Title: Foreign Agent Lobbying Transparency Enforcement Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Foreign Agent Lobbying Transparency Enforcement Act
This bill amends the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) to authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impose graduated civil fines for multiple offenses under FARA by an individual who is an agent of a foreign principal.
The bill makes it unlawful for any such person within the United States who is required to register under FARA to transmit or cause to be transmitted in the U.S. mail, or by any means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, informational materials for or in the interests of such foreign principal without filing with DOJ: (1) the name of each original recipient of the materials, and (2) the original date on which the materials will be distributed.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1679 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1679

   To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to increase 
 enforcement of certain violations and strengthen certain transparency 
                             requirements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2017

Ms. Duckworth (for herself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Durbin) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to increase 
 enforcement of certain violations and strengthen certain transparency 
                             requirements.

    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 Agent Lobbying Transparency 
Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES.

    Section 8 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 
618) is amended by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d) If the Attorney General determines that any person has 
engaged in any acts that constitute a violation of any provision of 
this Act, or regulations issued thereunder, or if any agent of a 
foreign principal fails to comply with any of the provisions of this 
Act or the regulations issued thereunder, or otherwise is in violation 
of this Act, the Attorney General may impose a civil fine of--
            ``(1) not less than $2,500 for the first offense;
            ``(2) not less than $5,000 for the second offense; and
            ``(3) any amount that the Attorney General determines is 
        appropriate based on the severity and frequency of the 
        offenses.''.

SEC. 3. FILING AND LABELING POLITICAL PROPAGANDA.

    Section 4 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 
614) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``or circulated among 
        two or more persons'' and inserting ``to any other person''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Additional Information Required With Filing.--It shall be 
unlawful for any person within the United States who is an agent of a 
foreign principal and required to register under the provisions of this 
Act to transmit or cause to be transmitted in the United States mails 
or by any means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 
any informational materials for or in the interests of such foreign 
principal without filing with the Attorney General a statement that 
includes--
            ``(1) the name of each original recipient of the materials; 
        and
            ``(2) the original date on which the materials will be 
        distributed.''.
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