Foreign Influence Transparency Act
Bill: H.R.1535 | Sponsor: Rep. Wilson, Joe (R-SC)
Policy area: International Affairs

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 (IHE) must disclose to the Department of Education (ED) 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 the foreign source. The bill instead requires an IHE to disclose such a gift or contract that is valued at $50,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts or contracts. An IHE must include in its disclosure report the contents of any such contract and make the contents available for public disclosure.
Additionally, an IHE that enters into an agreement with a Confucius Institute (i.e., a cultural institute directly or indirectly funded by the Chinese government) must immediately make available the full text of the agreement to the public, ED, and Congress.
Finally, the bill prohibits an IHE that does not comply with these disclosure requirements from enrolling foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 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)) 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.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND AGREEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 117 of the Higher Education 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 content 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), respectively;
            (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Confucius Institute Agreements.--
            ``(1) Defined term.--In this subsection, the term 
        `Confucius Institute' means a cultural institute directly or 
        indirectly funded by the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China.
            ``(2) Disclosure requirement.--Any institution that has 
        entered into an agreement with a Confucius Institute shall 
        immediately make the full text of such agreement available--
                    ``(A) on the publicly accessible website of the 
                institution;
                    ``(B) to the Department of Education;
                    ``(C) to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                and Pensions of the Senate; and
                    ``(D) to the Committee on Education and Labor of 
                the House of Representatives.''; and
            (7) in subsection (i), as redesignated--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by amending subparagraph (A) 
                to read as follows:
                    ``(A) a foreign government, including--
                            ``(i) any agency of a foreign government, 
                        and any other unit of foreign governmental 
                        authority, including any foreign national, 
                        State, local, and municipal government;
                            ``(ii) any international or multinational 
                        organization whose membership is composed of 
                        any unit of foreign government 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.
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