I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6306 

To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to prohibit 

the acquisition or lease of a consular or diplomatic post built or owned 

by an entity beneficially owned by the People’s Republic of China, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2023 

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

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 

1956 to prohibit the acquisition or lease of a consular 

or diplomatic post built or owned by an entity beneficially 

owned by the People’s Republic of China, 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 ‘‘Embassy Construction 

5 Integrity Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO CONSULAR AND DIP2 LOMATIC POSTS BUILT OR OWNED BY CER3 TAIN ENTITIES. 

4 (a) PROHIBITIONS.—Title I of the State Department 

5 Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) 

6 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 64. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO CONSULAR AND 

8 DIPLOMATIC POSTS BUILT OR OWNED BY 

9 CERTAIN ENTITIES. 

10 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITIONS.—The Secretary of State (in this 

11 section referred to as the ‘Secretary’) may not— 

12 ‘‘(1) acquire or lease a covered building— 

13 ‘‘(A) with respect to which a covered entity 

14 performed covered construction on or after Jan15 uary 1, 1949; or 

16 ‘‘(B) in which a covered entity has an own17 ership interest; or 

18 ‘‘(2) authorize a covered entity to perform cov19 ered construction with respect to a covered building, 

20 including pursuant to a contract or other agreement. 

21 ‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION OF VIOLATIONS.—Not later than 

22 7 days after becoming aware of a violation of subsection 

23 (a), the Secretary shall notify the Committee on Foreign 

24 Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Com25 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate of such viola26 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) BENEFICIAL OWNER.—The term ‘bene3 ficial owner’— 

4 ‘‘(A) means, with respect to an entity, an 

5 entity that, directly or indirectly, through any 

6 contract, arrangement, understanding, relation7 ship, or otherwise— 

8 ‘‘(i) exercises substantial control over 

9 the entity; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) owns or controls not less than 25 

11 percent of the ownership interest of an en12 tity; and 

13 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

14 ‘‘(i) a minor child, as defined as a 

15 natural person under the age of 18; 

16 ‘‘(ii) an individual acting as a nomi17 nee, intermediary, custodian, or agent on 

18 behalf of another individual; 

19 ‘‘(iii) an individual acting solely as an 

20 employee of a corporation, limited liability 

21 company, or other similar entity and whose 

22 control over or economic benefits from 

23 such entity is derived solely from the em24 ployment status of the person; or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) an individual whose only interest 

2 in a corporation, limited liability company, 

3 or other similar entity is through a right of 

4 inheritance, and who does not exercise sub5 stantial control or effective control over the 

6 entity. 

7 ‘‘(2) COVERED BUILDING.—The term ‘covered 

8 building’ means a building that is used or intended 

9 to be used by personnel, or for a function, of a con10 sular or diplomatic post located outside of the 

11 United States. 

12 ‘‘(3) COVERED CONSTRUCTION.—The term 

13 ‘covered construction’— 

14 ‘‘(A) means any construction, development, 

15 conversion, extension, alteration, repair, or 

16 maintenance performed with respect to a build17 ing; and 

18 ‘‘(B) includes the installation or mainte19 nance of electrical, plumbing, heating, ventila20 tion, air conditioning, communication, fire pro21 tection, and energy management systems with 

22 respect to such building. 

23 ‘‘(4) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en24 tity’ means an entity of which the government of the 

25 People’s Republic of China, or an agent or instruVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:54 Nov 15, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6306.IH H6306

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1 mentality of the government of the People’s Republic 

2 of China, is a beneficial owner.’’. 

3 (b) APPLICABILITY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 64 of the State De5 partment Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as added 

6 by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to the fol7 lowing: 

8 (A) Acquisitions of covered buildings oc9 curring on or after the date of enactment of 

10 this Act. 

11 (B) Leases of covered buildings entered 

12 into on or after such date of enactment. 

13 (C) Authorizations for the performance of 

14 covered construction made on or after such date 

15 of enactment. 

16 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

17 terms ‘‘covered building’’ and ‘‘covered construction’’ 

18 have the meanings given such terms in subsection 

19 (c) of such section 64. 

Æ 


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