accessible website, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 21, 2023
Mr. KEATING (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. COHEN, and
Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require publicly available information relating to sanctions
to be both user-friendly and consolidated on a publicly
accessible website, 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 ‘‘Transparent and Ac-
4
cessible Sanctions Coordinating Office Act’’ or the
5
‘‘TASCO Act’’.
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•HR 1132 IH
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
1
It is the sense of Congress as follows:
2
(1) The United States will increasingly use
3
sanctions as an important foreign policy tool in hold-
4
ing accountable malign actors in the international
5
community and to compel state and non-state actors
6
to conform to international norms.
7
(2) The increasing volume of data related to
8
United States sanctions will become more crucial in
9
determining its efficacy.
10
(3) The data related to United States sanctions
11
must be centralized and regularly managed.
12
(4) Data from various departments and agen-
13
cies must be aggregated and updated, including
14
travel sanctions, financial sanctions, trade sanctions,
15
and export controls. Although various agencies will
16
still maintain their jurisdiction over implementing
17
these various sanctions, one office must be respon-
18
sible for compiling and displaying such data in an
19
easily accessible format. Various systems handing
20
such data should interface and automatically update
21
such data in regular and frequent intervals.
22
(5) The United States will make available this
23
critical data related to United States sanctions to in-
24
dividuals, academic institutions, media outlets, and
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•HR 1132 IH
non-governmental organizations, conducting analysis
1
on sanctions programs through an online platform.
2
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSPARENT AND ACCES-
3
SIBLE SANCTIONS COORDINATING OFFICE.
4
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall take such
5
steps as may be necessary to ensure that all materials re-
6
lating to the imposition of sanctions, including guidance,
7
lists of sanctioned persons, and procedures relating to gen-
8
eral and specific licenses, are made available in a consoli-
9
dated, machine-readable database.
10
(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex-
11
ecutive branch of the Federal Government the Trans-
12
parent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office
13
(‘‘TASCO’’), which shall be responsible for carrying out
14
the duties described in subsection (d).
15
(c) DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—
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(1) APPOINTMENT.—The head of the TASCO
17
shall be a Director appointed by the Secretary of
18
State. The position of Director shall be a career po-
19
sition in the civil service.
20
(2) STAFF.—The Director of the TASCO may
21
appoint personnel as the Director considers appro-
22
priate.
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(3) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN CIVIL SERVICE
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LAWS.—The Director and the staff of the TASCO
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•HR 1132 IH
shall be appointed subject to the provisions of title
1
5, United States Code, governing appointments
2
made in the competitive service, and shall be paid in
3
accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and
4
subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to
5
classification and General Schedule Pay rates.
6
(d) DUTIES.—
7
(1) DATABASE.—
8
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180
9
days after the enactment of this Act, the Direc-
10
tor of the TASCO shall establish a publicly
11
available, downloadable, searchable, sortable,
12
and machine-readable database of individuals
13
and entities subject to United States sanctions.
14
Such database shall be published on a publicly
15
available website of the TASCO.
16
(B) STANDARDIZED
FORMAT.—In devel-
17
oping the database under subparagraph (A),
18
the Director of the TASCO, in consultation
19
with each covered Federal actor, shall establish
20
a standardized format for the compilation, stor-
21
age, and display of all data included in such
22
database.
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•HR 1132 IH
(C) REQUIRED CONSOLIDATION OF SANC-
1
TIONS
LISTS.—The database under subpara-
2
graph (A) shall include the following—
3
(i) The List of Specially Designated
4
Nationals and Blocked Persons maintained
5
by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of
6
the Department of the Treasury.
7
(ii) The Entity List maintained by the
8
Bureau of Industry and Security of the
9
Department of Commerce.
10
(iii) Individuals or entities subject to
11
sanctions maintained and enforced by the
12
Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and
13
Implementation of the Department of
14
State.
15
(iv) Any other individual or entity
16
subject to sanctions imposed under United
17
States law, including sanctions relating to
18
ineligibility for visas or other authorization
19
to enter the United States.
20
(D) MINIMUM DATA ATTRIBUTE REQUIRE-
21
MENTS.—The Director of the TASCO shall en-
22
sure that the data for each sanction included in
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the database under subparagraph (A) includes,
24
at a minimum, the following:
25
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•HR 1132 IH
(i) The name, and any alias, of the
1
sanctioned individual or entity (including
2
an aircraft or vessel).
3
(ii) The country of origin or citizen-
4
ship of such individual or entity.
5
(iii) The industry type, if applicable.
6
(iv) The position of the individual in
7
their organization, if applicable.
8
(v) The reason for sanction, including
9
but not limited to the criminal violation or
10
malign act.
11
(vi) The date of sanction.
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(vii) The region of sanction and if
13
available, address of registration.
14
(viii) If available, any unique tax iden-
15
tification number.
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(ix) The type of sanctions, including
17
but not limited to travel, financial, and/or
18
trade.
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(x) Harmonized System code, if appli-
20
cable.
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(xi) Any other data attribute relevant
22
to the notification and reporting of sanc-
23
tions activities.
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•HR 1132 IH
(E) MAINTENANCE
OF
CURRENCY
OF
1
DATABASE AND WEBSITE.—Beginning not later
2
than 90 days after the date of the establish-
3
ment of the database under subparagraph (A),
4
and not later than 30 days after the entry into
5
force of any new statutory authority or Execu-
6
tive order relating to new or additional sanc-
7
tions, the Director of the TASCO shall update
8
the database, and the website on which the
9
database is published.
10
(F) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this
11
paragraph, the Director of the TASCO shall co-
12
ordinate, as appropriate, with covered Federal
13
actors.
14
(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than one
15
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
16
Secretary of State, acting through the Director of
17
the TASCO and in consultation with each covered
18
Federal actor, shall submit to the appropriate con-
19
gressional committees a report on the transparency
20
and accessibility of the database under subpara-
21
graph (A) and the website on which the database is
22
published. Such report shall identify the following:
23
(A) The number of individual users who
24
have accessed the database through the website.
25
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•HR 1132 IH
(B) Any technical actions that have been
1
taken to ensure the accessibility and trans-
2
parency of data available on the database.
3
(C) Any stakeholder engagement that has
4
been conducted to ensure that all relevant par-
5
ties, including those with decision-making au-
6
thority, members of the business community,
7
and other members of civil society, may effec-
8
tively access such data.
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(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
10
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
11
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
12
mittees’’ means—
13
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and
14
the Committee on Financial Services of the
15
House of Representatives; and
16
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations
17
and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.
18
(2) CIVIL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘civil service’’
19
has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of
20
title 5, United States Code.
21
(3) COVERED
FEDERAL
ACTOR.—The term
22
‘‘covered Federal actor’’ means the following:
23
(A) The Secretary of State.
24
(B) The Secretary of the Treasury.
25
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•HR 1132 IH
(C) The Secretary of Commerce.
1
(D) The head of any other Federal depart-
2
ment or agency relevant to the imposition or
3
enforcement of United States sanctions.
4
Æ
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