[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4138 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4138

     To encourage the identification and return of stolen artwork.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 1998

Mr. Schumer (for himself and Mrs. Lowey) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To encourage the identification and return of stolen artwork.

    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 ``Stolen Artwork Restitution Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS TO RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP IDENTIFY AND RELOCATE 
              STOLEN ARTWORK.

    (a) Authority.--The Attorney General may make grants to qualified 
research organizations to identify and relocate stolen artwork.
    (b) Qualified Research Organizations Defined.--In this section, the 
term ``qualified research organizations'' means research organizations 
which the Attorney General finds to be qualified, by reason of 
demonstrable ability, to identify and relocate stolen artwork.
    (c) Terms and Conditions.--Grants under this section may be made 
under such terms and conditions as the Attorney General may require. 
The Attorney General shall require such reports from the recipients of 
grants as the Attorney General considers necessary to ensure that the 
grants are being used appropriately and effectively.
    (d) Report.--The Attorney General shall transmit an annual report 
to the Congress listing the organizations which have received grants 
under this section.

SEC. 3. PRIVATE INQUIRY WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN ARTWORK.

    (a) Inquiry Required on Request.--If a request is made under 
subsection (b), the seller or the purchaser of artwork with a sales 
price of $5,000 or more, that at any time has been shipped in 
interstate or foreign commerce, shall before the sale undertake a 
documented, reasonable inquiry into the ownership history of the 
artwork, including obtaining information from one or more missing or 
stolen artwork registries.
    (b) Request.--Before a sale described in subsection (a), an 
individual may request an inquiry under that subsection if the 
individual produces sufficient evidence, according to standards 
established by the Attorney General, that the artwork for which the 
individual requests an inquiry was stolen from the individual or from a 
member of the individual's family.
    (c) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to artwork sold 60 
days or more after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. INQUIRY WITH RESPECT TO FEDERALLY-OWNED ARTWORK.

    (a) Inquiry.--The Attorney General shall undertake a documented, 
reasonable, multisource inquiry, including obtaining information from 
one or more missing or stolen artwork registries, with respect to all 
artwork in the possession of the Federal Government to determine 
whether any such artwork has been stolen.
    (b) Cooperation.--Each department, agency, and instrumentality of 
the United States shall cooperate with the Attorney General in 
connection with the inquiry undertaken pursuant to this section.
    (c) Report.--The Attorney General shall transmit a report to the 
Congress describing the results of the inquiry undertaken pursuant to 
this section.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) a purchaser or seller of artwork who fails to undertake 
        an inquiry required under section 3(a) should not be permitted 
        to assert in a court in the United States a claim, under 
        Federal, State, or otherwise applicable law, to ownership or 
        former ownership of the artwork;
            (2) all museums and auction houses should undertake 
        documented, reasonable, multisource inquiries, including 
        obtaining information from one or more missing or stolen 
        artwork registries, with respect to the artwork in their 
        possession to determine whether any such artwork has been 
        stolen;
            (3) all governments in possession of artwork stolen from 
        victims of the Holocaust should return that artwork to its 
        rightful owners; and
            (4) parties disputing the ownership of stolen artwork 
        should attempt to resolve their disputes by alternative means, 
        such as by arbitration, before seeking judicial remedies.

SEC. 6. EXCLUSION.

    For the purposes of this Act, published or unpublished literary 
works shall not be considered artwork.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``member of the individual's family'' means a 
        spouse, child, sibling, parent, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, 
        grandparent, grandchild, great uncle, great aunt, grand nephew, 
        or grand niece of the individual; and
            (2) the term ``missing or stolen artwork registries'' means 
        international registries of artwork, each of which maintains a 
        computerized database of not fewer than 50,000 missing or 
        stolen works.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    For the period encompassing fiscal years 1999 through 2001 there 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General $15,000,000 
to carry out this Act. Of such amount, $5,000,000 may only be awarded 
as grants under section 2.
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