Hizballah Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1637 To impose certain measures with respect to Hizballah-dominated areas in Lebanon and to impose sanctions with respect to senior foreign political figures in Lebanon supporting Hizballah. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2021 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. COTTON, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To impose certain measures with respect to Hizballah-domi- nated areas in Lebanon and to impose sanctions with respect to senior foreign political figures in Lebanon supporting Hizballah. 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 ‘‘Hizballah Money 4 Laundering Prevention Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1637 IS SEC. 2. MEASURES WITH RESPECT TO HIZBALLAH-DOMI- 1 NATED AREAS IN LEBANON. 2 (a) DETERMINATION REGARDING JURISDICTIONS OF 3 LEBANON.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 6 retary of the Treasury shall determine, under section 7 5318A of title 31, United States Code, whether rea- 8 sonable grounds exist for concluding that any of the 9 jurisdictions of Lebanon described in paragraph (2) 10 are jurisdictions of primary money laundering con- 11 cern. 12 (2) JURISDICTIONS DESCRIBED.—The jurisdic- 13 tions of Lebanon described in this paragraph are the 14 following: 15 (A) The Nabatieh Governorate. 16 (B) The Haret Hreik municipality in the 17 Baabda district in the Dahieh suburbs south of 18 Beirut. 19 (C) The Chiyah municipality in the 20 Baabda district in the western suburbs of Bei- 21 rut. 22 (D) The Hadeth Beirut municipality in the 23 Baabda district in the suburbs of Beirut. 24 (E) The Hermel district in the Baalbek- 25 Hermel Governorate. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1637 IS (F) The Baalbek and Temnin el-Foka mu- 1 nicipalities in the Baalbe-Hermel Governorate. 2 (G) The Tyre district in the South 3 Governorate. 4 (b) PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON OPENING OR 5 MAINTAINING CERTAIN CORRESPONDENT OR PAYABLE- 6 THROUGH ACCOUNTS.—If the Secretary of the Treasury 7 determines under subsection (a) that reasonable grounds 8 exist for concluding that any jurisdiction described in that 9 subsection (a) is a jurisdiction of primary money laun- 10 dering concern, the Secretary, in consultation with the 11 Federal functional regulators (as defined in section 509 12 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809)), shall 13 impose the special measures described in section 14 5318A(b)(5) of title 31, United States Code, with respect 15 to the Central Bank of Syria. 16 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 18 making a determination under subsection (a) with 19 respect to whether a jurisdiction is a jurisdiction of 20 primary money laundering concern, the Secretary of 21 the Treasury shall submit to the appropriate con- 22 gressional committees a report that includes the rea- 23 sons for the determination. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1637 IS (2) FORM.—A report required by paragraph (1) 1 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may in- 2 clude a classified annex. 3 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 4 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap- 5 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 6 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 7 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 8 Urban Affairs of the Senate; and 9 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 10 the Committee on Financial Services of the 11 House of Representatives. 12 SEC. 3. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SENIOR FOREIGN 13 POLITICAL FIGURES IN LEBANON SUP- 14 PORTING HIZBALLAH. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 16 sanctions described in section 1263(b) of the Global 17 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F 18 of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) 19 with respect to each individual on the list required by sub- 20 section (b). 21 (b) LIST.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 24 President shall submit to the appropriate congres- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1637 IS sional committees a list of individuals who are senior 1 foreign political figures in Lebanon that the Presi- 2 dent determines— 3 (A) have knowingly provided material sup- 4 port to or engaged in a significant transaction 5 with Hizballah; or 6 (B) meet the criteria for the imposition of 7 sanctions under— 8 (i) the Hizballah International Fi- 9 nancing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public 10 Law 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note); or 11 (ii) the Global Magnitsky Human 12 Rights and Accountability Act (subtitle F 13 of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 14 U.S.C. 2656 note). 15 (2) FORM.—The list required by paragraph (1) 16 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may con- 17 tain a classified annex. 18 (c) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS 19 HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT; ENFORCEMENT.—Sub- 20 sections (e) and (f) of section 1263 of the Global 21 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 22 2656 note) apply with respect to the imposition of sanc- 23 tions under this section to the same extent as such sub- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1637 IS sections apply with respect to the imposition of sanctions 1 under such section 1263. 2 (d) WAIVER.—The President may waive the imposi- 3 tion of sanctions under subsection (a) with respect to an 4 individual if the President— 5 (1) determines that such a waiver is in the na- 6 tional interests of the United States; and 7 (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 8 committees notice of, and a justification for, the 9 waiver. 10 (e) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The President shall 11 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec- 12 essary to carry out this section. 13 (f) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF 14 GOODS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and require- 16 ments to impose sanctions under this section shall 17 not include the authority or requirement to impose 18 sanctions on the importation of goods. 19 (2) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 20 term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or man- 21 made substance, material, supply or manufactured 22 product, including inspection and test equipment, 23 and excluding technical data. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1637 IS (g) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 1 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con- 2 gressional committees’’ means— 3 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 4 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af- 5 fairs of the Senate; and 6 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 7 Committee on Financial Services of the House of 8 Representatives. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1637.IS S1637 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS