Foreign Influence Transparency Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3313 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 13, 2020 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. COTTON, and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For- eign Relations 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. 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 16:05 Feb 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3313.IS S3313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3313 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Influence 2 Transparency Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG- 4 ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN- 5 GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF 6 CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO- 7 MOTING POLITICAL AGENDA OF FOREIGN 8 GOVERNMENTS. 9 (a) LIMITATION ON EXEMPTION.—Section 3(e) of the 10 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 11 613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end 12 and inserting the following: ‘‘, but only if the activities 13 do not promote the political agenda of a government of 14 a foreign country;’’. 15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 16 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried 17 out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 18 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu- 20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 21 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘the value of 22 which is $250,000 or more, considered alone or in 23 combination with all other gifts from or contracts 24 with’’ and inserting ‘‘the value of which is $50,000 25 or more for such gift from or contract with’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:05 Feb 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3313.IS S3313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3313 IS (2) in subsection (b)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 2 by inserting before the period at the end the 3 following: ‘‘, and the content of each such con- 4 tract’’; and 5 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 6 the period the following: ‘‘, and the content of 7 each such contract’’; 8 (3) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including 9 the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’; and 10 (4) in subsection (h)(3), by inserting before the 11 semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the fair 12 market value of an in-kind gift’’. 13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 14 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received 15 or contracts entered into, or other activities carried out, 16 on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:05 Feb 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3313.IS S3313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS