I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1819 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to limit the exemption 

from the registration requirements of such Act for persons engaging 

in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, 

or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do not promote 

the political agenda of a foreign government, to amend the Higher 

Education Act of 1965 to clarify the disclosures of foreign gifts by 

institutions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. CARTER of 

Texas, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce, 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 amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 

to limit the exemption from the registration requirements 

of such Act for persons engaging in activities in furtherance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do 

not promote the political agenda of a foreign government, 

to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify 

the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, and for 

other purposes. 


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•HR 1819 IH

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 ‘‘Foreign Influence 

5 Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG7 ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN8 GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF 

9 CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO10 MOTING POLITICAL AGENDA OF FOREIGN 

11 GOVERNMENTS. 

12 (a) LIMITATION ON EXEMPTION.—Section 3(e) of the 

13 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

14 613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end 

15 and inserting the following: ‘‘, but only if the activities 

16 do not promote the political agenda of a government of 

17 a foreign country;’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

19 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried 

20 out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREE22 MENTS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu24 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 


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•HR 1819 IH

1 (1) in the section heading, by adding ‘‘AND

2 AGREEMENTS’’ at the end; 

3 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘$50,000’’; 

5 (3) in subsection (b)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 

7 by inserting before the period at the end the 

8 following: ‘‘, including the content of each such 

9 contract’’; and 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 

11 the period the following: ‘‘, including the con12 tent of each such contract’’; 

13 (4) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including 

14 the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’; 

15 (5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), 

16 and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respec17 tively; 

18 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(e) CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AGREEMENTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) DEFINED TERM.—In this subsection, the 

22 term ‘Confucius Institute’ means a cultural institute 

23 directly or indirectly funded by the Government of 

24 the People’s Republic of China. 


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•HR 1819 IH

1 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—Any institu2 tion that has entered into an agreement with a Con3 fucius Institute shall immediately make the full text 

4 of such agreement available— 

5 ‘‘(A) on the publicly accessible website of 

6 the institution; 

7 ‘‘(B) to the Department of Education; 

8 ‘‘(C) to the Committee on Health, Edu9 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 

10 ‘‘(D) to the Committee on Education and 

11 Labor of the House of Representatives.’’; and 

12 (7) in subsection (i), as redesignated— 

13 (A) in paragraph (2), by amending sub14 paragraph (A) to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(A) a foreign government, including— 

16 ‘‘(i) any agency of a foreign govern17 ment, and any other unit of foreign gov18 ernmental authority, including any foreign 

19 national, State, local, and municipal gov20 ernment; 

21 ‘‘(ii) any international or multi22 national organization whose membership is 

23 composed of any unit of foreign govern24 ment described in clause (i); and 


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•HR 1819 IH

1 ‘‘(iii) any agent or representative of 

2 any such unit or such organization, while 

3 acting as such;’’; and 

4 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before 

5 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the 

6 fair market value of an in-kind gift’’. 

7 (b) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE WITH DISCLOSURE

8 REQUIREMENT.—Any institution of higher education (as 

9 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 

10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that is not in compliance with 

11 the disclosure requirements set forth in section 117 of 

12 such Act (20 U.S.C. 1011f) shall be ineligible to enroll 

13 foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor 

14 Program. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received 

17 or contracts or agreements entered into, or other activities 

18 carried out, on or after the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act. 

Æ 


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