Prevention of Foreign Interference with Elections Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1469 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit interfering in elections with agents of a foreign government. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 14, 2019 Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. BOOKER) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit interfering in elections with agents of a foreign government. 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 ‘‘Prevention of Foreign 4 Interference with Elections Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1469 IS SEC. 2. INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS BY FOREIGN NA- 1 TIONALS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 612. Interference in elections by foreign nationals 6 ‘‘(a) PENALTY.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever— 8 ‘‘(A) conspires with an individual, while 9 having knowledge or reasonable cause to believe 10 such individual is a foreign national, to prevent, 11 obstruct, impede, interfere with, promote, sup- 12 port, or oppose the nomination or the election 13 of any candidate for any Federal, State, or local 14 office, or any ballot measure, initiative, or ref- 15 erendum; and 16 ‘‘(B) knows or has reasonable cause to be- 17 lieve that an interfering act would be or has 18 been committed to effect the object of the con- 19 spiracy; 20 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not 21 more than 5 years, or both. 22 ‘‘(2) AGENTS OF FOREIGN POWERS.—Whoever 23 violates paragraph (1) by conspiring with an agent 24 of a foreign power shall be fined under this title, im- 25 prisoned for not more than 10 years, or both. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(b) CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE.—No term of impris- 1 onment imposed on a person under this section shall run 2 concurrently with any other term of imprisonment im- 3 posed on the person under any other provision of law. 4 ‘‘(c) INJUNCTIONS.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whenever it shall appear 6 that any person is engaged or is about to engage in 7 any act which constitutes a violation of this section, 8 the Attorney General may bring a civil action in a 9 district court of the United States seeking an order 10 to enjoin such act. 11 ‘‘(2) ACTION BY COURT.—The court shall pro- 12 ceed as soon as practicable to the hearing and deter- 13 mination of a civil action brought under this sub- 14 section, and may, at any time before final deter- 15 mination, enter such a restraining order or prohibi- 16 tion, or take such other action, as is warranted to 17 prevent a continuing and substantial injury to the 18 United States, a State, or a locality, or to any per- 19 son or class of persons for whose protection the civil 20 action is brought. 21 ‘‘(3) PROCEDURE.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A proceeding under 23 this subsection shall be governed by the Federal 24 Rules of Civil Procedure, except that, if an in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1469 IS dictment has been returned against the re- 1 spondent, discovery shall be governed by the 2 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 3 ‘‘(B) SEALED PROCEEDINGS.—If a civil ac- 4 tion is brought under this subsection, before an 5 indictment is returned against the respondent 6 or while an indictment against the respondent 7 is under seal— 8 ‘‘(i) the court shall place the civil ac- 9 tion under seal; and 10 ‘‘(ii) when the indictment is unsealed, 11 the court shall unseal the civil action un- 12 less good cause exists to keep the civil ac- 13 tion under seal. 14 ‘‘(4) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IF INDICTMENT 15 HAS NOT BEEN RETURNED AGAINST RESPOND- 16 ENT.—For any civil proceeding brought by the At- 17 torney General under this subsection in which an in- 18 dictment has not been returned against the respond- 19 ent, classified information in the civil proceeding 20 shall be subject to the procedures described in sec- 21 tion 2339B(f). 22 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 23 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agent of a foreign power’— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(A) has the meaning given to the term in 1 section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveil- 2 lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801); and 3 ‘‘(B) does not include a United States per- 4 son (as defined under section 101 of the For- 5 eign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 6 U.S.C. 1801)); 7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘classified information’ has the 8 meaning given the term in section 1 of the Classified 9 Information Procedures Act (18 U.S.C. App.); 10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘foreign national’— 11 ‘‘(A) means a foreign principal, as such 12 term is defined by section 1(b) of the Foreign 13 Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 14 611(b)); and 15 ‘‘(B) does not include any individual who is 16 a citizen of the United States or a lawful per- 17 manent resident of the United States; and 18 ‘‘(4) the term ‘interfering act’ means any of- 19 fense, that does have to be otherwise proven, under 20 or violation of— 21 ‘‘(A) this title; 22 ‘‘(B) section 12 of the Voting Rights Act 23 of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10308); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(C) the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.); or 2 ‘‘(D) chapter 95 or 96 of the Internal Rev- 3 enue Code of 1986. 4 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 5 tion shall be construed or applied to abridge the exercise 6 of rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the 7 Constitution of the United States.’’. 8 (b) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, an 9 amendment made by this Act, or the application of such 10 provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is 11 held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the 12 amendments made by this Act, and the applications of the 13 provisions of such to any other person or circumstance 14 shall not be affected thereby. 15 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 16 The table of sections for chapter 29 of title 18, United 17 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘612. Interference in elections by foreign nationals.’’. SEC. 3. INADMISSIBILITY FOR INTERFERENCE IN ELEC- 20 TIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS. 21 Section 212(a)(10)(D) of the Immigration and Na- 22 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(10)(D)) is amended to 23 read as follows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(D) UNLAWFUL VOTERS AND ELECTION 1 INTERFERENCE BY FOREIGN NATIONALS.— 2 ‘‘(i) UNLAWFUL VOTERS.—Except as 3 provided in clause (iii), any alien who has 4 voted in violation of any Federal, State, or 5 local constitutional provision, statute, ordi- 6 nance, or regulation is inadmissible. 7 ‘‘(ii) ELECTION INTERFERENCE BY 8 FOREIGN NATIONALS.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except as 10 provided in subclause (II) and clause 11 (iii), any alien convicted of violating 12 section 612 of title 18, United States 13 Code, is inadmissible. 14 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—If an alien 15 described in subclause (I) is eligible 16 under section 245(j) for an adjust- 17 ment of status to that of an alien law- 18 fully admitted for permanent resi- 19 dence, the Secretary of Homeland Se- 20 curity, in the Secretary’s sole, unre- 21 viewable discretion, may waive the ap- 22 plicability of subclause (I) with re- 23 spect to such alien. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(iii) EXCEPTION.—An alien shall not 1 be considered to be inadmissible under this 2 subparagraph if— 3 ‘‘(I) the alien voted in a Federal, 4 State, or local election (including an 5 initiative, recall, or referendum) in 6 violation of a lawful restriction of vot- 7 ing to citizens; 8 ‘‘(II) each natural parent of the 9 alien (or, in the case of an adopted 10 alien, each adoptive parent of the 11 alien) is or was a United States cit- 12 izen (whether by birth or naturaliza- 13 tion); 14 ‘‘(III) the alien permanently re- 15 sided in the United States before 16 reaching 16 years of age; and 17 ‘‘(IV) the alien reasonably be- 18 lieved at the time of the violation de- 19 scribed in clause (i) or (ii)(I) that he 20 or she was a United States citizen.’’. 21 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING PROHIBITIONS ON EXPENDI- 22 TURES BY FOREIGN NATIONALS. 23 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 24 of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1469 IS (1) in subsection (a)(1)(C), by inserting ‘‘, sub- 1 ject to subsection (c)’’ after ‘‘within the meaning of 2 section 304(f)(3)’’; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 4 sections: 5 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION TO ELECTIONEERING COMMU- 6 NICATIONS.— 7 ‘‘(1) ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICATIONS.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of ap- 9 plying subsection (a)(1)(C) and subsection (d), 10 an ‘electioneering communication’— 11 ‘‘(i) does not include a news story, 12 commentary, editorial, or other commu- 13 nication produced and distributed in the 14 ordinary course of bona fide press activity 15 by a news or press service or association, 16 newspaper, magazine, periodical, or other 17 publication as determined under subpara- 18 graph (B); 19 ‘‘(ii) except as provided in clause (i), 20 includes an Internet or digital communica- 21 tion that otherwise meets the requirements 22 of section 304(f)(3) as modified by this 23 paragraph; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(iii) includes a communication that 1 does not refer to a clearly identified can- 2 didate for Federal office as described in 3 subparagraph (A)(i)(I) of section 304(f)(3) 4 if— 5 ‘‘(I) the communication otherwise 6 meets the requirements of such sec- 7 tion as modified by this paragraph ex- 8 cept that items (aa) and (bb) of sub- 9 paragraph (A)(i)(II) of such section 10 shall each be applied by substituting 11 ‘Federal, State, or local office’ for ‘the 12 office sought by the candidate’; 13 ‘‘(II) the communication— 14 ‘‘(aa) references voting or a 15 Federal, State, or local election; 16 ‘‘(bb) addresses an issue 17 that is reasonably understood to 18 distinguish one candidate for 19 Federal, State, or local office 20 from another; 21 ‘‘(cc) republishes or is sub- 22 stantially identical to the commu- 23 nications of a candidate for Fed- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1469 IS eral, State, or local office on that 1 same issue; 2 ‘‘(dd) expresses approval or 3 disapproval of a position reason- 4 ably identified with a candidate 5 for Federal, State, or local office 6 and presented in substantially 7 similar terms, regardless of 8 whether there is a specific ref- 9 erence to that candidate; or 10 ‘‘(ee) references an employee 11 of a candidate or campaign for 12 Federal, State, or local office or 13 a political party; and 14 ‘‘(iv) does not include a commercial 15 advertisement for goods or services by a 16 foreign corporation or business entity. 17 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF BONA FIDE 18 PRESS ACTIVITY.—For purposes of subpara- 19 graph (A)(i), a news story, commentary, edi- 20 torial, or other communication is not produced 21 and distributed in the ordinary course of bona 22 fide press activity by a news or press service or 23 association, newspaper, magazine, periodical, or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1469 IS other publication and the exception under such 1 subparagraph shall not apply if— 2 ‘‘(i) such media outlet is owned, di- 3 rected, supervised, controlled, subsidized, 4 or financed by a government of a foreign 5 country, as defined in section 1 of the For- 6 eign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 7 U.S.C. 611); and 8 ‘‘(ii) such news story, commentary, 9 editorial, or other communication— 10 ‘‘(I) is directed, produced, or dis- 11 tributed, at the direction of govern- 12 ment or political party officials; and 13 ‘‘(II) promotes, attacks, sup- 14 ports, or opposes any candidate for 15 public office or political party in the 16 United States. 17 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN INDIVIDUAL INTERNET ACTIVITY 18 EXCEPTION.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—When an individual or 20 a group of individuals engages in Internet ac- 21 tivities for the purposes of influencing an elec- 22 tion, neither of the following is a contribution 23 or expenditure for purposes of this section by 24 that individual or group of individuals: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 May 28, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1469.IS S1469 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1469 IS ‘‘(i) The uncompensated personal 1 services of the individual related to such 2 Internet activities. The exception under the 3 preceding sentence shall not apply to indi- 4 viduals or a group of individuals acting on 5 behalf of or in any capacity at the order, 6 request, or under the direction or control, 7 of a government of a foreign country, a 8 foreign political party, or a person whose 9 activities are directly or indirectly super- 10 vised, directed, controlled, financed, or 11 subsidized in whole or in major part by a 12 government of a foreign country or a for- 13 eign political party. 14 ‘‘(ii) The use of equipment or services 15 by the individual for uncompensated Inter- 16 net activities, regardless of the identity of 17 the owner of the equipment or services. 18 The exception under the preceding sen- 19 tence shall not apply to equipment or serv- 20 ices supplied or provided dir [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]