I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5485 
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 
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. 
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 ‘‘Financial Privacy Act 
of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act 
(‘‘BSA’’), the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 
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through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 
(‘‘FinCEN’’), collects millions of reports annually on 
the economic activity of ordinary Americans. 
(2) Since 2001, FinCEN has applied the BSA 
to collect over 322,000,000 Currency Transaction 
Reports and more than 36,000,000 Suspicious Ac-
tivity Reports, as well as nearly 5,000,000 Form 
8300 Reports. In addition, FinCEN expects to 
amass beneficial ownership information (‘‘BOI’’) 
from 32,000,000 companies in its initial year of col-
lection, plus 5,000,000 additional companies impli-
cated each year thereafter. 
(3) The mass of reporting collected by FinCEN 
suggests that, while certain BSA reports might 
prove useful to combat illicit finance, the bulk of 
BSA-related data may possess little to no nexus to 
legitimate law enforcement or intelligence purposes, 
even as it encompasses highly sensitive details on the 
everyday lives of Americans. 
(4) By law, the Secretary of the Treasury must 
ensure the security and confidentiality of BSA data. 
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from December 
2022, FinCEN acknowledged that ‘‘BOI is highly 
sensitive information. FinCEN therefore views it as 
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critical to mitigate the risk of unauthorized disclo-
sure of BOI as much as possible.’’. 
SEC. 3. REPORTS TO CONGRESS; REVIEW OF PROTOCOLS 
FOR AGENCY ACCESS TO REPORTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subchapter II, by inserting after section 
5326 the following: 
‘‘§ 5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for 
agency access to reports 
‘‘(a) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 
days following the date of the enactment of this section, 
and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall submit to the Committee on Financial Services of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a re-
port containing the following: 
‘‘(1) The number of reports, by type, filed each 
year with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Net-
work (‘FinCEN’) under this subchapter since Janu-
ary 1, 2022. 
‘‘(2) The total number of reports filed under 
this subchapter retained by FinCEN. 
‘‘(3) A description of any written protocols or 
guidance from the Secretary to national security, 
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law enforcement, or intelligence agencies regarding 
agency access to, and retention or dissemination of, 
information held by FinCEN from reports filed 
under this subchapter, including— 
‘‘(A) a description of any updates to the 
protocols or guidance during the reporting pe-
riod; 
‘‘(B) the number of queries by such agen-
cies to access the information during the report-
ing period; and 
‘‘(C) any denials of requests for, or revoca-
tions of, access by a national security, law en-
forcement, or intelligence agency, or by any em-
ployee thereof, with a description of the reasons 
for the denial or revocation, as the case may be. 
‘‘(b) REVIEW AND REVISION OF PROTOCOLS.—In 
consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and 
the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
annually review and, as appropriate, revise any written 
protocols or guidance described under subsection (a) for 
the purposes of— 
‘‘(1) better tailoring the collection, retention, 
and dissemination of information filed under this 
subchapter to authorized national security, law en-
forcement, or intelligence objectives; 
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‘‘(2) enforcing prohibitions against unauthor-
ized disclosure of such information; and 
‘‘(3) protecting fully the legal rights of all 
United States persons, including freedoms, civil lib-
erties, and privacy rights guaranteed by Federal law. 
‘‘(c) 
CONGRESSIONAL
REQUESTS; 
NOTICE
OF 
CHANGES.— 
‘‘(1) REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION.—Upon re-
quest of the chair or ranking member of the Com-
mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-
resentatives or the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Secretary shall 
provide a copy of any written protocols or guidance 
described in subsection (a)(3). 
‘‘(2) NOTICE OF CHANGES.—Not later than 30 
days after revising any written protocols or guidance 
described in subsection (a)(3), the Secretary shall 
provide a copy of such revised written protocols or 
guidance to the Committee on Financial Services of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Sen-
ate.’’; and 
(2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by 
inserting after the item relating to section 5326 the 
following: 
‘‘5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for agency access to reports’’. 
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(b) SUNSET.—On the date that is the end of the 7- 
year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 
Act— 
(1) section 5327 of title 31, United States 
Code, is repealed; and 
(2) the table of contents for chapter 53 of title 
31, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to section 5327. 
Æ 
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