116 HR 758 IH: Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act of 2019 U.S. House of Representatives 2019-01-24 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I116th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 758IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJanuary 24, 2019Mr. Hill of Arkansas (for himself and Mr. Foster) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial ServicesA BILLTo provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that maintain a customer account or customer transaction at the request of a Federal or State law enforcement agency.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act of 2019.

2.

Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters

(a)

In general

Subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

5333.

Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters

(a)

In general

With respect to a customer account or customer transaction of a financial institution, if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency requests, in writing, the financial institution to keep such account or transaction open— (1)the financial institution shall not be liable under this subchapter for maintaining such account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request; and (2)no Federal or State department or agency may take any adverse supervisory action under this subchapter with respect to the financial institution for maintaining such account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request. (b)

Rule of construction

Nothing in this section may be construed— (1)from preventing a Federal or State department or agency from verifying the validity of a written request described under subsection (a) with the Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency making the written request; or (2)to relieve a financial institution from complying with any reporting requirements, including the reporting of suspicious transactions under section 5318(g). (c)

Letter termination date

For purposes of this section, any written request described under subsection (a) shall include a termination date after which such request shall no longer apply.

. (b)

Clerical amendment

The table of contents for chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5332 the following: 5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters..