II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1592 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide a safe harbor for financial 

institutions that maintain a customer account or customer transaction 

at the request of a Federal or State law enforcement agency, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Mr. COTTON (for himself and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide a safe 

harbor for financial institutions that maintain a customer 

account or customer transaction at the request of a 

Federal or State law enforcement 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cooperate with Law 

5 Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act of 2019’’. 


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•S 1592 IS

1 SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR WITH RESPECT TO KEEP OPEN LET2 TERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

4 (1) AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31.—Subchapter II 

5 of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a customer ac9 count or customer transaction of a financial institution, 

10 if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agen11 cy requests, in writing, the financial institution to keep 

12 that account or transaction open— 

13 ‘‘(1) the financial institution shall not be liable 

14 under this subchapter for maintaining that account 

15 or transaction consistent with the parameters of the 

16 request; and 

17 ‘‘(2) no Federal or State department or agency 

18 may take any adverse supervisory action under this 

19 subchapter with respect to the financial institution 

20 for maintaining that account or transaction con21 sistent with the parameters of the request. 

22 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec23 tion may be construed— 

24 ‘‘(1) from preventing a Federal or State depart25 ment or agency from verifying the validity of a writ26 ten request described in subsection (a) with the FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1592.IS S1592

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•S 1592 IS

1 eral, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency 

2 making that written request; or 

3 ‘‘(2) to relieve a financial institution from com4 plying with any reporting requirements, including 

5 the reporting of suspicious transactions under sec6 tion 5318(g). 

7 ‘‘(c) LETTER TERMINATION DATE.—For the pur8 poses of this section, any written request described in sub9 section (a) shall include a termination date after which 

10 that request shall no longer apply.’’. 

11 (2) AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC LAW 91–508.— 

12 Chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 (12 

13 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

14 end the following: 

15 ‘‘§ 130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters 

16 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘finan17 cial institution’ has the meaning given the term in section 

18 123(b). 

19 ‘‘(b) SAFE HARBOR.—With respect to a customer ac20 count or customer transaction of a financial institution, 

21 if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agen22 cy requests, in writing, the financial institution to keep 

23 that account or transaction open— 

24 ‘‘(1) the financial institution shall not be liable 

25 under this chapter for maintaining that account or 


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•S 1592 IS

1 transaction consistent with the parameters of the re2 quest; and 

3 ‘‘(2) no Federal or State department or agency 

4 may take any adverse supervisory action under this 

5 chapter with respect to the financial institution for 

6 maintaining that account or transaction consistent 

7 with the parameters of the request. 

8 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec9 tion may be construed— 

10 ‘‘(1) from preventing a Federal or State depart11 ment or agency from verifying the validity of a writ12 ten request described in subsection (b) with the Fed13 eral, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency 

14 making that written request; or 

15 ‘‘(2) to relieve a financial institution from com16 plying with any reporting requirements, including 

17 the reporting of suspicious transactions under sec18 tion 5318(g) of title 31, United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(d) LETTER TERMINATION DATE.—For the pur20 poses of this section, any written request described in sub21 section (b) shall include a termination date after which 

22 that request shall no longer apply.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

24 (1) TITLE 31.—The table of contents for chap25 ter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 


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•S 1592 IS

1 by inserting after the item relating to section 5332 

2 the following: 

‘‘5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters.’’. 

3 (2) PUBLIC LAW 91–508.—The table of contents 

4 for chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 (12 

5 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

‘‘130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

8 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

9 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

10 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

11 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

12 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

13 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro14 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

15 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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