IC 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1309 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 23, 2019 

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

AN ACT 

To identify and combat corruption in countries, to establish 

a tiered system of countries with respect to levels of 

corruption by their governments and their efforts to combat such corruption, and to assess United States assistance to designated countries in order to advance anticorruption efforts in those countries and better serve 

United States taxpayers. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

S 1309 RFH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) it is in the foreign policy interest of the 

6 United States to help foreign countries promote 

7 good governance and combat public corruption; 

8 (2) multiple Federal departments and agencies 

9 operate programs that promote good governance in 

10 foreign countries and enhance such countries’ ability 

11 to combat public corruption; and 

12 (3) the Department of State should— 

13 (A) promote coordination among the Fed14 eral departments and agencies implementing 

15 programs to promote good governance and com16 bat public corruption in foreign countries in 

17 order to improve effectiveness and efficiency; 

18 and 

19 (B) identify areas in which United States 

20 efforts to help other countries promote good 

21 governance and combat public corruption could 

22 be enhanced. 

23 SEC. 2. ANNUAL ASSESSMENT. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each of the fiscal years 2020 

25 through 2026, the Secretary of State shall assess the caVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:17 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1309.RFH S1309

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

S 1309 RFH

1 pacity and commitment of foreign governments to which 

2 the United States provides foreign assistance under the 

3 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) 

4 or the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) 

5 to combat public corruption. Each such assessment 

6 shall— 

7 (1) utilize independent, third party indicators 

8 that measure transparency, accountability, and cor9 ruption in the public sector in such countries, includ10 ing the extent to which public power is exercised for 

11 private gain, to identify those countries that are 

12 most vulnerable to public corruption; 

13 (2) consider, to the extent reliable information 

14 is available, whether the government of a country 

15 identified under paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) has adopted measures to prevent pub17 lic corruption, such as measures to inform and 

18 educate the public, including potential victims, 

19 about the causes and consequences of public 

20 corruption; 

21 (B) has enacted laws and established gov22 ernment structures, policies, and practices that 

23 prohibit public corruption; 

24 (C) enforces such laws through a fair judi25 cial process; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

S 1309 RFH

1 (D) vigorously investigates, prosecutes, 

2 convicts, and sentences public officials who par3 ticipate in or facilitate public corruption, includ4 ing nationals of such country who are deployed 

5 in foreign military assignments, trade delega6 tions abroad, or other similar missions who en7 gage in or facilitate public corruption; 

8 (E) prescribes appropriate punishment for 

9 serious, significant corruption that is commen10 surate with the punishment prescribed for seri11 ous crimes; 

12 (F) prescribes appropriate punishment for 

13 significant corruption that provides a suffi14 ciently stringent deterrent and adequately re15 flects the nature of the offense; 

16 (G) convicts and sentences persons respon17 sible for such acts that take place wholly or 

18 partly within the country of such government, 

19 including, as appropriate, requiring the incar20 ceration of individuals convicted of such acts; 

21 (H) holds private sector representatives ac22 countable for their role in public corruption; 

23 and 

24 (I) addresses threats for civil society to 

25 monitor anti-corruption efforts; and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

S 1309 RFH

1 (3) further consider— 

2 (A) verifiable measures taken by the gov3 ernment of a country identified under para4 graph (1) to prohibit government officials from 

5 participating in, facilitating, or condoning pub6 lic corruption, including the investigation, pros7 ecution, and conviction of such officials; 

8 (B) the extent to which such government 

9 provides access, or, as appropriate, makes ade10 quate resources available, to civil society organi11 zations and other institutions to combat public 

12 corruption, including reporting, investigating, 

13 and monitoring; 

14 (C) the extent to which an independent ju15 diciary or judicial body in such country is re16 sponsible for, and effectively capable of, decid17 ing public corruption cases impartially, on the 

18 basis of facts and in accordance with law, with19 out any improper restrictions, influences, in20 ducements, pressures, threats, or interferences, 

21 whether direct or indirect, from any source or 

22 for any reason; 

23 (D) the extent to which such government 

24 cooperates meaningfully with the United States 

25 to strengthen government and judicial instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:17 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1309.RFH S1309

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

S 1309 RFH

1 tions and the rule of law to prevent, prohibit, 

2 and punish public corruption; 

3 (E) the extent to which such government— 

4 (i) is assisting in international inves5 tigations of transnational public corruption 

6 networks and in other cooperative efforts 

7 to combat serious, significant corruption, 

8 including cooperating with the govern9 ments of other countries to extradite cor10 rupt actors; 

11 (ii) recognizes the rights of victims of 

12 public corruption, ensures their access to 

13 justice, and takes steps to prevent such 

14 victims from being further victimized or 

15 persecuted by corrupt actors, government 

16 officials, or others; and 

17 (iii) refrains from prosecuting legiti18 mate victims of public corruption or whis19 tleblowers due to such persons having as20 sisted in exposing public corruption, and 

21 refrains from other discriminatory treat22 ment of such persons; and 

23 (F) contain such other information relating 

24 to public corruption as the Secretary of State 

25 considers appropriate. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

S 1309 RFH

1 (b) IDENTIFICATION.—After conducting each assess2 ment under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall 

3 identify, of the countries described in subsection (a)(1)— 

4 (1) which countries are meeting minimum 

5 standards to combat public corruption; 

6 (2) which countries are not meeting such min7 imum standards, but are making significant efforts 

8 to do so; and 

9 (3) which countries are not meeting such min10 imum standards and are not making significant ef11 forts to do so. 

12 (c) REPORT.—Except as provided in subsection (d), 

13 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

14 of this Act, and annually thereafter through fiscal year 

15 2026, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the 

16 appropriate congressional committees, and make such re17 port publicly available. Such report shall— 

18 (1) identify the countries described in sub19 section (a)(1) and paragraphs (2) and (3) of sub20 section (b); 

21 (2) describe the methodology and data utilized 

22 in the assessments under subsection (a); and 

23 (3) identify the reasons for the identifications 

24 referred to in paragraph (1). 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

S 1309 RFH

1 (d) BRIEFING IN LIEU OF REPORT.—The Secretary 

2 of State may waive the requirement to submit and make 

3 publicly available a written report under subsection (c) if 

4 the Secretary— 

5 (1) determines that publication of such report 

6 would— 

7 (A) undermine existing United States anti8 corruption efforts in 1 or more countries; or 

9 (B) threaten the national interests of the 

10 United States; and 

11 (2) provides a briefing to the appropriate con12 gressional committees that— 

13 (A) identifies the countries described in 

14 subsection (a)(1) and paragraphs (2) and (3) of 

15 subsection (b); 

16 (B) describes the methodology and data 

17 utilized in the assessment under subsection (a); 

18 and 

19 (C) identifies the reasons for such identi20 fications. 

21 (e) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE DE22 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres23 sional committees’’ means— 

24 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

25 Senate; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

S 1309 RFH

1 (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

2 Senate; 

3 (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

4 House of Representatives; and 

5 (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

8 For each country identified under paragraphs (2) and 

9 (3) of section 2(b), the Secretary of State, in coordination 

10 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

11 International Development, as appropriate, shall— 

12 (1) ensure that a corruption risk assessment 

13 and mitigation strategy is included in the integrated 

14 country strategy for such country; and 

15 (2) utilize appropriate mechanisms to combat 

16 corruption in such countries, including by ensur17 ing— 

18 (A) the inclusion of anti-corruption clauses 

19 in contracts, grants, and cooperative agree20 ments entered into by the Department of State 

21 or the United States Agency for International 

22 Development for or in such countries, which 

23 allow for the termination of such contracts, 

24 grants, or cooperative agreements, as the case 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

S 1309 RFH

1 may be, without penalty if credible indicators of 

2 public corruption are discovered; 

3 (B) the inclusion of appropriate clawback 

4 or flowdown clauses within the procurement in5 struments of the Department of State and the 

6 United States Agency for International Devel7 opment that provide for the recovery of funds 

8 misappropriated through corruption; 

9 (C) the appropriate disclosure to the 

10 United States Government, in confidential 

11 form, if necessary, of the beneficial ownership 

12 of contractors, subcontractors, grantees, cooper13 ative agreement participants, and other organi14 zations implementing programs on behalf of the 

15 Department of State or the United States 

16 Agency for International Development; and 

17 (D) the establishment of mechanisms for 

18 investigating allegations of misappropriated re19 sources and equipment. 

20 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF EMBASSY ANTI-CORRUPTION 

21 POINTS OF CONTACT. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall an23 nually designate an anti-corruption point of contact at the 

24 United States diplomatic post to each country identified 

25 under paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 2(b), or which 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
11 

S 1309 RFH

1 the Secretary otherwise determines is in need of such a 

2 point of contact. The point of contact shall be the chief 

3 of mission or the chief of mission’s designee. 

4 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each anti-corruption point 

5 of contact designated under subsection (a) shall be respon6 sible for coordinating and overseeing the implementation 

7 of a whole-of-government approach among the relevant 

8 Federal departments and agencies operating programs 

9 that— 

10 (1) promote good governance in foreign coun11 tries; and 

12 (2) enhance the ability of such countries— 

13 (A) to combat public corruption; and 

14 (B) to develop and implement corruption 

15 risk assessment tools and mitigation strategies. 

16 (c) TRAINING.—The Secretary of State shall imple17 ment appropriate training for anti-corruption points of 

18 contact designated under subsection (a). 

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) CORRUPT ACTOR.—The term ‘‘corrupt 

22 actor’’ means— 

23 (A) any foreign person or entity that is a 

24 government official or government entity reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:17 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1309.RFH S1309

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
12 

S 1309 RFH

1 sponsible for, or complicit in, an act of public 

2 corruption; and 

3 (B) any company, in which a person or en4 tity described in subparagraph (A) has a sig5 nificant stake, which is responsible for, or 

6 complicit in, an act of public corruption. 

7 (2) FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘foreign 

8 assistance’’ means assistance made available 

9 under— 

10 (A) the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

11 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.); or 

12 (B) the Arms Export Control Act (22 

13 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.). 

14 (3) GRAND CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘grand 

15 corruption’’ means public corruption committed at a 

16 high level of government that— 

17 (A) distorts policies or the central func18 tioning of the country; and 

19 (B) enables leaders to benefit at the ex20 pense of the public good. 

21 (4) PETTY CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘petty cor22 ruption’’ means the unlawful exercise of entrusted 

23 public power for private gain by low- or mid-level 

24 public officials in their interactions with ordinary 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
13 

S 1309 RFH

1 citizens, including by bribery, nepotism, fraud, or 

2 embezzlement. 

3 (5) PUBLIC CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘public 

4 corruption’’ means the unlawful exercise of entrusted 

5 public power for private gain, including by bribery, 

6 nepotism, fraud, or embezzlement. 

Passed the Senate December 19, 2019. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS