Foreign Agents Transparency Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3229 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3229

  To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended to 
   clarify that the obligation of individuals who formerly served as 
 agents of foreign principals to register as foreign agents under the 
Act is continuing with respect to activities carried out previously on 
       behalf of such foreign principals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2025

Mr. Cline (for himself, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Johnson 
    of South Dakota, Mr. Wittman, and Mr. Davis of North Carolina) 
 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 
   clarify that the obligation of individuals who formerly served as 
 agents of foreign principals to register as foreign agents under the 
Act is continuing with respect to activities carried out previously on 
       behalf of such foreign principals, 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 Agents Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFYING THE CONTINUING OBLIGATION TO REGISTER AS AN AGENT OF 
              A FOREIGN PRINCIPAL.

    (a) Obligation.--The third sentence of section 2(a) of the Foreign 
Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 612(a)) is 
amended by striking ``for the period'' and inserting ``covering the 
period''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to any individual who serves as the agent of a 
foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.)--
            (1) during the 5-year period ending on the date of 
        enactment of this Act;
            (2) on the date of enactment of this Act; or
            (3) after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. PERMITTING ORDER REQUIRING COMPLIANCE TO APPLY AFTER FARA 
              ACTIVITIES HAVE ENDED.

    (a) Continual Compliance.--Section 8(f) of the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 618(f)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting after the first sentence the following: 
        ``The Attorney General may make application for an order 
        requiring a person to comply with any appropriate provision of 
        this Act or any regulation thereunder while the person acts as 
        an agent of a foreign principal or at any time thereafter.''; 
        and
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting the 
        following: ``, including an order requiring a person to comply 
        with section 2 with respect to any period during which the 
        person acts as the agent of a foreign principal notwithstanding 
        that the person does not act as the agent of a foreign 
        principal at the time the court issues the order.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to any individual who serves as the agent of a 
foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.)--
            (1) during the 5-year period ending on the date of 
        enactment of this Act;
            (2) on the date of enactment of this Act; or
            (3) after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORTS RELATING TO COMPLIANCE.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``covered action'' means an action taken by 
        the Attorney General against a covered individual to enforce 
        the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 
        U.S.C. 611 et seq.), as amended by sections 2 and 3 of this 
        Act; and
            (2) the term ``covered individual'' means an individual who 
        served as the agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign 
        Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et 
        seq.) during the 5-year period ending on the date of enactment 
        of this Act.
    (b) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and each year from that date thereafter, the Attorney 
General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives, as well as any other Member 
of Congress upon request of such Member, a written, machine-readable 
report that describes each covered action taken by the Attorney 
General.
    (c) Organization.--Each report submitted under subsection (b) shall 
be organized by each covered action taken and shall include, with 
respect to each covered action--
            (1) the name of each covered individual against whom the 
        covered action was taken;
            (2) a description of the rationale behind taking the 
        covered action; and
            (3) the status of the covered action.
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