I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1535 
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 3, 2021 
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. 
GIBBS, Mr. GOODEN of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. TURNER, 
Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. POSEY, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. 
DESJARLAIS, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. GUEST, Mr. RICE of 
South Carolina, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. MAST, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, 
Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. CARTER of Texas, Mr. 
WEBER of Texas, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. ISSA, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. DUNN, 
Mr. BROOKS, and Mr. FITZGERALD) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined 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 further-
ance of bona fide religious, scholastic, academic, or sci-
entific pursuits or the fine arts to activities which do 
not promote the political agenda of a foreign government, 
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to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
the disclosures of foreign gifts by institutions, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Influence 
Transparency Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LIMITING EXEMPTION FROM FOREIGN AGENT REG-
ISTRATION REQUIREMENT FOR PERSONS EN-
GAGING IN ACTIVITIES IN FURTHERANCE OF 
CERTAIN PURSUITS TO ACTIVITIES NOT PRO-
MOTING 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)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end 
and inserting the following: ‘‘, 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. 
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SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREE-
MENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011f) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by adding ‘‘AND 
AGREEMENTS’’ at the end; 
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$50,000’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 
by inserting before the period at the end the 
following: ‘‘, including the content of each such 
contract’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 
the period the following: ‘‘, including the con-
tent of each such contract’’; 
(4) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, including 
the contents of any contracts,’’ after ‘‘reports’’; 
(5) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), 
and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respec-
tively; 
(6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(e) CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AGREEMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINED TERM.—In this subsection, the 
term ‘Confucius Institute’ means a cultural institute 
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composed of any unit of foreign govern-
ment described in clause (i); and 
‘‘(iii) any agent or representative of 
any such unit or such organization, while 
acting as such;’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before 
the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, or the 
fair market value of an in-kind gift’’. 
(b) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE WITH DISCLOSURE 
REQUIREMENT.—Any institution of higher education (as 
defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that is not in compliance with 
the disclosure requirements set forth in section 117 of 
such Act (20 U.S.C. 1011f) shall be ineligible to enroll 
foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor 
Program. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to gifts received 
or contracts or agreements entered into, or other activities 
carried out, on or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
Æ 
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