FinCEN Accountability Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2963 To provide for further congressional oversight of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. LOUDERMILK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To provide for further congressional oversight of the Finan- cial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), 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 ‘‘FinCEN Account- 4 ability Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRANSPARENCY WITH CONTROLLING DOCUMENTS. 6 (a) DEFINITION OF CONTROLLING DOCUMENT.—As 7 used in this section, the term ‘‘controlling document’’ re- 8 fers to any record (as defined in section 3301 of title 44, 9 United States Code) issued by or under the authority of 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2963 IH the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary for En- 1 forcement, or any other officer or employee of the Depart- 2 ment of the Treasury, that delegates authority to the Fi- 3 nancial Crimes Enforcement Network or its Director, or 4 contains direction binding upon the Financial Crimes En- 5 forcement Network or its Director, in the implementation 6 of section 310 of title 31, United States Code, or the Bank 7 Secrecy Act, including delegations, prescriptions, regula- 8 tions, protocols, priorities, policies, standards, guidelines, 9 and requirements issued in accordance with subsections 10 (b)(2)(C), (b)(2)(E), (b)(2)(I), (b)(2)(J), (b)(2)(O), (c), 11 and (i)(2)(C)(ii) of section 310 of such title 31 and sub- 12 sections (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(4), (c)(2)(A), (c)(2)(C), (c)(3), 13 (c)(5), (d)(3), and (h)(3)(C)(i)(I)(bb) of section 5336 of 14 such title 31. 15 (b) DISCLOSURE TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary of 16 the Treasury shall promptly provide to the Committee on 17 Financial Services of the House of Representatives and 18 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 19 of the Senate— 20 (1) controlling documents in force as of the en- 21 actment of this Act; 22 (2) any controlling documents issued thereafter; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2963 IH (3) any changes to controlling documents de- 1 scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) made thereafter, 2 including any revocations thereof. 3 (c) DISCLOSURE TO THE PUBLIC.—The Secretary of 4 the Treasury shall make available promptly to the public 5 the controlling documents and changes that the Secretary 6 is required to provide to the committees listed in sub- 7 section (b), excluding such reasonably segregable portions 8 of controlling documents or changes as would fall within 9 an exemption in section 552(b) of title 5, United States 10 Code. 11 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY IN RULEMAKING AND SECRE- 12 TARIAL EXCEPTIONS. 13 (a) RESERVATION TO THE SECRETARY OF AUTHOR- 14 ITY TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS.—No officer or employee of 15 the Department of the Treasury, except the Secretary of 16 the Treasury or the person performing the duties of the 17 Secretary of the Treasury when that office is vacant or 18 the Secretary is unable to perform the duties of that office, 19 shall, with respect to a proposed or final rule relating to 20 activities of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, 21 including implementation of the Bank Secrecy Act— 22 (1) make findings of good cause under sub- 23 section (b) or (d) of section 553 of title 5, United 24 States Code; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2963 IH (2) exercise authority to certify, delay, or waive 1 under section 605 or 608 of title 5, United States 2 Code; or 3 (3) make findings of good cause under section 4 808(2) of title 5, United States Code. 5 (b) COVERED AGENCY STATUS FOR REGULATORY 6 FLEXIBILITY.—Section 310 of title 31, United States 7 Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol- 8 lowing new subsection: 9 ‘‘(m) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 10 shall be a ‘covered agency’ for purposes of section 609(d) 11 of title 5.’’. 12 SEC. 4. TESTIMONY BY THE DIRECTOR OF FINCEN. 13 Section 5336(c)(11)(A) of title 31, United States 14 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘5 years’’ and inserting ‘‘10 15 years’’. 16 SEC. 5. BANK SECRECY ACT DEFINED. 17 In this Act, the term ‘‘Bank Secrecy Act’’ means— 18 (1) section 21 of the Federal Deposit Insurance 19 Act (12 U.S.C. 1829b); 20 (2) chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 21 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.); and 22 (3) subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, 23 United States Code. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS