Title: FIRM Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Foreign Influence Registration Modernization Act or the FIRM Act
This bill revises provisions related to the registration of foreign agents, and it transfers certain oversight duties regarding lobbying to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Current law exempts from foreign agent registration requirements any person engaging only in religious, scholastic, or scientific pursuits. The bill eliminates this exemption for agents of foreign principals that are known violators of human rights.
The bill also narrows the definition of foreign principal, waiving registration requirements for agents of foreign enterprises that are not under the control or direction of a foreign government or political party.
The bill further requires registration statements and supplements to be filed in a digitized format and stored in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable database.
In addition, the bill authorizes DOJ to enact a civil penalty of up to $200,000 for a violation of foreign agent registration requirements.
Lastly, the bill transfers administration of lobbyist registration, reporting, disclosure and enforcement, and penalties from Congress to DOJ.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5733 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5733

  To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to 
    waive the application of the Act to agents representing foreign 
  enterprises which are not under the control or direction of foreign 
    governments or foreign political parties, to exclude agents who 
   represent foreign governments which engage in a pattern of gross 
 violations of human rights from the exemption provided under the Act 
 for agents engaged in scholastic and certain other pursuits, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 30, 2020

 Mr. Moulton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to 
    waive the application of the Act to agents representing foreign 
  enterprises which are not under the control or direction of foreign 
    governments or foreign political parties, to exclude agents who 
   represent foreign governments which engage in a pattern of gross 
 violations of human rights from the exemption provided under the Act 
 for agents engaged in scholastic and certain other pursuits, 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 Registration 
Modernization Act'' or the ``FIRM Act''.

SEC. 2. WAIVING APPLICATION OF FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT TO 
              AGENTS REPRESENTING FOREIGN ENTERPRISES NOT UNDER CONTROL 
              OR DIRECTION OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND FOREIGN POLITICAL 
              PARTIES.

    Section 1(b)(3) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 611(b)(3)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``a partnership'' and inserting ``an 
        enterprise consisting of a partnership''; and
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting the 
        following: ``, but only if the enterprise is under the control 
        or direction of a government of a foreign country or a foreign 
        political party.'':

SEC. 3. EXCLUDING AGENTS REPRESENTING GOVERNMENTS WHICH VIOLATE HUMAN 
              RIGHTS FROM EXEMPTION FOR AGENTS ENGAGED IN RELIGIOUS, 
              SCHOLASTIC, ACADEMIC, OR SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS OR FINE 
              ARTS.

    Section 3(e) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 613(e)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the 
end and inserting the following: ``, except that this subsection does 
not apply in the case of an agent who represents a foreign principal 
that is prohibited from receiving assistance under part I of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by reason of the application of section 
116 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151n) or part II of such Act by reason of 
the application of section 502B of such Act (22 U.S.C. 2304).''.

SEC. 4. REQUIRING STATEMENTS TO BE FILED IN DIGITIZED FORMAT.

    (a) Requirement.--Section 2(g) of the Foreign Agents Registration 
Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 612(g)) is amended by striking the 
period at the end and inserting the following: ``, in a manner which 
enables the statements and supplements to be filed in a digitized 
format and which incorporates the statements and supplements in a 
database which is fully searchable, sortable and downloadable.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to statements and supplements filed after the 
expiration of the 1-year period which begins on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL MONEY PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.

    Section 8 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 618) is amended by inserting after subsection (c) 
the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Whoever knowingly violates any provision of this Act shall, 
upon proof of such knowing violation by a preponderance of the 
evidence, be subject to a civil money penalty of not more than 
$200,000, depending on the extent and severity of the violation.''.

SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR ADMINISTRATION OF LOBBYING 
              DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995 TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.

    (a) Requiring Lobbyists To Register With Attorney General.--
            (1) Registration.--Section 4(a)(1) of the Lobbying 
        Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)(1)) is amended by 
        striking ``the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
        House of Representatives'' and inserting ``the Attorney 
        General''.
            (2) Notice of termination of registration.--Section 4(d) of 
        such Act (2 U.S.C. 1603(d)) is amended by striking ``the 
        Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives'' and inserting ``the Attorney General''.
    (b) Requiring Lobbyists To File Reports With Attorney General.--
            (1) Quarterly reports by lobbyists.--Section 5(a) of such 
        Act (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) is amended by striking ``the Secretary 
        of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives'' 
        and inserting ``the Attorney General''.
            (2) Semiannual reports on certain contributions.--Section 
        5(d)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1604(d)(1)) is amended by 
        striking ``the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
        House of Representatives'' and inserting ``the Attorney 
        General''.
            (3) Electronic filing.--Section 5(e) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 
        1604(e)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``the Secretary of the Senate or 
                the Clerk of the House of Representatives'' and 
                inserting ``the Attorney General''; and
                    (B) by striking the second sentence.
    (c) Disclosure and Enforcement.--Section 6(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 
1605(a)) is amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking 
``The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of 
Representatives'' and inserting ``The Attorney General''.
    (d) Penalties.--Section 7(a)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1606(a)(1)) 
is amended by striking ``the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of 
the House of Representatives'' and inserting ``the Attorney General''.
    (e) Conforming Amendment Relating to Lack of General Audit or 
Investigative Authority of Secretary and Clerk.--Section 8 of such Act 
(2 U.S.C. 1607) is amended by striking subsection (c).
    (f) Permitting Use of Good Faith Estimates Based on Tax Return 
Information.--Section 15(c)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1610(c)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives'' and inserting ``the Attorney General''.
    (g) Effective Date; Transition.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply with respect to statements and reports filed after the 
        expiration of the 1-year period which begins on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (2) Transition.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Senate and the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives shall transfer to the 
        Attorney General information on the statements and reports 
        filed prior to the effective date described in paragraph (1) 
        with the Secretary and the Clerk under the Lobbying Disclosure 
        Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).
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