SCRIPT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3835 To prohibit the use of funds for the production of films by United States companies that alter content for screening in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2020 Mr. CRUZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To prohibit the use of funds for the production of films by United States companies that alter content for screen- ing in the People’s Republic of China, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Censorship, 4 Restoring Integrity, and Protecting Talkies Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘SCRIPT Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3835 IS SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR PRODUCTION 1 OF FILMS AND PROHIBITION ON USE OF 2 SUCH FUNDS FOR FILMS SUBJECT TO CONDI- 3 TIONS ON CONTENT OR ALTERED FOR 4 SCREENING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF 5 CHINA OR THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY. 6 (a) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The President 7 may only authorize the provision of technical support or 8 access to an asset controlled by the Federal Government 9 for, or authorize the head of a Federal agency to enter 10 into a contract relating to, the production or funding of 11 a film by a United States company if the United States 12 company, as a condition of receiving the support or ac- 13 cess— 14 (1) provides to the Secretary a list of all films 15 produced or funded by the United States company 16 the content of which has been submitted, during the 17 shorter of the preceding 10-year period or the period 18 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, 19 to an official of the Government of the People’s Re- 20 public of China or the Chinese Communist Party for 21 evaluation with respect to screening the film in the 22 People’s Republic of China, including, for each 23 film— 24 (A) the title of the film; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3835 IS (B) the date on which the submittal oc- 1 curred; 2 (2) enters into a written agreement with the 3 President, or the Federal agency providing the sup- 4 port or access, not to alter the content of the film 5 in response to, or in anticipation of, a request by an 6 official of the Government of the People’s Republic 7 of China or the Chinese Communist Party; and 8 (3) submits such agreement to the Secretary. 9 (b) PROHIBITION WITH RESPECT TO FILMS SUB- 10 JECT TO CONDITIONS ON CONTENT OR ALTERED FOR 11 SCREENING IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.— 12 Notwithstanding subsection (a), the President may not au- 13 thorize the provision of technical support or access to any 14 asset controlled by the Federal Government for, or author- 15 ize the head of a Federal agency to enter into any contract 16 relating to, the production or funding of a film by a United 17 States company if— 18 (1) the film is co-produced by an entity located 19 in the People’s Republic of China that is subject to 20 conditions on content imposed by an official of the 21 Government of the People’s Republic of China or the 22 Chinese Communist Party; or 23 (2) with respect to the most recent report sub- 24 mitted under subsection (c), the United States com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3835 IS pany is listed in the report under subparagraph (C) 1 or (D) of paragraph (2) of that subsection. 2 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an- 5 nually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 6 appropriate committees of Congress a report on 7 films disclosed under subsection (a) that are associ- 8 ated with a United States company that has received 9 technical support or access to an asset controlled by 10 the Federal Government for, or has entered into a 11 contract with the Federal Government relating to, 12 the production or funding of a film. 13 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by para- 14 graph (1) shall include the following: 15 (A) A description of each film listed pursu- 16 ant to the requirement under subsection (a)(1) 17 the content of which was submitted, during the 18 shorter of the preceding 10-year period or the 19 period beginning on the date of the enactment 20 of this Act, by a United States company to an 21 official of the Government of the People’s Re- 22 public of China or the Chinese Communist 23 Party for evaluation with respect to screening 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3835 IS the film in the People’s Republic of China, in- 1 cluding— 2 (i) the United States company that 3 submitted the contents of the film; 4 (ii) the title of the film; and 5 (iii) the date on which the submittal 6 occurred. 7 (B) A description of each film with respect 8 to which a United States company entered into 9 a written agreement with the President or the 10 Federal agency providing the support or access, 11 as applicable, pursuant to the requirement 12 under subsection (a)(2) not to alter the content 13 of the film in response to, or in anticipation of, 14 a request by an official of the Government of 15 the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese 16 Communist Party, during the shorter of the 17 preceding 10-year period or the period begin- 18 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, 19 including— 20 (i) the United States company that 21 entered into the agreement; and 22 (ii) the title of the film. 23 (C) The title of any film described under 24 subparagraph (A), and the corresponding 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3835 IS United States company described in clause (i) 1 of that subparagraph— 2 (i) that was submitted to an official of 3 the Government of the People’s Republic of 4 China or the Chinese Communist Party 5 during the preceding 3-year period; and 6 (ii) for which the Secretary assesses 7 that the content was altered in response to, 8 or in anticipation of, a request by an offi- 9 cial of the Government of the People’s Re- 10 public of China or the Chinese Communist 11 Party. 12 (D) The title of any film that is described 13 in both subparagraph (A) and subparagraph 14 (B), and the corresponding one or more United 15 States companies described in clause (i) of each 16 such subparagraph— 17 (i) that was submitted to an official of 18 the Government of the People’s Republic of 19 China or the Chinese Communist Party 20 during the preceding 10-year period; and 21 (ii) for which the Secretary assesses 22 that the content was altered in response to, 23 or in anticipation of, a request by an offi- 24 cial of the Government of the People’s Re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3835 IS public of China or the Chinese Communist 1 Party. 2 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 4 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 5 gress’’ means— 6 (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 7 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Com- 8 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- 9 tation of the Senate; and 10 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 11 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Com- 12 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House 13 of Representatives. 14 (2) CONTENT.—The term ‘‘content’’ means any 15 description of a film, including the script. 16 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17 the Secretary of Commerce. 18 (4) UNITED STATES COMPANY.—The term 19 ‘‘United States company’’ means a private entity in- 20 corporated in the United States. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:09 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3835.IS S3835 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS