FIRM Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5733 To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to waive the application of the Act to agents representing foreign enterprises which are not under the control or direction of foreign governments or foreign political parties, to exclude agents who represent foreign gov- ernments which engage in a pattern of gross violations of human rights from the exemption provided under the Act for agents engaged in scho- lastic and certain other pursuits, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2020 Mr. MOULTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to waive the application of the Act to agents representing foreign enterprises which are not under the control or direction of foreign governments or foreign political parties, to exclude agents who represent foreign governments which engage in a pattern of gross viola- tions of human rights from the exemption provided under the Act for agents engaged in scholastic and certain other pursuits, 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 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5733 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Influence Reg- 2 istration Modernization Act’’ or the ‘‘FIRM Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. WAIVING APPLICATION OF FOREIGN AGENTS REG- 4 ISTRATION ACT TO AGENTS REPRESENTING 5 FOREIGN ENTERPRISES NOT UNDER CON- 6 TROL OR DIRECTION OF FOREIGN GOVERN- 7 MENTS AND FOREIGN POLITICAL PARTIES. 8 Section 1(b)(3) of the Foreign Agents Registration 9 Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611(b)(3)) is amend- 10 ed— 11 (1) by striking ‘‘a partnership’’ and inserting 12 ‘‘an enterprise consisting of a partnership’’; and 13 (2) by striking the period at the end and insert- 14 ing the following: ‘‘, but only if the enterprise is 15 under the control or direction of a government of a 16 foreign country or a foreign political party.’’: 17 SEC. 3. EXCLUDING AGENTS REPRESENTING GOVERN- 18 MENTS WHICH VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS 19 FROM EXEMPTION FOR AGENTS ENGAGED IN 20 RELIGIOUS, SCHOLASTIC, ACADEMIC, OR SCI- 21 ENTIFIC PURSUITS OR FINE ARTS. 22 Section 3(e) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act 23 of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 613(e)) is amended by 24 striking the semicolon at the end and inserting the fol- 25 lowing: ‘‘, except that this subsection does not apply in 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5733 IH the case of an agent who represents a foreign principal 1 that is prohibited from receiving assistance under part I 2 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by reason of the 3 application of section 116 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151n) 4 or part II of such Act by reason of the application of sec- 5 tion 502B of such Act (22 U.S.C. 2304).’’. 6 SEC. 4. REQUIRING STATEMENTS TO BE FILED IN 7 DIGITIZED FORMAT. 8 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 2(g) of the Foreign 9 Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 10 612(g)) is amended by striking the period at the end and 11 inserting the following: ‘‘, in a manner which enables the 12 statements and supplements to be filed in a digitized for- 13 mat and which incorporates the statements and supple- 14 ments in a database which is fully searchable, sortable and 15 downloadable.’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to statements and 18 supplements filed after the expiration of the 1-year period 19 which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL MONEY PENALTY FOR VIO- 21 LATION. 22 Section 8 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 23 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 618) is amended by insert- 24 ing after subsection (c) the following new subsection: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5733 IH ‘‘(d) Whoever knowingly violates any provision of this 1 Act shall, upon proof of such knowing violation by a pre- 2 ponderance of the evidence, be subject to a civil money 3 penalty of not more than $200,000, depending on the ex- 4 tent and severity of the violation.’’. 5 SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR ADMINISTRA- 6 TION OF LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995 7 TO ATTORNEY GENERAL. 8 (a) REQUIRING LOBBYISTS TO REGISTER WITH AT- 9 TORNEY GENERAL.— 10 (1) REGISTRATION.—Section 4(a)(1) of the 11 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 12 1603(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Secretary 13 of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Rep- 14 resentatives’’ and inserting ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 15 (2) NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF REGISTRA- 16 TION.—Section 4(d) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1603(d)) 17 is amended by striking ‘‘the Secretary of the Senate 18 and the Clerk of the House of Representatives’’ and 19 inserting ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 20 (b) REQUIRING LOBBYISTS TO FILE REPORTS WITH 21 ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 22 (1) QUARTERLY REPORTS BY LOBBYISTS.—Sec- 23 tion 5(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) is amended 24 by striking ‘‘the Secretary of the Senate and the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5733 IH Clerk of the House of Representatives’’ and insert- 1 ing ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 2 (2) SEMIANNUAL REPORTS ON CERTAIN CON- 3 TRIBUTIONS.—Section 5(d)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 4 1604(d)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Secretary 5 of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Rep- 6 resentatives’’ and inserting ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 7 (3) ELECTRONIC FILING.—Section 5(e) of such 8 Act (2 U.S.C. 1604(e)) is amended— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘the Secretary of the Sen- 10 ate or the Clerk of the House of Representa- 11 tives’’ and inserting ‘‘the Attorney General’’; 12 and 13 (B) by striking the second sentence. 14 (c) DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT.—Section 6(a) 15 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)) is amended in the matter 16 preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary of the 17 Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives’’ 18 and inserting ‘‘The Attorney General’’. 19 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 7(a)(1) of such Act (2 20 U.S.C. 1606(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Secretary 21 of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representa- 22 tives’’ and inserting ‘‘the Attorney General’’. 23 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO LACK 24 OF GENERAL AUDIT OR INVESTIGATIVE AUTHORITY OF 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5733 IH SECRETARY AND CLERK.—Section 8 of such Act (2 1 U.S.C. 1607) is amended by striking subsection (c). 2 (f) PERMITTING USE OF GOOD FAITH ESTIMATES 3 BASED ON TAX RETURN INFORMATION.—Section 4 15(c)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1610(c)(1)) is amended 5 by striking ‘‘the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk 6 of the House of Representatives’’ and inserting ‘‘the At- 7 torney General’’. 8 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 10 this section shall apply with respect to statements 11 and reports filed after the expiration of the 1-year 12 period which begins on the date of the enactment of 13 this Act. 14 (2) TRANSITION.—Not later than 1 year after 15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 16 of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Rep- 17 resentatives shall transfer to the Attorney General 18 information on the statements and reports filed 19 prior to the effective date described in paragraph (1) 20 with the Secretary and the Clerk under the Lob- 21 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et 22 seq.). 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Feb 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5733.IH H5733 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS