[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1819 Introduced in House (IH)]
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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 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Influence Transparency
Act''.
SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT
FOR PERSONS ENGAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF
CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PROMOTING POLITICAL
AGENDA OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.
(a) Limitation on Exemption.--Section 3(e) of the Foreign Agents
Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 613(e)) is amended by striking the
semicolon at the end and inserting the following: ``, but only if the
activities do not promote the political agenda of a government of a
foreign country;''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to activities carried out on or after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREEMENTS.
(a) In General.--Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by adding ``and agreements'' at
the end;
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ``$250,000'' and
inserting ``$50,000'';
(3) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by
inserting before the period at the end the following:
``, including the content of each such contract''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before the
period the following: ``, including the content of each
such contract'';
(4) in subsection (e), by inserting ``, including the
contents of any contracts,'' after ``reports'';
(5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h) as
subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respectively;
(6) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
``(e) Confucius Institute Agreements.--
``(1) Defined term.--In this subsection, the term
`Confucius Institute' means a cultural institute directly or
indirectly funded by the Government of the People's Republic of
China.
``(2) Disclosure requirement.--Any institution that has
entered into an agreement with a Confucius Institute shall
immediately make the full text of such agreement available--
``(A) on the publicly accessible website of the
institution;
``(B) to the Department of Education;
``(C) to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions of the Senate; and
``(D) to the Committee on Education and Labor of
the House of Representatives.''; and
(7) in subsection (i), as redesignated--
(A) in paragraph (2), by amending subparagraph (A)
to read as follows:
``(A) a foreign government, including--
``(i) any agency of a foreign government,
and any other unit of foreign governmental
authority, including any foreign national,
State, local, and municipal government;
``(ii) any international or multinational
organization whose membership is composed of
any unit of foreign government described in
clause (i); and
``(iii) any agent or representative of any
such unit or such organization, while acting as
such;''; and
(B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before the
semicolon at the end the following: ``, or the fair
market value of an in-kind gift''.
(b) Effect of Noncompliance With Disclosure Requirement.--Any
institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that is not in
compliance with the disclosure requirements set forth in section 117 of
such Act (20 U.S.C. 1011f) shall be ineligible to enroll foreign
students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to gifts received or contracts or agreements entered
into, or other activities carried out, on or after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
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