I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5485 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for greater transparency 

and protections with regard to Bank Secrecy Act reports, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 

Mr. HILL (for himself and Mr. HIMES) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for 

greater transparency and protections with regard to 

Bank Secrecy Act reports, 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 ‘‘Financial Privacy Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act 

9 (‘‘BSA’’), the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 


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1 through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

2 (‘‘FinCEN’’), collects millions of reports annually on 

3 the economic activity of ordinary Americans. 

4 (2) Since 2001, FinCEN has applied the BSA 

5 to collect over 322,000,000 Currency Transaction 

6 Reports and more than 36,000,000 Suspicious Ac7 tivity Reports, as well as nearly 5,000,000 Form 

8 8300 Reports. In addition, FinCEN expects to 

9 amass beneficial ownership information (‘‘BOI’’) 

10 from 32,000,000 companies in its initial year of col11 lection, plus 5,000,000 additional companies impli12 cated each year thereafter. 

13 (3) The mass of reporting collected by FinCEN 

14 suggests that, while certain BSA reports might 

15 prove useful to combat illicit finance, the bulk of 

16 BSA-related data may possess little to no nexus to 

17 legitimate law enforcement or intelligence purposes, 

18 even as it encompasses highly sensitive details on the 

19 everyday lives of Americans. 

20 (4) By law, the Secretary of the Treasury must 

21 ensure the security and confidentiality of BSA data. 

22 In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from December 

23 2022, FinCEN acknowledged that ‘‘BOI is highly 

24 sensitive information. FinCEN therefore views it as 


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1 critical to mitigate the risk of unauthorized disclo2 sure of BOI as much as possible.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. REPORTS TO CONGRESS; REVIEW OF PROTOCOLS 

4 FOR AGENCY ACCESS TO REPORTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of title 31, United 

6 States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) in subchapter II, by inserting after section 

8 5326 the following: 

9 ‘‘§ 5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for 

10 agency access to reports 

11 ‘‘(a) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 

12 days following the date of the enactment of this section, 

13 and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury 

14 shall submit to the Committee on Financial Services of 

15 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

16 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a re17 port containing the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) The number of reports, by type, filed each 

19 year with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Net20 work (‘FinCEN’) under this subchapter since Janu21 ary 1, 2022. 

22 ‘‘(2) The total number of reports filed under 

23 this subchapter retained by FinCEN. 

24 ‘‘(3) A description of any written protocols or 

25 guidance from the Secretary to national security, 


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1 law enforcement, or intelligence agencies regarding 

2 agency access to, and retention or dissemination of, 

3 information held by FinCEN from reports filed 

4 under this subchapter, including— 

5 ‘‘(A) a description of any updates to the 

6 protocols or guidance during the reporting pe7 riod; 

8 ‘‘(B) the number of queries by such agen9 cies to access the information during the report10 ing period; and 

11 ‘‘(C) any denials of requests for, or revoca12 tions of, access by a national security, law en13 forcement, or intelligence agency, or by any em14 ployee thereof, with a description of the reasons 

15 for the denial or revocation, as the case may be. 

16 ‘‘(b) REVIEW AND REVISION OF PROTOCOLS.—In 

17 consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and 

18 the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

19 annually review and, as appropriate, revise any written 

20 protocols or guidance described under subsection (a) for 

21 the purposes of— 

22 ‘‘(1) better tailoring the collection, retention, 

23 and dissemination of information filed under this 

24 subchapter to authorized national security, law en25 forcement, or intelligence objectives; 


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1 ‘‘(2) enforcing prohibitions against unauthor2 ized disclosure of such information; and 

3 ‘‘(3) protecting fully the legal rights of all 

4 United States persons, including freedoms, civil lib5 erties, and privacy rights guaranteed by Federal law. 

6 ‘‘(c) CONGRESSIONAL REQUESTS; NOTICE OF

7 CHANGES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION.—Upon re9 quest of the chair or ranking member of the Com10 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep11 resentatives or the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

12 and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Secretary shall 

13 provide a copy of any written protocols or guidance 

14 described in subsection (a)(3). 

15 ‘‘(2) NOTICE OF CHANGES.—Not later than 30 

16 days after revising any written protocols or guidance 

17 described in subsection (a)(3), the Secretary shall 

18 provide a copy of such revised written protocols or 

19 guidance to the Committee on Financial Services of 

20 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

21 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Sen22 ate.’’; and 

23 (2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by 

24 inserting after the item relating to section 5326 the 

25 following: 

‘‘5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for agency access to reports’’. 


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1 (b) SUNSET.—On the date that is the end of the 7- 

2 year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 

3 Act— 

4 (1) section 5327 of title 31, United States 

5 Code, is repealed; and 

6 (2) the table of contents for chapter 53 of title 

7 31, United States Code, is amended by striking the 

8 item relating to section 5327. 

Æ 


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