II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1388 

To require the President to submit a plan for resolving all outstanding 

claims relating to property confiscated by the Government of Cuba before 

taking action to ease restrictions on travel to or trade with Cuba, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19, 2015 

Mr. VITTER (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the President to submit a plan for resolving 

all outstanding claims relating to property confiscated 

by the Government of Cuba before taking action to ease 

restrictions on travel to or trade with Cuba, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cuba Normalization 

5 Accountability Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CONFISCATED; CONFISCATION.—The terms 

2 ‘‘confiscated’’ and ‘‘confiscation’’, with respect to 

3 property, have the meanings given those terms in 

4 section 401 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic 

5 Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 

6 6091). 

7 (2) CUBAN ASSETS CONTROL REGULATIONS.— 

8 The term ‘‘Cuban Assets Control Regulations’’ 

9 means part 515 of title 31, Code of Federal Regula10 tions. 

11 (3) ECONOMIC EMBARGO OF CUBA.—The term 

12 ‘‘economic embargo of Cuba’’— 

13 (A) has the meaning given that term in 

14 section 4 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic 

15 Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 

16 U.S.C. 6023); and 

17 (B) includes restrictions on travel and 

18 trade imposed with respect to Cuba under the 

19 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhance20 ment Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.). 

21 (4) EXPORT ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS.— 

22 The term ‘‘Export Administration Regulations’’ 

23 means subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code 

24 of Federal Regulations. 


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1 (5) UNITED STATES NATIONAL.—The term 

2 ‘‘United States national’’ has the meaning given that 

3 term in section 4 of the Cuban Liberty and Demo4 cratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 

5 U.S.C. 6023). 

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) On December 17, 2014, President Barack 

10 Obama announced his plan to revise United States 

11 policy with respect to Cuba by promising engage12 ment and to ‘‘normalize relations’’. 

13 (2) The President, through the Department of 

14 the Treasury and the Department of Commerce, has 

15 issued revisions to the Cuban Assets Control Regula16 tions and the Export Administration Regulations re17 lating to easing restrictions on travel to and trade 

18 with Cuba. 

19 (3) Those revisions have been implemented pur20 suant to the discretion of the President to modify li21 censing authorities under the Cuban Assets Control 

22 Regulations and the Export Administration Regula23 tions. 

24 (4) The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Soli25 darity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 prohibits the full 


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1 removal of the economic embargo of Cuba and estab2 lishes requirements for discretionary licensing au3 thority including through the following provisions: 

4 (A) Section 205(b)(2)(D) of that Act (22 

5 U.S.C. 6065(b)(2)(D)), which requires the 

6 President to take into account the extent to 

7 which the Government of Cuba is ‘‘taking ap8 propriate steps to return to United States citi9 zens (and entities which are 50 percent or more 

10 beneficially owned by United States citizens) 

11 property taken by the Cuban Government from 

12 such citizens and entities on or after January 

13 1, 1959, or to provide equitable compensation 

14 to such citizens and entities for such property’’. 

15 (B) Section 206 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 

16 6066), which sets forth requirements for deter17 mining whether a democratically elected govern18 ment has been established in Cuba and defines 

19 such a government as one that ‘‘has made de20 monstrable progress in returning to United 

21 States citizens (and entities which are 50 per22 cent or more beneficially owned by United 

23 States citizens) property taken by the Cuban 

24 Government from such citizens and entities on 

25 or after January 1, 1959, or providing full comVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1388.IS S1388

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1 pensation for such property in accordance with 

2 international law standards and practice’’. 

3 (C) Section 103 of that Act of (22 U.S.C. 

4 6033), which prohibits a United States national 

5 or a United States agency from knowingly pro6 viding financing for transactions involving any 

7 property owned by a United States national 

8 that was confiscated by the Government of 

9 Cuba. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that the United States should not further pursue 

12 efforts to ease restrictions on travel to or trade with Cuba 

13 or to otherwise further normalize relations with Cuba 

14 until— 

15 (1) the President submits to Congress the plan 

16 described in section 3(b); 

17 (2) all property taken by the Cuban Govern18 ment from United States nationals on or after Janu19 ary 1, 1959, has been returned to such nationals or 

20 full compensation for such property has been prop21 erty has been provided to such nationals; and 

22 (3) the Government of Cuba provides secure 

23 protection for the internationally recognized human 

24 rights of the people of Cuba. 


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1 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR RESOLVING OUTSTANDING CLAIMS RE2 LATING TO PROPERTY CONFISCATED BY THE 

3 GOVERNMENT OF CUBA. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, the President may not take any action to ease 

6 restrictions on travel to or trade with Cuba under the 

7 Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Export Adminis8 tration Regulations, or any other regulations relating to 

9 the economic embargo of Cuba before the date on which 

10 the President submits to Congress the plan described in 

11 subsection (b). 

12 (b) PLAN DESCRIBED.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The plan described in this 

14 subsection is a plan of the President for resolving 

15 outstanding claims relating to confiscated property 

16 to ensure that— 

17 (A) all property taken by the Government 

18 of Cuba from United States nationals on or 

19 after January 1, 1959, has been returned to 

20 such nationals; or 

21 (B) full compensation for such property 

22 has been provided to such nationals. 

23 (2) ASSESSMENT RELATING TO CERTAIN

24 CLAIMS.—The President shall include in the plan de25 scribed in paragraph (1) an assessment of the effect 

26 of planned actions to ease the restrictions described 


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1 in subsection (a) on claims relating to confiscated 

2 property considered by the Foreign Claims Settle3 ment Commission of the United States before the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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