[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7205 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7205

    To take certain measures against countries that fail to satisfy 
judgments totaling more than $1,000,000 entered against them in courts 
                         in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2008

  Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas (for herself and Mr. Towns) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
 Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To take certain measures against countries that fail to satisfy 
judgments totaling more than $1,000,000 entered against them in courts 
                         in the United States.

    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 ``Judgment Evading Foreign States 
Accountability Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to protect the economic interests of the 
United States and its citizens from the irresponsible conduct of 
certain foreign states, and agencies and instrumentalities of such 
states, that willfully refuse to satisfy United States court judgments.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Foreign states and instrumentalities that do business 
        or raise capital in the United States, and then refuse to 
        satisfy judgments of United States courts entered against them 
        in connection with disputes resulting from these activities, 
        inflict billions of dollars of damage on United States 
        taxpayers, and undermine the credibility of the United States 
        courts.
            (2) The Republic of Argentina is a recent and egregious 
        example of such behavior. Argentina has borrowed tens of 
        billions of dollars in the United States capital markets 
        through the issuance of bonds, notes, and other securities 
        pursuant to which it agreed to be subject to the jurisdiction 
        of the United States courts in actions relating to those bonds 
        notes and securities, and both waived and pledged not to assert 
        immunity in such actions. Argentina defaulted on its debt to 
        foreign creditors in 2001, and scores of judgments, totaling 
        more than $2,000,000,000, have been entered against it by the 
        United States courts based on its default. Rather than satisfy 
        these obligations, Argentina has expressed its intention never 
        to pay any of the resulting judgments.
            (3) Since its default in 2001, Argentina's economy has 
        recovered dramatically. This recovery has enabled Argentina to 
        accumulate foreign exchange reserves worth tens of billions of 
        dollars, and to use those reserves to pay some creditors 
        preferentially over United States citizens and holders of 
        United States court judgments.
            (4) Other foreign states have expressed interest in 
        following Argentina's lead. For example, the Republic of 
        Ecuador has recently threatened to default on and repudiate 
        part of its sovereign debt, citing Argentina's default 
        approvingly as a precedent.
            (5) Foreign states that engage in such behavior can infect 
        the management of businesses within their borders with their 
        profligate and irresponsible habits. When the lax ethical 
        standards that permit government officials to flout lawful 
        judgments corrupt the corporate behavior as well, the injury to 
        United States taxpayers is intensified.
            (6) United States taxpayers who are injured by such 
        irresponsible conduct often have little or no recourse. The 
        existing laws of the United States are highly protective of 
        foreign states, and public and private corporations of judgment 
        evading foreign states often enjoy a safe haven within their 
        home country's borders from those who are injured by their 
        behavior.
            (7) Action by the United States Government to combat this 
        growing problem must include measures that both protect United 
        States taxpayers against the irresponsible conduct of judgment 
        evading foreign states and their domestic corporations, and 
        motivate such states and corporations to raise their standards 
        of behavior.
            (8) An effective means of achieving this important 
        objective without impinging on the President's freedom to act 
        in the foreign policy arena is to deprive judgment evading 
        foreign states and their domestic corporations of the privilege 
        of raising capital in the United States until those states 
        demonstrate that such measures are no longer necessary by 
        satisfying all outstanding judgments of the United States 
        courts.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Judgment evading foreign state.--The term ``judgment 
        evading foreign state'' means any foreign state that--
                    (A) has one or more judgments entered against the 
                foreign state by any United States district court or 
                the court of any State, the combined amount of which 
                exceeds $1,000,000; and
                    (B) fails to satisfy in full any such judgment for 
                a period of more than 6 months after the judgment 
                becomes a final judgment.
            (2) Domestic corporation of a judgment evading foreign 
        state.--The term ``domestic corporation of a judgment evading 
        foreign state'' means any corporation or entity, other than a 
        natural person--
                    (A) that is organized under the laws of a judgment 
                evading foreign state; or
                    (B) a majority of the shares or other ownership 
                interest of which is held, either directly or 
                indirectly, by a judgment evading foreign state, or by 
                one or more corporations or entities that is organized 
                under the laws of a judgment evading foreign state.
            (3) Final judgment.--The term ``final judgment'' means any 
        judgment of a United States district court or the court of any 
        State, that is no longer eligible to be appealed to any court 
        in the United States.
            (4) Foreign state.--The term ``foreign state'' has the 
        meaning given that term in 1603(a) of title 28, United States 
        Code.
            (5) International organization.--The term ``international 
        organization'' means an entity designated by the President as 
        being entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions, and 
        immunities provided by the International Organizations 
        Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288 et seq.).
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States.

SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It shall be the policy of the United States--
            (1) to advocate within the governing bodies of 
        international organizations and in other foreign policy 
        settings for the full compensation and fair treatment of United 
        States citizens and other persons in whose favor judgments have 
        been awarded by the United States courts;
            (2) to seek to protect the economic interests of United 
        States taxpayers by restricting the access to the United States 
        capital markets of judgment evading foreign states, and 
        subjecting to Congressional scrutiny requests for aid made by 
        judgment evading foreign states to the United States 
        Government;
            (3) to seek to protect the authority of the United States 
        courts by preventing judgment evading foreign states from 
        willfully flouting the judgments of those courts; and
            (4) to enforce a series of mandatory penalties, increasing 
        over time, to prevent judgment evading foreign states from 
        engaging in such misconduct.

SEC. 6. BAR ON ACCESS TO UNITED STATES CAPITAL MARKETS.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission shall take all effective 
measures to deny every judgment evading foreign state access to United 
States capital markets, including the ability, directly or indirectly, 
to borrow or sell securities in the United States unless the proceeds 
of such borrowing or sale are to be used, in the first instance, to 
satisfy in full all final judgments that form the basis for that 
foreign state's designation as a judgment evading foreign state. If any 
judgment evading foreign state remains in default on any such final 
judgment for more than 2 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission 
shall take all measures to deny any domestic corporation of a judgment 
evading foreign state access to the United States capital markets.

SEC. 7. REQUESTS FOR AID OR ASSISTANCE FROM JUDGMENT EVADING FOREIGN 
              STATES.

    (a) Bilateral Assistance.--Whenever any proposal is made to a 
department, agency, or other instrumentality of the United States 
Government to extend aid, a loan, or any other form of assistance to a 
judgment evading foreign state, the head of the department, agency, or 
other instrumentality may consider the proposal only if it bears 
prominently the legend described in subsection (c).
    (b) Multilateral Assistance.--Whenever any proposal is made to an 
international organization of which the United States is a member to 
extend aid, a loan, or any other form of assistance to a judgment 
evading foreign state, the Secretary of State shall provide notice of 
such proposal to the Congress in a prompt manner. Such notice shall 
bear prominently the legend described in subsection (c).
    (c) Legend Described.--The legend of a proposal referred to in 
subsection (a) and the legend of a notice referred to in subsection (b) 
is the following: ``REQUEST FOR GRANT-IN-AID OR LOAN BY A JUDGMENT 
EVADING FOREIGN STATE''.

SEC. 8. REPORTS; RECOMMENDATIONS OF ADDITIONAL MEASURES.

    (a) Report.--Not later than January 31 of each year, the Secretary 
of the Treasury shall provide a report, in writing, to the Congress 
identifying each judgment evading foreign state, and, for each such 
judgment evading foreign state--
            (1) setting forth the basis of the Secretary's 
        determination that it meets the definition of judgment evading 
        foreign state;
            (2) quantifying the impact on the United States economy, 
        and the cost to United States taxpayers, of the unsatisfied 
        final judgments that form the basis for the foreign state's 
        designation as a judgment evading foreign state; and
            (3) describing all measures that the Department of the 
        Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Securities and 
        Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
        and representatives of the United States before international 
        organizations have taken in the preceding year to carry out 
        this Act.
    (b) Termination of Designation as Judgment Evading Foreign State.--
At such time as the Secretary of the Treasury determines that a foreign 
state no longer qualifies as a judgment evading foreign state, the 
Secretary shall so certify to the Congress no later than in the next 
annual report to Congress under subsection (a), at which time the 
requirements and prohibitions under this Act shall no longer apply to 
such former judgment evading foreign state.
    (c) Responsibilities of Other Departments.--In every report 
prepared by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, or 
the Secretary of Commerce for the public relating to the economic risk 
or investment climate of a judgment evading foreign state, such 
Secretary shall reference the findings of the Secretary of the Treasury 
from the Secretary of the Treasury's most recent annual report to 
Congress under subsection (a) relating to the unsatisfied final 
judgments outstanding against the judgment evading foreign state.
    (d) Recommendations to Congress.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall provide to the Congress written recommendations on additional 
measures to carry out the purposes of this Act.
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