118 HR 3205 IH: Project Precursor Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2023-05-11
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EN
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I
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3205
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2023
Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Financial Services, 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 disrupt the international fentanyl supply chain, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title and table of contents
(a)

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Project Precursor Act”.
(b)

Table of contents
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Title I—Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Global Public Affairs, and Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Sec. 101. Authorizations to strengthen Mexican law enforcement capacity to disrupt fentanyl supply chains.
Sec. 102. Public diplomacy as a weapon to delegitimize cartels and disrupt criminal recruitment.
Sec. 103. Chinese operations in Mexico.
Sec. 104. Relevant congressional committees defined.
Title II—Chemical Weapons Convention
Sec. 201. Actions to seek to amend the chemical weapons convention to include covered fentanyl substances on schedule 1, 2, or 3 of the annex on chemicals to the chemical weapons convention.
Title III—Sanctions and other penalties
Subtitle A—Modification and extension of Fentanyl Sanctions Act
Sec. 301. Determination and report on additional foreign opioid traffickers.
Sec. 302. Termination.
Subtitle B—Sanctions with respect to transnational criminal organizations
Sec. 311. Imposition of sanctions.
Sec. 312. Sanctions described.
Sec. 313. Penalties; waivers; exceptions.
Sec. 314. Report required.
Subtitle C—Definitions
Sec. 321. Definitions.
I

Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Global Public Affairs, and Bureau of Intelligence and Research
101.

Authorizations to strengthen Mexican law enforcement capacity to disrupt fentanyl supply chains
(a)

Authorization of program
Notwithstanding section 660 of the Foreign Affairs Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2420), the Secretary of State, acting through the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, is authorized to carry out a program to build the capacity of Mexican law enforcement agencies to prevent the transit, trafficking, and distribution of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals and analogues into the United States from Mexico.
(b)

Program elements
The program authorized by subsection (a) shall include projects and activities, at a minimum, that address—
(1)
canine unit support for drug detection;
(2)
disrupting fentanyl trafficking in express consignment, as well as in postal, shipping, and transportation operations conducted by the Government and private business sectors;
(3)
forensic chemist information exchanges, equipment, and drug profiling;
(4)
efforts meant to increase Mexican Federal and state laboratory forensic accreditation to identify fentanyl and other drugs;
(5)
efforts to increase the number of handheld synthetic drug detection devices;
(6)
the provision of equipment and training related to identifying and dismantling clandestine laboratories that produce synthetic drugs;
(7)
efforts proven to reduce diversion of precursor chemicals from licit to illicit purposes;
(8)
precursor chemical information sharing between governments and among various agencies;
(9)
maritime interdiction of synthetic drugs;
(10)
cargo container control and inspection; and
(11)
chemical industry mapping.
(c)

Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated $64,000,000 to carry out the programs described in subsection (a).
(d)

Prioritization of Mexico in efforts To combat international fentanyl trafficking
The Secretary of State, acting through the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, shall prioritize Mexico in all efforts of the Department of State to combat international trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs by carrying out programs and activities in Mexico and throughout the greater Latin American region, in consultation with the Government of Mexico and other relevant governments, with respect to the following:
(1)
Providing technical assistance and equipment, as appropriate, to strengthen the capacity of Mexican law enforcement agencies with respect to combating the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.
(2)
Carrying out exchange programs for governmental and nongovernmental personnel, such as programs conducted at the International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador and at other locations in the United States and Mexico, to provide educational and professional development on disrupting fentanyl supply chains, interdicting fentanyl and precursor chemicals used to produce fentanyl, and other synthetic drugs at seaports and on land and permanently dismantling transnational drug trafficking organization operations.
(e)

Report on law enforcement cooperation and obstruction in Mexico
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs shall submit to the relevant congressional committees an unclassified report, that may include a classified annex, detailing—
(1)
efforts taken by the various law enforcement agencies in Mexico to disrupt the flow of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals; and
(2)
the extent to which any part of the Government of Mexico has refused to work with the United States, or otherwise obstructed, paused, or unnecessarily delayed bilateral security cooperation with respect to disrupting the flow of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals.
(f)

United States death toll as chief monitoring and evaluation metric
(1)

Metrics to evaluate efforts
The Office of Knowledge Management of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs shall use monthly and yearly statistics indicating the number of United States citizens who die from the consumption or ingestion of fentanyl and other illicit narcotics—
(A)
as the primary monitoring and evaluation metric of the efforts led by such bureau in Mexico; and
(B)
to gauge whether bilateral efforts to disrupt synthetic drug production and precursor chemical transit throughout Mexico are achieving measurable desired impacts, with a rising number of United States deaths indicating a failure to achieve such impacts.
(2)

Improper use of data
The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in its monitoring and evaluation practices, may not use data related to drug seizures or clandestine laboratory raids in Mexico as a substitute for the data described in paragraph (1).
(3)

Report on progress
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of State, acting through the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, shall submit a report to the relevant congressional committees indicating whether, based on the statistics described in paragraph (1), its Mexico programs (including projects and activities under the program authorized by subsection (a)) are achieving desired outcomes, including a ranking of all such programs from most effective to least effective.
102.

Public diplomacy as a weapon to delegitimize cartels and disrupt criminal recruitment
(a)

In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Global Public Affairs, in consultation with the United States Ambassador to Mexico and other diplomatic and consular posts in Mexico, as well as with the United States entertainment and media industries and private and government actors in Mexico, shall formulate and deploy a public relations campaign, the goal of which is to delegitimize and humiliate, in the Mexican and the United States social consciousness, Mexican transnational criminal organizations involved in illicit fentanyl trafficking, as well as to permanently disrupt and cripple such organizations’ ability to recruit new members.
(b)

Briefing
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Global Public Affairs shall brief the relevant congressional committees on the implementation of this provision.
(c)

Report
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Global Public Affairs shall submit to the relevant congressional committees a report detailing the implementation of subsection (a).
103.

Chinese operations in Mexico
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research shall submit to the relevant congressional committees a classified report describing the operations and geographic footprint of all Chinese state- and non-state actors inside Mexico that are involved in the illegal importation, production, transport, or trafficking of fentanyl or its precursor chemicals into or through Mexico.
104.

Relevant congressional committees defined
In this title, the term “relevant congressional committees” means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
II

Chemical Weapons Convention
201.

Actions to seek to amend the chemical weapons convention to include covered fentanyl substances on schedule 1, 2, or 3 of the annex on chemicals to the chemical weapons convention
(a)

In general
The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General, shall use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to seek to amend the Chemical Weapons Convention to include each covered fentanyl substance on schedule 1, 2, or 3 of the Annex on Chemicals to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
(b)

Report
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this section.
(c)

Definitions
In this section—
(1)
the term “Chemical Weapons Convention” means the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, done at Paris, January 13, 1993 (commonly known as the “Chemical Weapons Convention”); and
(2)
the term “covered fentanyl substance” means—
(A)
fentanyl, including its isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers, whenever the existence of such isomers, esters, ethers, and salts is possible within the specific chemical designation (as such terms are used in the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.));
(B)
any controlled substance analogue of fentanyl (as the term “controlled substance analogue” is defined in section 102(32) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(32)); and
(C)
any immediate precursor (as defined in section 102(23) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(23)) of fentanyl.
III

Sanctions and other penalties
A

Modification and extension of Fentanyl Sanctions Act
301.

Determination and report on additional foreign opioid traffickers
(a)

In general
The Fentanyl Sanctions Act (title LXXII of division F of Public Law 116–92; 21 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 7217 the following:
“7218.

Determination and report on additional foreign opioid traffickers
(a)

Determination
(1)

In general
The President shall make a determination as to whether any of the foreign persons described in paragraph (2)—
(A)
is a foreign opioid trafficker; or
(B)
is engaging in any of the conduct described in Executive Order 14059 (86 Fed. Reg. 71549; relating to imposing sanctions on foreign persons involved in the global illicit drug trade) or has engaged in any such conduct in the prior 365 days.
(2)

Foreign persons described
The foreign persons described in this paragraph are the following:
(A)
Any foreign bank (as such term is defined in section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3101(b))) that operates in—
(i)
the People’s Republic of China; or
(ii)
Mexico.
(B)
Any money transmitting business that processed more than $25,000,000 in transactions in—
(i)
any of the 5 calendar years preceding the date of enactment of the Project Precursor Act;
(ii)
the calendar year in which the Project Precursor Act is enacted; or
(iii)
any calendar year after the calendar year described in clause (ii).
(C)
Any transnational criminal organization.
(b)

Report
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Project Precursor Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report containing—
(1)
a list of all foreign persons that the President has determined to be foreign opioid traffickers pursuant to subsection (a); and
(2)
for each foreign person identified on the list required by paragraph (1)—
(A)
whether the President has imposed any or all of the relevant sanctions described in section 7213 or Executive Order 14059 with respect to the foreign person; and
(B)
with respect to which any of the sanctions described in section 7213 or Executive Order 14059 have been waived or determined not to apply due to an exception or an exercise of discretion, a description of the specific legal grounds for the waiver, exception, or exercise of discretion.
(c)

Form
(1)

In general
The report required by subsection (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if necessary.
(2)

Public availability
The unclassified portion of the report shall be made available on a publicly available internet website of the Federal Government.
(d)

Definitions
In this section—
(1)
the term “money transmitting business” means a foreign person who engages in the activities described in section 5330(d)(1)(A) of title 31, United States Code; and
(2)
the term “transnational criminal organization” has the meaning given that term in section 431 of the Project Precursor Act.”.
(b)

Clerical amendments
The table of contents in section 2(b) of Public Law 116–92 and the table of contents in title LXXII of division F of such Public Law are each amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7217 the following:
“Sec. 7218. Determination and report on additional foreign opioid traffickers.”.
302.

Termination
Section 7233 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.) is amended by striking “7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act” and inserting “7 years after the date of the enactment of the Project Precursor Act”.
B

Sanctions with respect to transnational criminal organizations
311.

Imposition of sanctions
The President shall impose the sanctions described in section 312 with respect to any foreign person the President determines is knowingly involved in—
(1)
the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, or other related opioids by a transnational criminal organization; or
(2)
the activities of a transnational criminal organization relating to the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, or other related opioids.
312.

Sanctions described
(a)

Blocking of property
The President shall, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of a foreign person described in section 311 if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(b)

Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole
(1)

Visas, admission, or parole
An alien described in section 311 shall be—
(A)
inadmissible to the United States;
(B)
ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and
(C)
otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(2)

Current visas revoked
(A)

In general
The visa or other entry documentation of any alien described in section 311 is subject to revocation regardless of the issue date of the visa or other entry documentation.
(B)

Immediate effect
A revocation under subparagraph (A) shall in accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i))—
(i)
take effect immediately; and
(ii)
cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the possession of the alien.
313.

Penalties; waivers; exceptions
(a)

Penalties
A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this subtitle or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out this subtitle shall be subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 20 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section.
(b)

Waiver authority
(1)

In general
The President may waive the imposition of sanctions under this subtitle if the President determines, and reports to the appropriate congressional committees, that—
(A)
the waiver is needed for humanitarian purposes; or
(B)
the national emergency described in Executive Order 14059 (86 Fed. Reg. 71549; relating to imposing sanctions on foreign persons involved in the global illicit drug trade) has ended.
(2)

National security waiver
The President may waive the application of sanctions under this subtitle with respect to a foreign person if the President determines that the waiver is in the national security interest of the United States.
(c)

Exceptions
(1)

Exception for intelligence activities
This subtitle shall not apply with respect to activities subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intelligence activities of the United States.
(2)

Exception for compliance with international obligations and law enforcement activities
Sanctions under this subtitle shall not apply with respect to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary—
(A)
to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success on June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations of the United States; or
(B)
to carry out or assist law enforcement activity of the United States.
(3)

Exception to comply with USMCA
Sanctions under this subtitle shall not apply in a case in which such sanctions would conflict with provisions of the USMCA (as defined in section 3 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4502)).
(4)

Humanitarian exemption
The President may not impose sanctions under this subtitle with respect to any person for conducting or facilitating a transaction for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices or for the provision of humanitarian assistance.
314.

Report required
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on actions taken by the President with respect to the foreign persons identified under section 311.
C

Definitions
321.

Definitions
In this title—
(1)
the term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
(A)
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and
(B)
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate;
(2)
the term “foreign person” has the meaning given that term in section 7203 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2302);
(3)
the term “knowingly” has the meaning given that term in section 7203 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2302);
(4)
the term “trafficking”, with respect to fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, or other related opioids, has the meaning given the term “opioid trafficking” in section 7203 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2302);
(5)
the term “transnational criminal organization”—
(A)
means any organization designated as a significant transnational criminal organization under part 590 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations; and
(B)
includes—
(i)
any of the organizations known as—
(I)
the Sinaloa Cartel;
(II)
the Jalisco New Generation Cartel;
(III)
the Gulf Cartel;
(IV)
the Los Zetas Cartel;
(V)
the Juarez Cartel;
(VI)
the Tijuana Cartel;
(VII)
the Beltran-Levya Cartel;
(VIII)
La Familia Michoacana, also known as the Knights Templar Cartel; or
(IX)
La Nueva Familia Michoacan; or
(ii)
any successor organization to an organization described in clause (i) or as otherwise determined by the President; and
(6)
the term “United States person” means—
(A)
a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States;
(B)
an entity organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity; or
(C)
any person in the United States.