I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 392 

To require the disclosure of beneficial ownership by a foreign person of 

high-security space leased to accommodate a Federal agency, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2019 

Mr. LYNCH (for himself and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the disclosure of beneficial ownership by a foreign 

person of high-security space leased to accommodate a 

Federal agency, 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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Secure Government Buildings from Espionage Act of 

6 2019’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the Government Accountability Office has 

2 reported that the Federal Government often leases 

3 high-security space from private sector landlords; 

4 (2) the General Services Administration and 

5 other Federal agencies with leasing authority are not 

6 currently required to collect beneficial ownership in7 formation and therefore do not know if foreign own8 ers have a stake in the buildings leased by the agen9 cies, even when the leased space is used for classified 

10 operations or to store sensitive data; and 

11 (3) according to a report of the Government 

12 Accountability Office, dated January 2017, that ex13 amined the risks of foreign ownership of Govern14 ment-leased real estate, ‘‘leasing space in foreign15 owned buildings could present security risks such as 

16 espionage and unauthorized cyber and physical ac17 cess’’. 

18 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP BY FOR19 EIGN PERSONS OF HIGH-SECURITY SPACE 

20 LEASED FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before entering into a lease 

22 agreement with a covered entity for the accommodation 

23 of a Federal agency in a building (or other improvement) 

24 that will be used for high-security leased space, a Federal 

25 lessee shall require the covered entity to— 


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1 (1) identify each beneficial owner of the covered 

2 entity by— 

3 (A) name; 

4 (B) current residential or business street 

5 address; and 

6 (C) a unique identifying number from a 

7 nonexpired passport issued by the United 

8 States or a nonexpired drivers license issued by 

9 a State; 

10 (2) disclose to the Federal lessee any beneficial 

11 owner of the covered entity that is a foreign person; 

12 and 

13 (3) if the Federal lessee is assigning the build14 ing (or other improvement) to a Federal tenant, no15 tify the Federal tenant of any disclosure made under 

16 paragraph (2). 

17 (b) TIMING.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal lessee shall re19 quire a covered entity to provide the information de20 scribed in subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) when first 

21 submitting a proposal in response to a solicitation 

22 for offers issued by the Federal lessee. 

23 (2) UPDATES.—A Federal lessee shall require a 

24 covered entity to update a submission of the infor25 mation described in subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) 


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1 not later than 60 days after the date of any change 

2 in— 

3 (A) the list of beneficial owners of the cov4 ered entity; or 

5 (B) the information required to be pro6 vided relating to each such beneficial owner. 

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi8 nitions apply: 

9 (1) BENEFICIAL OWNER.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘beneficial 

11 owner’’ means, with respect to a covered entity, 

12 each natural person who, directly or indi13 rectly— 

14 (i) exercises control over the covered 

15 entity through ownership interests, voting 

16 rights, agreements, or otherwise; or 

17 (ii) has an interest in or receives sub18 stantial economic benefits from the assets 

19 of the covered entity. 

20 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘‘beneficial 

21 owner’’ does not include, with respect to a cov22 ered entity— 

23 (i) a minor child; 


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1 (ii) a person acting as a nominee, 

2 intermediary, custodian, or agent on behalf 

3 of another person; 

4 (iii) a person acting solely as an em5 ployee of the covered entity and whose con6 trol over or economic benefits from the 

7 covered entity derives solely from the em8 ployment status of the person; 

9 (iv) a person whose only interest in 

10 the covered entity is through a right of in11 heritance, unless the person also meets the 

12 requirements of subparagraph (A); or 

13 (v) a creditor of the covered entity, 

14 unless the creditor also meets the require15 ments of subparagraph (A). 

16 (C) ANTI-ABUSE RULE.—The exceptions 

17 under subparagraph (B) shall not apply if used 

18 for the purpose of evading, circumventing, or 

19 abusing the requirements of this section. 

20 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en21 tity’’ means a person, copartnership, corporation, or 

22 other public or private entity. 

23 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

24 agency’’ has the meaning given the term under sec25 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 (4) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

2 agency’’ means any Executive agency or any estab3 lishment in the legislative or judicial branch of the 

4 Government. 

5 (5) FEDERAL LESSEE.—The term ‘‘Federal les6 see’’ means the Administrator of General Services, 

7 the Architect of the Capitol, or the head of any Fed8 eral agency, other than the Department of Defense, 

9 that has independent statutory leasing authority. 

10 (6) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per11 son’’ means an individual who is not a United States 

12 person or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 

13 residence into the United States. 

14 (7) HIGH-SECURITY LEASED SPACE.—The term 

15 ‘‘high-security leased space’’ means a space leased 

16 by a Federal lessee that— 

17 (A) will be occupied by Federal employees 

18 for nonmilitary activities; and 

19 (B) has a facility security level of III, IV, 

20 or V, as determined by the Interagency Security 

21 Committee. 

22 (8) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

23 ‘‘United States person’’ means a natural person who 


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1 is a citizen of the United States or who owes perma2 nent allegiance to the United States. 

Æ 


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