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Union Calendar No. 256 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5485 

[Report No. 118–317] 

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 

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Additional sponsor: Mr. SHERMAN

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 14, 2023] 


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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. 


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•HR 5485 RH

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 (‘‘BSA’’), 

9 the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Fi10 nancial Crimes Enforcement Network (‘‘FinCEN’’), 

11 collects millions of reports annually on the economic 

12 activity of ordinary Americans. 

13 (2) Since 2001, FinCEN has applied the BSA to 

14 collect over 322,000,000 Currency Transaction Re15 ports and more than 36,000,000 Suspicious Activity 

16 Reports, as well as nearly 5,000,000 Form 8300 Re17 ports. In addition, FinCEN expects to amass bene18 ficial ownership information (‘‘BOI’’) from 

19 32,000,000 companies in its initial year of collection, 

20 plus 5,000,000 additional companies implicated each 

21 year thereafter. 

22 (3) The mass of reporting collected by FinCEN 

23 suggests that, while certain BSA reports might prove 

24 useful to combat illicit finance, the bulk of BSA-re25 lated data may possess little to no nexus to legitimate 


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1 law enforcement or intelligence purposes, even as it 

2 encompasses highly sensitive details on the everyday 

3 lives of Americans. 

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

5 ensure the security and confidentiality of BSA data. 

6 In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from December 

7 2022, FinCEN acknowledged that ‘‘BOI is highly sen8 sitive information. FinCEN therefore views it as crit9 ical to mitigate the risk of unauthorized disclosure of 

10 BOI as much as possible.’’. 

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

12 FOR AGENCY ACCESS TO REPORTS. 

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

14 States Code, is amended— 

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

16 5326 the following: 

17 ‘‘§ 5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for 

18 agency access to reports 

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

20 days following the date of the enactment of this section, and 

21 annually thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall sub22 mit to the Committee on Financial Services of the House 

23 of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Hous24 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report containing 

25 the following: 


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

2 year with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

3 (‘FinCEN’) under this subchapter since January 1, 

4 2022. 

5 ‘‘(2) The total number of reports filed under this 

6 subchapter retained by FinCEN. 

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

8 guidance from the Secretary to national security, law 

9 enforcement, or intelligence agencies regarding agency 

10 access to, and retention or dissemination of, informa11 tion held by FinCEN from reports filed under this 

12 subchapter, including— 

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

14 protocols or guidance during the reporting pe15 riod; 

16 ‘‘(B) the number of queries by such agencies 

17 to access the information during the reporting 

18 period; and 

19 ‘‘(C) any denials of requests for, or revoca20 tions of, access by a national security, law en21 forcement, or intelligence agency, or by any em22 ployee thereof, with a description of the reasons 

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

24 ‘‘(b) REVIEW AND REVISION OF PROTOCOLS.—In con25 sultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the 


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1 Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury shall annu2 ally review and, as appropriate, revise any written proto3 cols or guidance described under subsection (a) for the pur4 poses of— 

5 ‘‘(1) better tailoring the collection, retention, and 

6 dissemination of information filed under this sub7 chapter to authorized national security, law enforce8 ment, or intelligence objectives; 

9 ‘‘(2) enforcing prohibitions against unauthorized 

10 disclosure of such information; and 

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

12 States persons, including freedoms, civil liberties, and 

13 privacy rights guaranteed by Federal law. 

14 ‘‘(c) CONGRESSIONAL REQUESTS; NOTICE OF

15 CHANGES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION.—Upon re17 quest of the chair or ranking member of the Com18 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep19 resentatives or the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

20 and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Secretary shall 

21 provide a copy of any written protocols or guidance 

22 described in subsection (a)(3). 

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

24 days after revising any written protocols or guidance 

25 described in subsection (a)(3), the Secretary shall proVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5485.RH H5485

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1 vide a copy of such revised written protocols or guid2 ance to the Committee on Financial Services of the 

3 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

4 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.’’; 

5 and 

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

7 inserting after the item relating to section 5326 the 

8 following: 

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

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

10 year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 

11 Act— 

12 (1) section 5327 of title 31, United States Code, 

13 is repealed; and 

14 (2) the table of contents for chapter 53 of title 31, 

15 United States Code, is amended by striking the item 

16 relating to section 5327. 


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Union Calendar No. 256 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5485 

[Report No. 118–317] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide 

purposes. gard to Bank Secrecy Act reports, and for other for greater transparency and protections with reDECEMBER 13, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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