1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Foreign Influence Transparency Act”.
Foreign Influence Transparency Act
A BILL
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.
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
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;”.
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.
3. Disclosures of foreign gifts and agreements
in the section heading, by adding “and agreements” at the end;
in subsection (a), by striking “$250,000” and inserting “$50,000”;
in subsection (b)—
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
in paragraph (2), by inserting before the period the following: “, including the content of each such contract”;
in subsection (e), by inserting “, including the contents of any contracts,” after “reports”;
by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), respectively;
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.”
in subsection (i), as redesignated—
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;”
in paragraph (3), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “, or the fair market value of an in-kind gift”.
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.
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.