[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5056 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5056

To amend the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act to clarify that activities 
    of the Imperial Government of Japan are included, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2000

Mr. Lantos (for himself, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Ackerman, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. 
Sherman, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Evans, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Waxman) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act to clarify that activities 
    of the Imperial Government of Japan are included, 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 ``Nazi and Japanese World War II War 
Crimes Disclosure Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF JAPANESE WAR CRIMINAL RECORDS.

    (a) Disclosure of Records.--Section 3 of the Nazi War Crimes 
Disclosure Act (Public Law 105-246; 5 U.S.C. 552 note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``Records.--'' and all that follows 
                through ``(1) pertain'' and inserting ``Record.--For 
                purposes of this Act, the term `Nazi war criminal 
                record' means a classified record or portion of a 
                record that--
            ``(1) pertains''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``pertain to any 
                        transaction as to which'' and inserting 
                        ``pertains to any transaction which''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
                        ``such transaction'';
            (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections 
        (c) and (d), respectively;
            (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b)  Japanese War Criminal Record.--For purposes of this Act, the 
term `Japanese war criminal record' means any classified record or 
portion of a record that--
            ``(1) pertains to any person with respect to whom the 
        United States Government, in its sole discretion, has grounds 
        to believe ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise 
        participated in the experimentation on or persecution of any 
        person because of race, religion, national origin, or political 
        opinion, during the period beginning on September 18, 1931, and 
        ending on September 2, 1945, under the direction of, or in 
        association with--
                    ``(A) the Imperial Government of Japan;
                    ``(B) any government in any area occupied by the 
                military forces of the Imperial Government of Japan;
                    ``(C) any government established with the 
                assistance or cooperation of the Imperial Government of 
                Japan; or
                    ``(D) any government which was an ally of the 
                Imperial Government of Japan; or
            ``(2) pertains to any transaction which the United States 
        Government, in its sole discretion, has grounds to believe--
                    ``(A) involved assets taken from persecuted persons 
                during the period beginning on September 18, 1931, and 
                ending on September 2, 1945, by, under the direction 
                of, on behalf of, or under authority granted by the 
                Imperial Government of Japan or any nation then allied 
                with that government; and
                    ``(B) was completed without the assent of the 
                owners of those assets or their heirs or assigns or 
                other legitimate representatives.'';
            (4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``Nazi War Criminal 
                        Records''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``Nazi war criminal 
                        records that are described in subsection (a)'' 
                        and inserting ``all Nazi war criminal records 
                        and all Japanese war criminal records''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting after ``Nazi 
                war criminal records'' the following: ``or Japanese war 
                criminal records, as the case may be,''; and
            (5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``under section 3 of this Act'' and inserting ``or a Japanese 
        war criminal record''.
    (b) Expedited Processing of FOIA Requests.--Section 4 of the Nazi 
War Crimes Disclosure Act (5 U.S.C. 522 note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``or a Japanese war 
        criminal record'' after ``Nazi war criminal record''; and
            (2) in subsection (b), by inserting before the period the 
        following: ``or was persecuted in the manner described in 
        section 3(b)(1) of this Act who requests a Japanese war 
        criminal record''.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND AUTHORITIES.

    The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 5. COOPERATION BY GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN.

    ``The Secretary of State shall inform the Government of Japan that 
all Japanese war criminal records in the custody of the Government of 
Japan should be made fully and freely available to the United States 
Government, as requested, and to the public at large.

``SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.

    ``The National Archives and Record Administration shall provide 
administrative support services to the Interagency Group.

``SEC. 7. PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMITTENT SERVICES.

    ``The Chair of the Interagency Group may procure temporary and 
intermittent services of historical specialists to aid in identifying, 
describing, and assessing the historical significance of Nazi war 
criminal records and Japanese war criminal records. Such services may 
be procured without regard to any provision of law requiring 
advertising by contract bids, without regard to the provisions of title 
5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive 
service, and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and 
subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classification 
and General Schedule pay rates, except that the level of compensation 
for such services may not exceed $100 per hour. Such services may not 
be provided after the end of fiscal year 2001.''.

SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF INTERAGENCY GROUP.

    Section 2(b)(1) of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (5 U.S.C. 552 
note) is amended by striking ``3'' and inserting ``5''.

SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    Section 2 of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (5 U.S.C. 522 note) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by adding ``and'' after the 
                semicolon;
                    (B) by striking paragraph (3) and redesignating 
                paragraph (4) as paragraph (3); and
                    (C) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated, by 
                inserting ``or a Japanese war criminal record'' after 
                ``criminal record''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by striking ``Not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the'' and inserting 
                ``The''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``all classified 
                Nazi war criminal records'' and inserting ``as soon as 
                possible after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
                all Nazi war criminal records, and all Japanese war 
                criminal records,''.
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