Title: Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act
This bill amends the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) to provide that whenever the Department of Justice (DOJ) has reason to believe that a person or enterprise may be in possession or control of documentary material relevant to an investigation under FARA, the DOJ, before initiating a civil or criminal proceeding with respect to the production of such material, may serve a written demand upon the entity to produce the material for examination.
The bill includes social media communications under information that foreign agents must file with DOJ. Under certain circumstances, social media communications are exempted from the requirement for foreign agents to include a disclosure statement in informational materials. Informational materials disseminated by a foreign agent as part of an activity that would not require registration, need not be filed.
The FARA Registration Unit shall submit a semiannual report to Congress regarding the administration of FARA, including the number of investigations initiated based upon a perceived violation and the number of such investigations that were referred to DOJ for prosecution.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 625 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 625

   To preserve the integrity of American elections by providing the 
Attorney General with the investigative tools to identify and prosecute 
foreign agents who seek to circumvent Federal registration requirements 
            and unlawfully influence the political process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2017

Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Young) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To preserve the integrity of American elections by providing the 
Attorney General with the investigative tools to identify and prosecute 
foreign agents who seek to circumvent Federal registration requirements 
            and unlawfully influence the political process.

    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 Agents Registration 
Modernization and Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. CIVIL INVESTIGATIVE DEMAND AUTHORITY.

    The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating sections 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 
        as sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after section 7 (22 U.S.C. 617) the 
        following:

                 ``civil investigative demand authority

    ``Sec. 8. (a) Whenever the Attorney General has reason to believe 
that any person or enterprise may be in possession, custody, or control 
of any documentary material relevant to an investigation under this 
Act, the Attorney General, before initiating a civil or criminal 
proceeding with respect to the production of such material, may serve a 
written demand upon such person to produce such material for 
examination.
    ``(b) Each such demand under this section shall--
            ``(1) state the nature of the conduct constituting the 
        alleged violation which is under investigation and the 
        provision of law applicable to such violation;
            ``(2) describe the class or classes of documentary material 
        required to be produced under such demand with such 
        definiteness and certainty as to permit such material to be 
        fairly identified;
            ``(3) state that the demand is immediately returnable or 
        prescribe a return date which will provide a reasonable period 
        within which the material may be assembled and made available 
        for inspection and copying or reproduction; and
            ``(4) identify the custodian to whom such material shall be 
        made available.
    ``(c) A demand under this section may not--
            ``(1) contain any requirement that would be considered 
        unreasonable if contained in a subpoena duces tecum issued by a 
        court of the United States in aid of grand jury investigation 
        of such alleged violation; or
            ``(2) require the production of any documentary evidence 
        that would be privileged from disclosure if demanded by a 
        subpoena duces tecum issued by a court of the United States in 
        aid of a grand jury investigation of such alleged violation.''.

SEC. 3. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 1 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act 
of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (1), by striking ``Expect'' and inserting 
        ``Except''; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:
    ``(j) The term `informational materials' means any oral, visual, 
graphic, written, or pictorial information or matter of any kind, 
including matter published by means of advertising, books, periodicals, 
newspapers, lectures, broadcasts, motion pictures, or any means or 
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or otherwise.''.
    (b) Informational Materials.--Section 4 of the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 614) is amended--
            (1) in section (a)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, including electronic mail and 
                social media,'' after ``United States mails''; and
                    (B) by striking ``, not later than forty-eight 
                hours after the beginning of the transmittal thereof, 
                file with the Attorney General two copies thereof'' and 
                inserting ``file such materials with the Attorney 
                General in conjunction with, and at the same intervals 
                as, disclosures required under section 2(b).''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``It shall'' and inserting ``(1) 
                Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall''; and
                    (B) by inserting at the end the following:
    ``(2) Foreign agents described in paragraph (1) may omit disclosure 
required under that paragraph in individual messages, posts, or 
transmissions on social media on behalf of a foreign principal if the 
social media account or profile from which the information is sent 
includes a conspicuous statement that--
            ``(A) the account is operated by, and distributes 
        information on behalf of, the foreign agent; and
            ``(B) additional information about the account is on file 
        with the Department of Justice in Washington, District of 
        Columbia.
    ``(3) Informational materials disseminated by an agent of a foreign 
principal as part of an activity that is exempt from registration, or 
an activity which by itself would not require registration, need not be 
filed under this subsection.''.

SEC. 4. FEES.

    (a) Repeal.--The Department of Justice and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1993 (title I of Public Law 102-395) is amended, 
under the heading ``salaries and expenses, general legal activities'', 
by striking ``In addition, notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, for fiscal 
year 1993 and thereafter, the Attorney General shall establish and 
collect fees to recover necessary expenses of the Registration Unit (to 
include salaries, supplies, equipment and training) pursuant to the 
Foreign Agents Registration Act, and shall credit such fees to this 
appropriation, to remain available until expended.''.
    (b) Registration Fee.--The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 
as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.), as amended by this Act, is further 
amended by adding at the end the following:

                                 ``fees

    ``Sec. 16. The Attorney General shall establish and collect a 
registration fee, as part of the initial filing requirement and at no 
other time, to help defray the expenses of the Registration Unit, and 
shall credit such fees to this appropriation, to remain available until 
expended.''.

SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    Section 12 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended, as redesignated by section 3, is amended to read as follows:

                         ``reports to congress

    ``Sec. 12. The Assistant Attorney General for National Security, 
through the FARA Registration Unit of the Counterintelligence and 
Export Control Section, shall submit a semiannual report to Congress 
regarding the administration of this Act, including, for the reporting 
period, the identification of--
            ``(1) registrations filed pursuant to this Act;
            ``(2) the nature, sources, and content of political 
        propaganda disseminated and distributed by agents of foreign 
        principal;
            ``(3) the number of investigations initiated based upon a 
        perceived violation of section 7; and
            ``(4) the number of such investigations that were referred 
        to the Attorney General for prosecution.''.
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