Title: Judgment Fund Transparency and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act of 2017
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Judgment Fund Transparency and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act of 2017
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to disclose details after payments are made from the Judgment Fund. (The Judgment Fund is a permanent and indefinite appropriation to pay judgments against the United States.)
Unless the disclosure is prohibited by law or a court order, Treasury must disclose to the public on a website:
If the payment is made to a foreign state, Treasury must also disclose:
No payments from the fund may be made to a state sponsor of terrorism.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 386 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 386

 To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for transparency of 
                 payments made from the Judgment Fund.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 15, 2017

  Mr. Lankford (for himself, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Inhofe) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for transparency of 
                 payments made from the Judgment Fund.

    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 ``Judgment Fund Transparency and 
Terrorism Financing Prevention Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. JUDGMENT FUND TRANSPARENCY.

    (a) Transparency Requirement.--Section 1304 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d)(1) Unless the disclosure of such information is otherwise 
prohibited by law or court order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
make available to the public on a website, as soon as practicable, but 
not later than 30 days after the date on which a payment under this 
section is tendered on or after January 1, 2016, the following 
information with regard to that payment:
            ``(A) The name of the specific agency or entity whose 
        actions gave rise to the claim or judgment.
            ``(B) The name of the plaintiff or claimant.
            ``(C) The name of counsel for the plaintiff or claimant.
            ``(D) The amount paid representing principal liability, and 
        any amounts paid representing any ancillary liability, 
        including attorney fees, costs, and interest.
            ``(E) A brief description of the facts that gave rise to 
        the claim.
            ``(F) The name of the agency that submitted the claim.
            ``(G) Any information available on reports generated by the 
        Judgment Fund Payment Search administered by the Treasury 
        Department.
    ``(2) In addition to the information described in paragraph (1), if 
a payment under this section is made to a foreign state on or after 
January 1, 2016, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make available to 
the public in accordance with paragraph (1), the following information 
with regard to that payment:
            ``(A) A description of the method of payment.
            ``(B) A description of the currency denominations used for 
        the payment.
            ``(C) The name and location of each financial institution 
        owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a foreign state 
        or an agent of a foreign state through which the payment passed 
        or from which the payment was withdrawn, including any 
        financial institution owned or controlled, directly or 
        indirectly, by a foreign state or an agent of a foreign state 
        that is holding the payment as of the date on which the 
        information is made available.
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `foreign state' has the meaning 
given the term in section 1603 of title 28.
    ``(e) Except with regard to children under 18, the disclosure of 
information required in this section shall not be considered a clearly 
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy for purposes of section 552 of 
title 5 (commonly known as the `Freedom of Information Act').
    ``(f) No payment may be made under this section to a state sponsor 
of terrorism, as defined in section 1605A(h) of title 28.''.
    (b) Implementation.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall carry out 
the amendment made by this section not later than 60 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>