End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 295 To increase the role of the financial industry in combating human trafficking. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 8, 2019 Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself, Mr. KEATING, Mr. MCCAUL, and Mrs. CARO- LYN B. MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To increase the role of the financial industry in combating human trafficking. 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 ‘‘End Banking for 4 Human Traffickers Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASING THE ROLE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUS- 6 TRY IN COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 7 (a) TREASURY AS A MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENT’S 8 INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 295 IH TRAFFICKING.—Section 105(b) of the Victims of Traf- 1 ficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 2 7103(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘the Secretary of the 3 Treasury,’’ after ‘‘the Secretary of Education,’’. 4 (b) REQUIRED REVIEW OF PROCEDURES.—Not later 5 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 6 the Financial Institutions Examination Council, in con- 7 sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the private 8 sector, victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons, 9 advocates of persons at risk of becoming victims of severe 10 forms of trafficking in persons, and appropriate law en- 11 forcement agencies, shall— 12 (1) review and enhance training and examina- 13 tions procedures to improve the capabilities of anti- 14 money laundering and countering the financing of 15 terrorism programs to detect financial transactions 16 relating to severe forms of trafficking in persons; 17 (2) review and enhance procedures for referring 18 potential cases relating to severe forms of trafficking 19 in persons to the appropriate law enforcement agen- 20 cy; and 21 (3) determine, as appropriate, whether require- 22 ments for financial institutions are sufficient to de- 23 tect and deter money laundering relating to severe 24 forms of trafficking in persons. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 295 IH (c) INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS 1 TARGETING MONEY LAUNDERING RELATED TO HUMAN 2 TRAFFICKING.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 5 Interagency Task Force To Monitor and Combat 6 Trafficking shall submit to the Committee on Finan- 7 cial Services and the Committee on the Judiciary of 8 the House of Representatives, the Committee on 9 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Com- 10 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the head 11 of each appropriate Federal banking agency— 12 (A) an analysis of anti-money laundering 13 efforts of the United States Government and 14 United States financial institutions relating to 15 severe forms of trafficking in persons; and 16 (B) appropriate legislative, administrative, 17 and other recommendations to strengthen ef- 18 forts against money laundering relating to se- 19 vere forms of trafficking in persons. 20 (2) REQUIRED RECOMMENDATIONS.—The rec- 21 ommendations under paragraph (1) shall include— 22 (A) feedback from financial institutions on 23 best practices of successful programs to combat 24 severe forms of trafficking in persons currently 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 295 IH in place that may be suitable for broader adop- 1 tion by similarly situated financial institutions; 2 (B) feedback from stakeholders, including 3 victims of severe forms of trafficking in per- 4 sons, advocates of persons at risk of becoming 5 victims of severe forms of trafficking in per- 6 sons, and financial institutions, on policy pro- 7 posals derived from the analysis conducted by 8 the task force referred to in paragraph (1) that 9 would enhance the efforts and programs of fi- 10 nancial institutions to detect and deter money 11 laundering relating to severe forms of traf- 12 ficking in persons, including any recommended 13 changes to internal policies, procedures, and 14 controls relating to severe forms of trafficking 15 in persons; 16 (C) any recommended changes to training 17 programs at financial institutions to better 18 equip employees to deter and detect money 19 laundering relating to severe forms of traf- 20 ficking in persons; 21 (D) any recommended changes to expand 22 information sharing relating to severe forms of 23 trafficking in persons among financial institu- 24 tions and between such financial institutions, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 295 IH appropriate law enforcement agencies, and ap- 1 propriate Federal agencies; and 2 (E) recommended changes, if necessary, to 3 existing statutory law to more effectively detect 4 and deter money laundering relating to severe 5 forms of trafficking in persons, where such 6 money laundering involves the use of emerging 7 technologies and virtual currencies. 8 (d) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this Act shall be con- 9 strued to— 10 (1) grant rulemaking authority to the Inter- 11 agency Task Force To Monitor and Combat Traf- 12 ficking; or 13 (2) encourage financial institutions to deny 14 services to victims of trafficking, victims of severe 15 forms of trafficking in persons, or individuals not re- 16 sponsible for promoting severe forms of trafficking 17 in persons. 18 (e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 19 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 20 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 21 3(q) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 22 U.S.C. 1813(q)); 23 (2) the term ‘‘severe forms of trafficking in per- 24 sons’’ has the meaning given such term in section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 295 IH 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 1 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102); 2 (3) the term ‘‘Interagency Task Force To Mon- 3 itor and Combat Trafficking’’ means the Interagency 4 Task Force To Monitor and Combat Trafficking es- 5 tablished by the President pursuant to section 105 6 of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protec- 7 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103); and 8 (4) the term ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means 9 an agency of the United States, a State, or a polit- 10 ical subdivision of a State, authorized by law or by 11 a government agency to engage in or supervise the 12 prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of 13 any violation of criminal or civil law. 14 SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING ISSUES 15 BY THE OFFICE OF TERRORISM AND FINAN- 16 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 17 (a) FUNCTIONS.—Section 312(a)(4) of title 31, 18 United States Code, is amended— 19 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (E), (F), 20 and (G) as subparagraphs (F), (G), and (H), respec- 21 tively; and 22 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 295 IH ‘‘(E) combating illicit financing relating to 1 severe forms of trafficking in persons;’’. 2 (b) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—Section 312(a) 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at 4 the end the following: 5 ‘‘(8) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—The Sec- 6 retary of the Treasury, after consultation with the 7 Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, 8 shall designate an office within the OTFI that shall 9 coordinate efforts to combat the illicit financing of 10 severe forms of trafficking in persons with— 11 ‘‘(A) other offices of the Department of the 12 Treasury; 13 ‘‘(B) other Federal agencies, including— 14 ‘‘(i) the Office To Monitor and Com- 15 bat Trafficking in Persons of the Depart- 16 ment of State; and 17 ‘‘(ii) the Interagency Task Force To 18 Monitor and Combat Trafficking; 19 ‘‘(C) State and local law enforcement agen- 20 cies; and 21 ‘‘(D) foreign governments.’’. 22 (c) DEFINITION.—Section 312(a) of title 31, United 23 States Code, as amended by this section, is further amend- 24 ed by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 295 IH ‘‘(9) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 1 ‘severe forms of trafficking in persons’ has the 2 meaning given such term in section 103 of the Traf- 3 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 4 7102).’’. 5 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT UNDER 6 THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION 7 ACT OF 2000. 8 Section 105(d)(7) of the Trafficking Victims Protec- 9 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103(d)(7)) is amended— 10 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A)— 11 (A) by inserting ‘‘the Committee on Finan- 12 cial Services,’’ after ‘‘the Committee on Foreign 13 Affairs,’’; and 14 (B) by inserting ‘‘the Committee on Bank- 15 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs,’’ after ‘‘the 16 Committee on Foreign Relations,’’; 17 (2) in subparagraph (Q)(vii), by striking ‘‘; 18 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 19 (3) in subparagraph (R), by striking the period 20 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 21 (4) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(S) the efforts of the United States to 23 eliminate money laundering relating to severe 24 forms of trafficking in persons and the number 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 295 IH of investigations, arrests, indictments, and con- 1 victions in money laundering cases with a nexus 2 to severe forms of trafficking in persons.’’. 3 SEC. 5. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 4 TRAFFICKING. 5 Section 108(b) of the Trafficking Victims Protection 6 Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106(b)) is amended by adding 7 at the end the following new paragraph: 8 ‘‘(13) Whether the government of the country, 9 consistent with the capacity of the country, has in 10 effect a framework to prevent financial transactions 11 involving the proceeds of severe forms of trafficking 12 in persons, and is taking steps to implement such a 13 framework, including by investigating, prosecuting, 14 convicting, and sentencing individuals who attempt 15 or conduct such transactions.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H295.IH H295 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS