IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7703 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To authorize appropriations for the Caribbean Basin Security 

Initiative, enhance the United States-Caribbean security 

partnership, prioritize disaster resilience, 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, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 7703 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Caribbean Basin Secu3 rity Initiative Authorization Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE 

5 CARIBBEAN BASIN SECURITY INITIATIVE. 

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap7 propriated $74,800,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

8 through 2025 to carry out the Caribbean Basin Security 

9 Initiative to achieve the purposes described in subsection 

10 (b). 

11 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this sub12 section are the following: 

13 (1) To promote citizen safety, security, and the 

14 rule of law in the Caribbean through increased stra15 tegic engagement with the governments of bene16 ficiary countries and with elements of local civil soci17 ety, including the private sector, in such countries. 

18 (2) To carry out the promotion of such safety, 

19 security, and the rule of law through efforts includ20 ing the following: 

21 (A) Capacity building for law enforcement 

22 and military units, including professionalization, 

23 anti-corruption and human rights training, vet24 ting, and community-based policing. 

25 (B) Maritime and aerial security coopera26 tion, including assistance to strengthen CaribVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 7703 RFS

1 bean maritime and aerial interdiction oper2 ations capability and the provision of support 

3 systems and equipment, training, and mainte4 nance. 

5 (C) Border and port security cooperation, 

6 including support to strengthen capacity for 

7 screening and to intercept narcotics, weapons, 

8 bulk cash, and other contraband at airports and 

9 seaports. 

10 (D) Support for justice sector reform and 

11 strengthening of the rule of law, including ca12 pacity building for prosecutors, judges, and 

13 other justice officials, and support to increase 

14 the efficacy of criminal courts. 

15 (E) Cybersecurity and cybercrime coopera16 tion, including capacity-building and support 

17 for cybersecurity systems. 

18 (F) Countering transnational criminal or19 ganizations and local gang activity, including 

20 capacity-building, equipment, and support for 

21 operations targeting the finances and illegal ac22 tivities of transnational criminal networks and 

23 local gangs such as their recruitment of at-risk 

24 youth, and the provision of assistance to popuVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 7703 RFS

1 lations vulnerable to being victims of extortion 

2 and crime by criminal networks. 

3 (G) Strengthening special prosecutorial of4 fices and providing technical assistance to com5 bat corruption, money laundering, financial 

6 crimes, extortion, and human rights crimes, and 

7 conduct asset forfeitures and criminal analysis. 

8 (H) Strengthening the ability of the secu9 rity sector to respond to and become more resil10 ient in the face of natural disasters, including 

11 by carrying out training exercises to ensure 

12 critical infrastructure and ports are able to 

13 come back online rapidly following disasters and 

14 providing preparedness training to police and 

15 first responders. 

16 (I) Supporting training for civilian police 

17 and appropriate security services in criminal in18 vestigations, best practices for citizen security, 

19 and the protection of human rights. 

20 (J) Improving community and law enforce21 ment cooperation to improve effectiveness and 

22 professionalism of police and increase mutual 

23 trust. 

24 (K) Increasing economic opportunities for 

25 at-risk youth and vulnerable populations, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 7703 RFS

1 cluding workforce development training and re2 medial education programs for at-risk youth. 

3 (L) Improving juvenile justice sectors 

4 through regulatory reforms, separating youth 

5 from traditional prison systems, and improving 

6 support and services in juvenile detention cen7 ters. 

8 (3) To prioritize efforts to combat corruption 

9 and include anti-corruption components to programs, 

10 including by— 

11 (A) strengthening national justice systems 

12 and attorneys general and supporting inde13 pendent media and investigative reporting; 

14 (B) supporting multilateral anti-corruption 

15 mechanisms; and 

16 (C) encouraging cooperative agreements 

17 between the Department of State, other rel18 evant Federal departments and agencies, and 

19 the attorneys general of relevant countries to 

20 fight corruption in the Caribbean. 

21 (4) To promote the rule of law in the Caribbean 

22 and counter malign influence from authoritarian re23 gimes, including China and Russia, by: 

24 (A) Monitoring security assistance from 

25 authoritarian regimes and taking steps necVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 7703 RFS

1 essary to ensure that this assistance does not 

2 undermine or jeopardize U.S. security assist3 ance. 

4 (B) Evaluating and, as appropriate, re5 stricting United States involvement in invest6 ment and infrastructure projects financed by 

7 authoritarian regimes that might obstruct or 

8 otherwise impact United States security assist9 ance to beneficiary countries. 

10 (C) Monitoring and restricting equipment 

11 and support from high risk vendors for tele12 communications infrastructure in beneficiary 

13 countries. 

14 (D) Countering disinformation by pro15 moting transparency and accountability from 

16 beneficiary countries. 

17 (E) Eliminating corruption linked to in18 vestment and infrastructure facilitated by au19 thoritarian regimes through support for invest20 ment screening, competitive tendering and bid21 ding processes, the implementation of invest22 ment law, and contractual transparency. 

23 (5) To promote strategic engagement with the 

24 governments of beneficiary countries through effec25 tive branding and messaging of United States assistVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

HR 7703 RFS

1 ance and security cooperation, including by devel2 oping a public diplomacy strategy for educating citi3 zens of beneficiary countries about United States as4 sistance and security cooperation programs and ben5 efits. 

6 SEC. 3. STRATEGY TO IMPROVE DISASTER RESILIENCE. 

7 (a) PRIORITIZATION.—During the 5-year period be8 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec9 retary of State shall, in consultation with the Adminis10 trator of the United States Agency for International De11 velopment and the President and Chief Executive Officer 

12 of the Inter-American Foundation, prioritize efforts to in13 crease disaster response and resilience by carrying out 

14 programs in beneficiary countries for the following pur15 poses: 

16 (1) Encouraging coordination between bene17 ficiary countries and relevant Federal departments 

18 and agencies to provide expertise and information 

19 sharing. 

20 (2) Supporting sharing of best practices on dis21 aster resilience including constructing resilient infra22 structure and rebuilding after natural disasters. 

23 (3) Improving rapid-response mechanisms and 

24 cross-government organizational preparedness for 

25 natural disasters. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

HR 7703 RFS

1 (b) STRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

3 shall, in coordination with the Administrator of the United 

4 States Agency for International Development and in con5 sultation with the President and Chief Economic Officer 

6 of the Inter-American Foundation, submit to the appro7 priate congressional committees a strategy that incor8 porates specific, measurable benchmarks to achieve the 

9 purposes described in subsection (a) and to inform citizens 

10 of beneficiary countries about the extent and benefits of 

11 United States assistance to such countries. In developing 

12 such strategy, the Secretary of State shall also consult 

13 with nongovernmental organizations in beneficiary coun14 tries and in the United States. 

15 (c) ANNUAL PROGRESS UPDATE.—The Secretary, in 

16 coordination with the Administrator, shall annually submit 

17 to the appropriate congressional committees a written de18 scription of the progress made as of the date of such sub19 mission in meeting the benchmarks included in the strat20 egy submitted pursuant to subsection (b). 

21 SEC. 4. MONITORING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination 

24 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

25 International Development, shall submit to the approVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

HR 7703 RFS

1 priate congressional committees an implementation plan 

2 that includes a timeline and stated objectives for actions 

3 to be taken with respect to the Caribbean Basin Security 

4 Initiative. The plan shall also include the following ele5 ments: 

6 (1) A multi-year strategy with a timeline, over7 view of objectives, and anticipated outcomes for the 

8 region and for each beneficiary country, with respect 

9 to each program area described in section 2. 

10 (2) Specific, measurable benchmarks to track 

11 the progress of the Initiative towards accomplishing 

12 the outcomes described pursuant to paragraph (1). 

13 (3) A plan for the delineation of the roles to be 

14 carried out by the Department of State, the United 

15 States Agency for International Development, the 

16 Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, 

17 and any other Federal department or agency in car18 rying out the Initiative, to prevent overlap and unin19 tended competition between activities and resources. 

20 (4) A plan to coordinate and track all activities 

21 carried out under the Initiative between all relevant 

22 Federal departments and agencies, in accordance 

23 with the publication requirements described in sec24 tion 4 of the Foreign Aid Transparency and AcVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.RFS H7703

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

HR 7703 RFS

1 countability Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–191; 22 

2 U.S.C. 2394c). 

3 (5) The results achieved during the previous 

4 year— 

5 (A) of monitoring and evaluation measures 

6 to track the progress of the Initiative in accom7 plishing the benchmarks included pursuant to 

8 paragraph (2); and 

9 (B) of the implementation of the strategy 

10 and plans described in paragraphs (1), (3), and 

11 (4). 

12 (6) A description of the process for co-locating 

13 Caribbean Basin Security Initiative projects funded 

14 by the United States Agency for International De15 velopment and the Bureau of International Nar16 cotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the Depart17 ment of State, to ensure that crime prevention fund18 ing and enforcement funding are used in the same 

19 localities as necessary. 

20 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
11 

HR 7703 RFS

1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

2 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

3 of Representatives; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (2) BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES.—The term ‘‘ben8 eficiary countries’’ means the beneficiary countries 

9 of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS