Foreign Influence Transparency Act

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. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Foreign Influence Transparency Act 2. Limiting exemption from foreign agent registration requirement for persons engaging in activities in furtherance of certain pursuits to activities not promoting political agenda of foreign governments (a) Limitation on exemption Section 3(e) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 ( 22 U.S.C. 613(e) , but only if the activities do not promote the political agenda of a government of a foreign country; (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to activities carried out on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3. Disclosures of foreign gifts (a) In general Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011f (1) in subsection (a), by striking the value of which is $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with the value of which is $50,000 or more for such gift from or contract with (2) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by inserting before the period at the end the following: , and the content of each such contract (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before the period the following: , and the content of each such contract (3) in subsection (e), by inserting , including the contents of any contracts, reports (4) in subsection (h)(3), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: , or the fair market value of an in-kind gift (b) Effective date The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received or contracts entered into, or other activities carried out, on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

Summary: Foreign Influence Transparency Act This bill addresses foreign influence in higher education and in certain other academic, religious, and artistic pursuits. Current law exempts from foreign agent registration requirements a person engaging in activities in furtherance of religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or of the fine arts. The bill specifies that this exemption applies only to those activities that do not promote the political agenda of a foreign government. Under current law, an institution of higher education is required to disclose to the Department of Education a gift or contract that is from a foreign source and is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with a foreign source. The bill instead requires the institution to disclose such a gift or contract that is valued at $50,000 or more. An institution must include in its disclosure report the contents of any such contract and make the contents available for public disclosure.