What This Bill Does
This bill makes changes to rules about foreign agents and foreign money given to colleges and universities. It limits a legal exemption (a way to get out of a requirement) that currently allows certain religious, educational and scientific activities to skip registration requirements if they don't promote a foreign government's political goals. The bill also requires colleges to disclose more information about money and agreements they receive from foreign sources.
Who It Affects
People and organizations engaged in religious, scholastic, academic, scientific or arts activities that might receive funding from foreign governments. Colleges and universities that receive gifts or agreements from foreign sources. The Department of Education and Congressional committees that receive disclosures about foreign gifts.
Key Provisions
• Activities in furtherance of religious, scholastic, academic, scientific pursuits or the fine arts are only exempt from foreign agent registration if they do not promote a foreign government's political agenda (Sec. 2(a))
• Colleges must disclose all foreign gifts valued at $50,000 or more, down from the previous $250,000 threshold (Sec. 3(a)(2))
• Colleges must include the full content of contracts when reporting foreign gifts and agreements to the Department of Education and Congress (Sec. 3(a)(3))
• Any college with an agreement with a Confucius Institute must immediately post the full agreement text on its public website and send it to the Department of Education and relevant Congressional committees (Sec. 3(a)(6))
• Colleges that do not comply with foreign gift disclosure requirements become ineligible to enroll foreign students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (Sec. 3(b))
What Changes
Foreign-funded religious, educational and scientific activities can no longer claim an exemption from registration requirements if they promote a foreign government's political goals. Colleges must report foreign gifts starting at $50,000 instead of $250,000. Colleges must provide the actual text of foreign gift contracts and Confucius Institute agreements to the government and Congress. Colleges that ignore these disclosure rules lose the ability to accept foreign students.
Important Definitions
A "Confucius Institute" is a cultural institute directly or indirectly funded by the Government of the People's Republic of China (Sec. 3(a)(6)(1))
Effective Date
These changes apply to activities carried out on or after the date the bill becomes law and to gifts received or agreements entered into on or after that date (Sec. 2(b) and Sec. 3(c))
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1819
To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to limit the exemption
from the registration requirements of such Act for persons engaging
in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic,
or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do not promote
the political agenda of a foreign government, to amend the Higher
Education Act of 1965 to clarify the disclosures of foreign gifts by
institutions, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 28, 2023
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. CARTER of
Texas, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce, 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 amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938
to limit the exemption from the registration requirements
of such Act for persons engaging in activities in further-
ance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or sci-
entific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do
not promote the political agenda of a foreign government,
to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify
the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, and for
other purposes.
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•HR 1819 IH
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Influence
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Transparency Act’’.
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SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG-
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ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN-
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GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF
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CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO-
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MOTING POLITICAL AGENDA OF FOREIGN
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GOVERNMENTS.
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(a) LIMITATION ON EXEMPTION.—Section 3(e) of the
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Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C.
13
613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end
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and inserting the following: ‘‘, but only if the activities
15
do not promote the political agenda of a government of
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a foreign country;’’.
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(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
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subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried
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out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREE-
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MENTS.
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(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu-
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cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended—
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•HR 1819 IH
(1) in the section heading, by adding ‘‘AND
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AGREEMENTS’’ at the end;
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(2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’
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and inserting ‘‘$50,000’’;
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(3) in subsection (b)—
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(A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence,
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by inserting before the period at the end the
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following: ‘‘, including the content of each such
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contract’’; and
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(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before
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the period the following: ‘‘, including the con-
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tent of each such contract’’;
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(4) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including
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the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’;
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(5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g),
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and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respec-
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tively;
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(6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
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lowing:
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‘‘(e) CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AGREEMENTS.—
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‘‘(1) DEFINED TERM.—In this subsection, the
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term ‘Confucius Institute’ means a cultural institute
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directly or indirectly funded by the Government of
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the People’s Republic of China.
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•HR 1819 IH
‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—Any institu-
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tion that has entered into an agreement with a Con-
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fucius Institute shall immediately make the full text
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of such agreement available—
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‘‘(A) on the publicly accessible website of
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the institution;
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‘‘(B) to the Department of Education;
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‘‘(C) to the Committee on Health, Edu-
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cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and
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‘‘(D) to the Committee on Education and
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Labor of the House of Representatives.’’; and
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(7) in subsection (i), as redesignated—
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(A) in paragraph (2), by amending sub-
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paragraph (A) to read as follows:
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‘‘(A) a foreign government, including—
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‘‘(i) any agency of a foreign govern-
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ment, and any other unit of foreign gov-
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ernmental authority, including any foreign
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national, State, local, and municipal gov-
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ernment;
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‘‘(ii) any international or multi-
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national organization whose membership is
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composed of any unit of foreign govern-
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ment described in clause (i); and
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•HR 1819 IH
‘‘(iii) any agent or representative of
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any such unit or such organization, while
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acting as such;’’; and
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(B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before
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the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the
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fair market value of an in-kind gift’’.
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(b) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE WITH DISCLOSURE
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REQUIREMENT.—Any institution of higher education (as
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defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of
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1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that is not in compliance with
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the disclosure requirements set forth in section 117 of
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such Act (20 U.S.C. 1011f) shall be ineligible to enroll
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foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor
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Program.
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(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
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subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received
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or contracts or agreements entered into, or other activities
17
carried out, on or after the date of the enactment of this
18
Act.
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Æ
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