I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 517

To amend title 31, United States Code, to require the Financial Crimes

Enforcement Network established by the Secretary of the Treasury to

allow an individual to obtain a copy of any record maintained by the

Network pertaining to such person and to have corrections made to

such records, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 3, 1999

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Banking and Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on

Government Reform, 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 title 31, United States Code, to require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network established by the Secretary of the Treasury to allow an individual to obtain

a copy of any record maintained by the Network pertaining to such person and to have corrections made to

such records, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

•HR 517 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FinCen Public Ac3 countability Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE FINANCIAL

5 CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 53 of

7 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

8 end the following new section:

9 ‘‘§ 5331. Public accountability for collected informa10 tion

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsections (j)

12 and (k) of section 552a of title 5, the Financial Crimes

13 Enforcement Network shall be subject to such section

14 552a with regard to all records maintained by such entity,

15 other than information described in subparagraph (A),

16 (B), or (C) of subsection (j)(2) of such section.

17 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—

18 ‘‘(1) FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NET19 WORK.—The term ‘Financial Crimes Enforcement

20 Network’ means the entity established by the Sec21 retary of the Treasury within the Department of the

22 Treasury which (as of the date of the enactment of

23 the FinCen Public Accountability Act) is known as

24 the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
3

•HR 517 IH

1 ‘‘(2) RECORD.—The term ‘record’ has the

2 meaning given to such term in section 552a(a)(4) of

3 title 5.

4 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.—

5 The Secretary of the Treasury shall have no authority

6 under this title, title 5, or any other provision of law to

7 exempt the entity.

8 ‘‘(d) AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE USER FEES.—The Sec9 retary of the Treasury may impose such fees on any Fed10 eral agency or department, or any agency or department

11 of any State or unit of general local government, which

12 accesses information from the Financial Crimes Enforce13 ment Network as the Secretary determines to be appro14 priate to recover any cost incurred pursuant to subsection

15 (a).’’.

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

17 for subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States

18 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to

19 section 5330 the following new item:

‘‘5331. Public accountability for collected information.’’.

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

21 this section shall apply after the end of the 90-day period

22 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Æ