I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1096 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for transparency of 

payments made from the Judgment Fund. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 

Mr. STEWART (for himself, Mr. LONG, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. 

CHAFFETZ, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, and 

Mr. BURGESS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for 

transparency of payments made from the Judgment Fund. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judgment Fund 

5 Transparency Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. JUDGMENT FUND TRANSPARENCY. 

7 (a) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENT.—Section 1304 

8 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

9 the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(d)(1) Unless the disclosure of such information is 

2 otherwise prohibited by law or court order, the Secretary 

3 of the Treasury shall make available to the public on a 

4 website, as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days 

5 after the date on which a payment under this section is 

6 tendered on or after January 1, 2016, the following infor7 mation with regard to that payment: 

8 ‘‘(A) The name of the specific agency or entity 

9 whose actions gave rise to the claim or judgment. 

10 ‘‘(B) The name of the plaintiff or claimant. 

11 ‘‘(C) The name of counsel for the plaintiff or 

12 claimant. 

13 ‘‘(D) The amount paid representing principal li14 ability, and any amounts paid representing any an15 cillary liability, including attorney fees, costs, and 

16 interest. 

17 ‘‘(E) A brief description of the facts that gave 

18 rise to the claim. 

19 ‘‘(F) The name of the agency that submitted 

20 the claim. 

21 ‘‘(G) Any information available on reports gen22 erated by the Judgment Fund Payment Search ad23 ministered by the Treasury Department. 

24 ‘‘(2) In addition to the information described in para25 graph (1), if a payment under this section is made to a 


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1 foreign state on or after January 1, 2016, the Secretary 

2 of the Treasury shall make available to the public in ac3 cordance with paragraph (1), the following information 

4 with regard to that payment: 

5 ‘‘(A) A description of the method of payment. 

6 ‘‘(B) A description of the currency denomina7 tions used for the payment. 

8 ‘‘(C) The name and location of each financial 

9 institution owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, 

10 by a foreign state or an agent of a foreign state 

11 through which the payment passed or from which 

12 the payment was withdrawn, including any financial 

13 institution owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, 

14 by a foreign state or an agent of a foreign state that 

15 is holding the payment as of the date on which the 

16 information is made available. 

17 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘foreign state’ 

18 has the meaning given the term in section 1603 of 

19 title 28. 

20 ‘‘(e) Except with regard to children under eighteen, 

21 the disclosure of information required in this section shall 

22 not be considered a ‘clearly unwarranted invasion of per23 sonal privacy’ for purposes of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(f) No payment may be made under this section to 

2 a state sponsor of terrorism, as defined in section 

3 1605A(h) of title 28.’’. 

4 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of the Treas5 ury shall carry out the amendment made by this section 

6 by not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 

7 this Act. 

Æ 


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