Georgian Fair Business Practices Sanctions Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1461 To impose sanctions with respect to the Government of Georgia if the Presi- dent determines that the Government of Georgia is taking actions to undermine commitments or contractual agreements with United States persons engaging in business operations in the country of Georgia, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mr. MULLIN (for himself and Mr. FLORES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To impose sanctions with respect to the Government of Geor- gia if the President determines that the Government of Georgia is taking actions to undermine commitments or contractual agreements with United States persons engaging in business operations in the country of Geor- gia, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1461 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Georgian Fair Busi- 2 ness Practices Sanctions Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. REPORT ON ACTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 4 GEORGIA TO UNDERMINE COMMITMENTS OR 5 CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS MADE WITH 6 UNITED STATES PERSONS ENGAGING IN 7 BUSINESS OPERATIONS IN THE COUNTRY OF 8 GEORGIA. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 10 date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently 11 than once every 180 days thereafter, the President shall 12 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re- 13 port that— 14 (1) includes a determination of the President of 15 whether or not the Government of Georgia is taking 16 actions to undermine the commitments or contrac- 17 tual agreements made with United States persons 18 engaging in business operations in the country of 19 Georgia; and 20 (2) identifies foreign persons who are current or 21 former officials of the Government of Georgia who 22 are responsible for any actions described in para- 23 graph (1). 24 (b) INFORMATION.—The report required under sub- 25 section (a) shall include— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1461 IH (1) a summary of United States Government 1 and nongovernment investment in Georgia; and 2 (2) an assessment of the impact of actions de- 3 scribed in subsection (a)(1) on the future of United 4 States investment in Georgia. 5 (c) FORM.—The report required under subsection (a) 6 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may include 7 a classified annex. 8 SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE 9 GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA AND RESPON- 10 SIBLE OFFICIALS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 11 GEORGIA. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the President submits to the 13 appropriate congressional committees a report under sec- 14 tion 2 that contains an affirmative determination of the 15 President as described in subsection (a)(1) of such sec- 16 tion— 17 (1) the President shall impose the sanctions de- 18 scribed in subsection (b) with respect to the Govern- 19 ment of Georgia; and 20 (2) the President shall impose the sanctions de- 21 scribed in subsection (c) with respect to current or 22 former officials of the Government of Georgia who 23 are identified in subsection (a)(2) of such section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1461 IH (b) SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO GOVERNMENT OF 1 GEORGIA DESCRIBED.—The sanctions described in this 2 subsection are the following: 3 (1) No loan, credit guarantee, insurance, fi- 4 nancing, or other similar financial assistance be ex- 5 tended by any agency of the Government of the 6 United States (including the Export-Import Bank of 7 the United States or the Overseas Private Invest- 8 ment Corporation) to the Government of Georgia, 9 except with respect to the provision of humanitarian 10 goods and agricultural or medical products. 11 (2) No funds available to the Trade and Devel- 12 opment Agency should be available for activities of 13 the Agency in or for Georgia. 14 (c) SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO RESPONSIBLE 15 OFFICIALS DESCRIBED.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions described in 17 this subsection are the following: 18 (A) ASSET BLOCKING.—The exercise of all 19 powers granted to the President by the Inter- 20 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 21 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the require- 22 ments of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 23 1701) shall not apply) to the extent necessary 24 to block and prohibit all transactions in all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1461 IH property and interests in property of an indi- 1 vidual who is subject to subsection (a)(2) if 2 such property and interests in property are in 3 the United States, come within the United 4 States, or are or come within the possession or 5 control of a United States person. 6 (B) ALIENS INELIGIBLE FOR VISAS, AD- 7 MISSION, OR PAROLE.— 8 (i) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 9 An alien who is subject to subsection 10 (a)(2) is— 11 (I) inadmissible to the United 12 States; 13 (II) ineligible to receive a visa or 14 other documentation to enter the 15 United States; and 16 (III) otherwise ineligible to be 17 admitted or paroled into the United 18 States or to receive any other benefit 19 under the Immigration and Nation- 20 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.). 21 (ii) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 22 (I) IN GENERAL.—The issuing 23 consular officer, the Secretary of 24 State, or the Secretary of Homeland 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1461 IH Security shall revoke any visa or other 1 entry documentation issued to an 2 alien who is subject to subsection 3 (a)(2), regardless of when issued. 4 (II) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.— 5 A revocation under subclause (I) shall 6 take effect immediately and shall 7 automatically cancel any other valid 8 visa or entry documentation that is in 9 the possession of the alien. 10 (2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 11 subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter- 12 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 13 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 14 attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 15 violation of regulations prescribed under paragraph 16 (1)(A) to the same extent that such penalties apply 17 to a person that commits an unlawful act described 18 in subsection (a) of such section 206. 19 SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS. 20 The sanctions described in section 3 shall cease to 21 have effect beginning on the day after the date on which 22 the President submits to the appropriate congressional 23 committees a report under section 2 that contains a nega- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1461 IH tive determination of the President as described in sub- 1 section (a)(1) of such section. 2 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 3 In this Act: 4 (1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 5 and ‘‘alien’’ have meanings given those terms in sec- 6 tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 7 U.S.C. 1101). 8 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 10 mittees’’ means— 11 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 12 Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 13 on Homeland Security, the Committee on Fi- 14 nancial Services, and the Committee on Ways 15 and Means of the House of Representatives; 16 and 17 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 18 the Committee on Armed Services, the Com- 19 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern- 20 mental Affairs, and the Committee on Banking, 21 Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. 22 (3) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1461 IH (A) means a partnership, association, cor- 1 poration, or other organization, group, or sub- 2 group; and 3 (B) includes a governmental entity. 4 (4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in- 5 dividual or entity. 6 (5) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 7 ‘‘United States person’’ means a United States cit- 8 izen, permanent resident alien, entity organized 9 under the laws of the United States (including for- 10 eign branches), or a person in the United States. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS