Remittances and Money Laundering Risk Assessment Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2144 To require the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare a threat and operational analysis of the use of remittances by drug kingpins, crime syndicates, and other persons to finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, and other forms of illicit financing, domes- tically or internationally. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 17, 2019 Mr. CORNYN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare a threat and operational analysis of the use of remittances by drug kingpins, crime syndicates, and other persons to finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, human traf- ficking, money laundering, and other forms of illicit fi- nancing, domestically or internationally. 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 ‘‘Remittances and 4 Money Laundering Risk Assessment Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2144 IS SEC. 2. REMITTANCES AND MONEY LAUNDERING THREAT 1 ANALYSIS. 2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 4 mittees’’ means— 5 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 6 Senate; 7 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 8 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 9 (C) the Caucus on International Narcotics 10 Control of the Senate; 11 (D) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 12 and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 13 (E) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 14 House of Representatives; 15 (F) the Committee on Homeland Security 16 of the House of Representatives; and 17 (G) the Committee on Financial Services 18 of the House of Representatives; 19 (2) the term ‘‘drug kingpins, crime syndicates, 20 and other persons’’, with respect to the use of remit- 21 tances to finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, 22 human trafficking, money laundering, and other 23 forms of illicit financing, domestically or internation- 24 ally, means any persons who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2144 IS (A) are connected to individuals and orga- 1 nizations associated with financing terrorism, 2 narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, money 3 laundering, and other forms of illicit financing, 4 domestically or internationally; and 5 (B) have been designated as— 6 (i) a significant foreign narcotics traf- 7 ficker under the Foreign Narcotics King- 8 pin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1901 et 9 seq.); 10 (ii) a transnational criminal organiza- 11 tion under Executive Order 13581 (50 12 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking 13 property of transnational criminal organi- 14 zations); or 15 (iii) a Specially Designated Global 16 Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 17 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking 18 property and prohibiting transactions with 19 persons who commit, threaten to commit, 20 or support terrorism); 21 (3) the term ‘‘human trafficking’’ has the 22 meaning given the term ‘‘severe forms of trafficking 23 in persons’’ in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims 24 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2144 IS (4) the term ‘‘money services business’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 1010.100 of title 2 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 3 regulation; and 4 (5) the term ‘‘money transmitting service’’ has 5 the meaning given the term in section 5330 of title 6 31, United States Code. 7 (b) ANALYSIS.— 8 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year 9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 10 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the At- 11 torney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 12 and the head of any other appropriate Federal law 13 enforcement agency, shall submit to the appropriate 14 congressional committees a threat and operational 15 analysis of the use of remittances by drug kingpins, 16 crime syndicates, and other persons to finance ter- 17 rorism, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, 18 money laundering, and other forms of illicit financ- 19 ing, domestically or internationally. 20 (2) CONTENTS.—The Secretary of the Treasury 21 shall include in the threat and operational analysis 22 required under paragraph (1) the following: 23 (A) Current and potential threats posed by 24 individuals and organized groups seeking— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2144 IS (i) to exploit security vulnerabilities 1 with respect to remittances and money 2 transmitting services; or 3 (ii) to unlawfully use remittances to 4 finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, 5 human trafficking, money laundering, or 6 other forms of illicit financing, domesti- 7 cally or internationally. 8 (B) Methods and pathways used to exploit 9 security vulnerabilities. 10 (C) Challenges presented by identity theft 11 in the use of remittances and money transmit- 12 ting services. 13 (D) Improvements needed to enhance co- 14 operation between and among Federal, State, 15 and local officials, including State regulators, 16 State and local prosecutors, and other law en- 17 forcement officials. 18 (E) Improvements needed to enhance co- 19 operation between money services businesses 20 and Federal, State, and local officials, including 21 State regulators, State and local prosecutors, 22 and other law enforcement officials. 23 (3) ANALYSIS REQUIREMENTS.—In compiling 24 the threat and operational analysis required under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2144 IS paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury, in 1 consultation with the Attorney General, the Sec- 2 retary of Homeland Security, and the head of any 3 other appropriate Federal law enforcement agency, 4 shall consider and examine the personnel needs, 5 technology needs, and infrastructure needs of Fed- 6 eral law enforcement agencies. 7 (c) REMITTANCES STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION 8 PLAN.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date on which the Secretary of the Treas- 11 ury submits the threat analysis under subsection (b), 12 and every 5 years thereafter for 10 years, the Sec- 13 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the At- 14 torney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 15 and the head of any other appropriate Federal law 16 enforcement agency, shall submit to the appropriate 17 congressional committees a remittances strategy and 18 implementation plan. 19 (2) CONTENTS.—In preparing the remittances 20 strategy and implementation plan under paragraph 21 (1), the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider the 22 following: 23 (A) The remittances threat and operational 24 analysis required under subsection (b), with an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2144 IS emphasis on efforts to mitigate threats and 1 challenges identified in the analysis. 2 (B) Efforts to reduce the use of remit- 3 tances and money transmitting services by drug 4 kingpins, crime syndicates, and other persons to 5 finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, human 6 trafficking, money laundering, and other forms 7 of illicit financing, domestically or internation- 8 ally. 9 (C) Efforts to prevent human trafficking 10 and the unlawful movement of illicit drugs and 11 other contraband through the use of remit- 12 tances and money transmitting services, and 13 standards against which the effectiveness of 14 those efforts may be determined. 15 (D) Efforts to focus collection and infor- 16 mation analysis to disrupt transnational crimi- 17 nal organizations attempting to exploit security 18 vulnerabilities, and standards against which the 19 effectiveness of those efforts may be deter- 20 mined. 21 (E) Personnel, technology, and infrastruc- 22 ture needs of Federal law enforcement agencies. 23 (F) Efforts to prevent, detect, investigate, 24 and mitigate money laundering activities 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2144 IS through remittances and money transmitting 1 services, and standards against which the effec- 2 tiveness of those efforts may be determined. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2144.IS S2144 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS