I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 295 

To increase the role of the financial industry in combating human trafficking. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2019 

Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself, Mr. KEATING, Mr. MCCAUL, and Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committee on Financial Services, 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 increase the role of the financial industry in combating 

human trafficking. 

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 ‘‘End Banking for 

5 Human Traffickers Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASING THE ROLE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUS7 TRY IN COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

8 (a) TREASURY AS A MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENT’S

9 INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT


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1 TRAFFICKING.—Section 105(b) of the Victims of Traf2 ficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

3 7103(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘the Secretary of the 

4 Treasury,’’ after ‘‘the Secretary of Education,’’. 

5 (b) REQUIRED REVIEW OF PROCEDURES.—Not later 

6 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

7 the Financial Institutions Examination Council, in con8 sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the private 

9 sector, victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons, 

10 advocates of persons at risk of becoming victims of severe 

11 forms of trafficking in persons, and appropriate law en12 forcement agencies, shall— 

13 (1) review and enhance training and examina14 tions procedures to improve the capabilities of anti15 money laundering and countering the financing of 

16 terrorism programs to detect financial transactions 

17 relating to severe forms of trafficking in persons; 

18 (2) review and enhance procedures for referring 

19 potential cases relating to severe forms of trafficking 

20 in persons to the appropriate law enforcement agen21 cy; and 

22 (3) determine, as appropriate, whether require23 ments for financial institutions are sufficient to de24 tect and deter money laundering relating to severe 

25 forms of trafficking in persons. 


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1 (c) INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS

2 TARGETING MONEY LAUNDERING RELATED TO HUMAN

3 TRAFFICKING.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

6 Interagency Task Force To Monitor and Combat 

7 Trafficking shall submit to the Committee on Finan8 cial Services and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

9 the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

10 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Com11 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the head 

12 of each appropriate Federal banking agency— 

13 (A) an analysis of anti-money laundering 

14 efforts of the United States Government and 

15 United States financial institutions relating to 

16 severe forms of trafficking in persons; and 

17 (B) appropriate legislative, administrative, 

18 and other recommendations to strengthen ef19 forts against money laundering relating to se20 vere forms of trafficking in persons. 

21 (2) REQUIRED RECOMMENDATIONS.—The rec22 ommendations under paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 (A) feedback from financial institutions on 

24 best practices of successful programs to combat 

25 severe forms of trafficking in persons currently 


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1 in place that may be suitable for broader adop2 tion by similarly situated financial institutions; 

3 (B) feedback from stakeholders, including 

4 victims of severe forms of trafficking in per5 sons, advocates of persons at risk of becoming 

6 victims of severe forms of trafficking in per7 sons, and financial institutions, on policy pro8 posals derived from the analysis conducted by 

9 the task force referred to in paragraph (1) that 

10 would enhance the efforts and programs of fi11 nancial institutions to detect and deter money 

12 laundering relating to severe forms of traf13 ficking in persons, including any recommended 

14 changes to internal policies, procedures, and 

15 controls relating to severe forms of trafficking 

16 in persons; 

17 (C) any recommended changes to training 

18 programs at financial institutions to better 

19 equip employees to deter and detect money 

20 laundering relating to severe forms of traf21 ficking in persons; 

22 (D) any recommended changes to expand 

23 information sharing relating to severe forms of 

24 trafficking in persons among financial institu25 tions and between such financial institutions, 


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1 appropriate law enforcement agencies, and ap2 propriate Federal agencies; and 

3 (E) recommended changes, if necessary, to 

4 existing statutory law to more effectively detect 

5 and deter money laundering relating to severe 

6 forms of trafficking in persons, where such 

7 money laundering involves the use of emerging 

8 technologies and virtual currencies. 

9 (d) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this Act shall be con10 strued to— 

11 (1) grant rulemaking authority to the Inter12 agency Task Force To Monitor and Combat Traf13 ficking; or 

14 (2) encourage financial institutions to deny 

15 services to victims of trafficking, victims of severe 

16 forms of trafficking in persons, or individuals not re17 sponsible for promoting severe forms of trafficking 

18 in persons. 

19 (e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

20 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 

21 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

22 3(q) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

23 U.S.C. 1813(q)); 

24 (2) the term ‘‘severe forms of trafficking in per25 sons’’ has the meaning given such term in section 


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1 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 

2 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102); 

3 (3) the term ‘‘Interagency Task Force To Mon4 itor and Combat Trafficking’’ means the Interagency 

5 Task Force To Monitor and Combat Trafficking es6 tablished by the President pursuant to section 105 

7 of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protec8 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103); and 

9 (4) the term ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means 

10 an agency of the United States, a State, or a polit11 ical subdivision of a State, authorized by law or by 

12 a government agency to engage in or supervise the 

13 prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of 

14 any violation of criminal or civil law. 

15 SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING ISSUES 

16 BY THE OFFICE OF TERRORISM AND FINAN17 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

18 (a) FUNCTIONS.—Section 312(a)(4) of title 31, 

19 United States Code, is amended— 

20 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (E), (F), 

21 and (G) as subparagraphs (F), (G), and (H), respec22 tively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(E) combating illicit financing relating to 

2 severe forms of trafficking in persons;’’. 

3 (b) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—Section 312(a) 

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

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(8) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—The Sec7 retary of the Treasury, after consultation with the 

8 Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, 

9 shall designate an office within the OTFI that shall 

10 coordinate efforts to combat the illicit financing of 

11 severe forms of trafficking in persons with— 

12 ‘‘(A) other offices of the Department of the 

13 Treasury; 

14 ‘‘(B) other Federal agencies, including— 

15 ‘‘(i) the Office To Monitor and Com16 bat Trafficking in Persons of the Depart17 ment of State; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the Interagency Task Force To 

19 Monitor and Combat Trafficking; 

20 ‘‘(C) State and local law enforcement agen21 cies; and 

22 ‘‘(D) foreign governments.’’. 

23 (c) DEFINITION.—Section 312(a) of title 31, United 

24 States Code, as amended by this section, is further amend25 ed by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(9) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

2 ‘severe forms of trafficking in persons’ has the 

3 meaning given such term in section 103 of the Traf4 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

5 7102).’’. 

6 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT UNDER 

7 THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION 

8 ACT OF 2000. 

9 Section 105(d)(7) of the Trafficking Victims Protec10 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103(d)(7)) is amended— 

11 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A)— 

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘the Committee on Finan13 cial Services,’’ after ‘‘the Committee on Foreign 

14 Affairs,’’; and 

15 (B) by inserting ‘‘the Committee on Bank16 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs,’’ after ‘‘the 

17 Committee on Foreign Relations,’’; 

18 (2) in subparagraph (Q)(vii), by striking ‘‘; 

19 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

20 (3) in subparagraph (R), by striking the period 

21 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(S) the efforts of the United States to 

24 eliminate money laundering relating to severe 

25 forms of trafficking in persons and the number 


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1 of investigations, arrests, indictments, and con2 victions in money laundering cases with a nexus 

3 to severe forms of trafficking in persons.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF 

5 TRAFFICKING. 

6 Section 108(b) of the Trafficking Victims Protection 

7 Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106(b)) is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(13) Whether the government of the country, 

10 consistent with the capacity of the country, has in 

11 effect a framework to prevent financial transactions 

12 involving the proceeds of severe forms of trafficking 

13 in persons, and is taking steps to implement such a 

14 framework, including by investigating, prosecuting, 

15 convicting, and sentencing individuals who attempt 

16 or conduct such transactions.’’. 

Æ 


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