[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1592 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1592
To amend title 31, United States Code, to 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, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 22, 2019
Mr. Cotton (for himself and Mr. Jones) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to 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, 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 ``Cooperate with Law Enforcement
Agencies and Watch Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR WITH RESPECT TO KEEP OPEN LETTERS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Amendment to title 31.--Subchapter II of chapter 53 of
title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``Sec. 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 that account or transaction open--
``(1) the financial institution shall not be liable under
this subchapter for maintaining that 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 that 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 in subsection (a) with the Federal, State, Tribal, or
local law enforcement agency making that 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 the purposes of this section,
any written request described in subsection (a) shall include a
termination date after which that request shall no longer apply.''.
(2) Amendment to public law 91-508.--Chapter 2 of title I
of Public Law 91-508 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters
``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `financial
institution' has the meaning given the term in section 123(b).
``(b) Safe Harbor.--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 that account or transaction open--
``(1) the financial institution shall not be liable under
this chapter for maintaining that 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 chapter with respect to
the financial institution for maintaining that account or
transaction consistent with the parameters of the request.
``(c) 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 in subsection (b) with the Federal, State, Tribal, or
local law enforcement agency making that 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) of title 31,
United States Code.
``(d) Letter Termination Date.--For the purposes of this section,
any written request described in subsection (b) shall include a
termination date after which that request shall no longer apply.''.
(b) Clerical Amendments.--
(1) Title 31.--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.''.
(2) Public law 91-508.--The table of contents for chapter 2
of title I of Public Law 91-508 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters.''.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional
Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that
such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
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