What This Bill Does
This bill limits when the Department of State can help U.S. film companies by giving them technical support or access to government assets. The bill prevents this help if a film company has submitted movies to Chinese government officials for approval before screening them in China, or if the company changed the film's content based on Chinese requests.
Who It Affects
U.S. film companies that want technical support or contracts from the federal government for producing or funding films. The Secretary of State, who manages these decisions. Congress members on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Key Provisions
• Film companies must give the Secretary of State a list of all films whose content they submitted to Chinese government officials or the Chinese Communist Party for review during the past 10 years (Sec. 2(a)(1))
• Film companies must include the title and submission date for each film on this list (Sec. 2(a)(2))
• Film companies must sign a written agreement with the Secretary promising not to change film content because of or in preparation for requests from Chinese government officials or the Chinese Communist Party (Sec. 2(a)(3))
• The President cannot authorize government help for films made with Chinese entities that face content restrictions from Chinese officials, or for companies listed in a recent report as having altered films for China (Sec. 2(b))
• The Secretary of State must report to Congress annually about films disclosed under this law, including which companies submitted films to Chinese officials and which films appear to have been altered for China (Sec. 2(c))
What Changes
If this becomes law, U.S. film companies seeking federal government support will be required to disclose their history of submitting films to Chinese officials. Companies cannot receive government help if they've made films with Chinese entities that face content restrictions or if they're found to have altered films in response to Chinese requests. Government agencies can no longer provide support for these films.
Important Definitions
• "Content" means any description of a film, including the script (Sec. 2(d)(2))
• "United States company" means a private business created under U.S. laws or the laws of any state (Sec. 2(d)(3))
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1456
To limit the use of funds for the production of films using assets of the
Department of State under certain circumstances, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 8, 2023
Mr. GREEN of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on
Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To limit the use of funds for the production of films using
assets of the Department of State under certain cir-
cumstances, 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 ‘‘Stopping Communist
4
Regimes from Engaging in Edits Now Act’’ or the
5
‘‘SCREEN Act’’.
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•HR 1456 IH
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR PRODUCTION
1
OF FILMS AND PROHIBITION ON USE OF
2
SUCH FUNDS FOR FILMS SUBJECT TO CONDI-
3
TIONS
ON
CONTENT
OR
ALTERED
FOR
4
SCREENING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF
5
CHINA OR AT THE REQUEST OF THE CHINESE
6
COMMUNIST PARTY.
7
(a) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary
8
of State may only authorize the provision of technical sup-
9
port or access to an asset controlled by or related to the
10
Department of State to enter into a contract relating to
11
the production or funding of a film by a United States
12
company if the United States company, as a condition of
13
receiving the support or access—
14
(1) provides to the Secretary a list of all films
15
produced or funded by that company the content of
16
which has been submitted, during the shorter of the
17
preceding 10-year period or the period beginning on
18
the date of the enactment of this Act, to an official
19
of the Government of the People’s Republic of China
20
or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for evalua-
21
tion with respect to screening the film in the Peo-
22
ple’s Republic of China (PRC);
23
(2) includes, with respect to each such film—
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(A) the title of the film; and
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(B) the date on which such submission oc-
1
curred;
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(3) enters into a written agreement with the
3
Secretary not to alter the content of the film in re-
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sponse to, or in anticipation of, a request by an offi-
5
cial of the Government of the PRC or the CCP; and
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(4) submits such agreement to the Secretary.
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(b) PROHIBITION WITH RESPECT TO FILMS SUB-
8
JECT TO CONDITIONS ON CONTENT OR ALTERED FOR
9
SCREENING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.—
10
Notwithstanding subsection (a), the President may not au-
11
thorize the provision of technical support or access to any
12
asset controlled by the Federal Government for, or author-
13
ize the head of a Federal agency to enter into any contract
14
relating to, the production or funding of a film by a United
15
States company if—
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(1) the film is co-produced by an entity located
17
in the PRC that is subject to conditions on content
18
imposed by an official of the Government of the
19
PRC or the CCP; or
20
(2) with respect to the most recent report sub-
21
mitted under subsection (c), the United States com-
22
pany is listed in the report pursuant to subpara-
23
graph (C) or (D) of paragraph (2) of that sub-
24
section.
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(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—
1
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days
2
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-
3
nually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit
4
to the appropriate committees of Congress a report
5
on films disclosed under subsection (a) that are as-
6
sociated with a United States company that has re-
7
ceived technical support or access to an asset con-
8
trolled by the Department of State for, or has en-
9
tered into a contract with the Federal Government
10
relating to, the production or funding of a film.
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(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by para-
12
graph (1) shall include the following:
13
(A) A description of each film listed pursu-
14
ant to the requirement under subsection (a)(1),
15
the content of which was submitted, during the
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shorter of the preceding 10-year period or the
17
period beginning on the date of the enactment
18
of this Act, by a United States company to an
19
official of the Government of the PRC or the
20
CCP for evaluation with respect to screening
21
the film in the PRC, including—
22
(i) the United States company that
23
submitted the contents of the film;
24
(ii) the title of the film; and
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(iii) the date on which such submis-
1
sion occurred.
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(B) A description of each film with respect
3
to which a United States company entered into
4
a written agreement with the Department of
5
State, providing the support or access, pursuant
6
to the requirement under subsection (a)(2) not
7
to alter the content of the film in response to,
8
or in anticipation of, a request by an official of
9
the Government of the PRC or the CCP, during
10
the shorter of the preceding 10-year period or
11
the period beginning on the date of the enact-
12
ment of this Act, including—
13
(i) the United States company that
14
entered into the agreement; and
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(ii) the title of the film.
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(C) The title of any film described pursu-
17
ant to subparagraph (A), and the corresponding
18
United States company described pursuant to
19
clause (i) of that subparagraph—
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(i) that was submitted to an official of
21
the Government of the PRC or the CCP
22
during the preceding 3-year period; and
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(ii) for which the Secretary assesses
24
that the content was altered in response to,
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or in anticipation of, a request by an offi-
1
cial of the Government of the PRC or the
2
CCP.
3
(D) The title of any film that is described
4
in both subparagraph (A) and subparagraph
5
(B), and the corresponding one or more United
6
States companies described in clause (i) of each
7
such subparagraph—
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(i) that was submitted to an official of
9
the Government of the PRC or the CCP
10
during the preceding 10-year period; and
11
(ii) for which the Secretary assesses
12
that the content was altered in response to,
13
or in anticipation of, a request by an offi-
14
cial of the Government of the PRC or the
15
CCP.
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(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
17
(1)
APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEES
OF
CON-
18
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
19
gress’’ means—
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(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of
21
the Senate; and
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(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
23
the House of Representatives.
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(2) CONTENT.—The term ‘‘content’’ means any
1
description of a film, including the script.
2
(3) UNITED
STATES
COMPANY.—The term
3
‘‘United States company’’ means a private entity in-
4
corporated under the laws of the United States or
5
any jurisdiction within the United States.
6
Æ
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