[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5485 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5485

    To require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for greater 
 transparency and protections with regard to Bank Secrecy Act reports, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 2023

  Mr. Hill (for himself and Mr. Himes) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for greater 
 transparency and protections with regard to Bank Secrecy Act reports, 
                        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 ``Financial Privacy Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA''), the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Financial Crimes 
        Enforcement Network (``FinCEN''), collects millions of reports 
        annually on the economic activity of ordinary Americans.
            (2) Since 2001, FinCEN has applied the BSA to collect over 
        322,000,000 Currency Transaction Reports and more than 
        36,000,000 Suspicious Activity Reports, as well as nearly 
        5,000,000 Form 8300 Reports. In addition, FinCEN expects to 
        amass beneficial ownership information (``BOI'') from 
        32,000,000 companies in its initial year of collection, plus 
        5,000,000 additional companies implicated each year thereafter.
            (3) The mass of reporting collected by FinCEN suggests 
        that, while certain BSA reports might prove useful to combat 
        illicit finance, the bulk of BSA-related data may possess 
        little to no nexus to legitimate law enforcement or 
        intelligence purposes, even as it encompasses highly sensitive 
        details on the everyday lives of Americans.
            (4) By law, the Secretary of the Treasury must ensure the 
        security and confidentiality of BSA data. In a Notice of 
        Proposed Rulemaking from December 2022, FinCEN acknowledged 
        that ``BOI is highly sensitive information. FinCEN therefore 
        views it as critical to mitigate the risk of unauthorized 
        disclosure of BOI as much as possible.''.

SEC. 3. REPORTS TO CONGRESS; REVIEW OF PROTOCOLS FOR AGENCY ACCESS TO 
              REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subchapter II, by inserting after section 5326 the 
        following:
``Sec. 5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for agency access 
              to reports
    ``(a) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 180 days following the 
date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Committee on Financial 
Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report containing the 
following:
            ``(1) The number of reports, by type, filed each year with 
        the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (`FinCEN') under this 
        subchapter since January 1, 2022.
            ``(2) The total number of reports filed under this 
        subchapter retained by FinCEN.
            ``(3) A description of any written protocols or guidance 
        from the Secretary to national security, law enforcement, or 
        intelligence agencies regarding agency access to, and retention 
        or dissemination of, information held by FinCEN from reports 
        filed under this subchapter, including--
                    ``(A) a description of any updates to the protocols 
                or guidance during the reporting period;
                    ``(B) the number of queries by such agencies to 
                access the information during the reporting period; and
                    ``(C) any denials of requests for, or revocations 
                of, access by a national security, law enforcement, or 
                intelligence agency, or by any employee thereof, with a 
                description of the reasons for the denial or 
                revocation, as the case may be.
    ``(b) Review and Revision of Protocols.--In consultation with the 
Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall annually review and, as appropriate, 
revise any written protocols or guidance described under subsection (a) 
for the purposes of--
            ``(1) better tailoring the collection, retention, and 
        dissemination of information filed under this subchapter to 
        authorized national security, law enforcement, or intelligence 
        objectives;
            ``(2) enforcing prohibitions against unauthorized 
        disclosure of such information; and
            ``(3) protecting fully the legal rights of all United 
        States persons, including freedoms, civil liberties, and 
        privacy rights guaranteed by Federal law.
    ``(c) Congressional Requests; Notice of Changes.--
            ``(1) Requests for information.--Upon request of the chair 
        or ranking member of the Committee on Financial Services of the 
        House of Representatives or the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
        and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Secretary shall provide a 
        copy of any written protocols or guidance described in 
        subsection (a)(3).
            ``(2) Notice of changes.--Not later than 30 days after 
        revising any written protocols or guidance described in 
        subsection (a)(3), the Secretary shall provide a copy of such 
        revised written protocols or guidance to the Committee on 
        Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
        Senate.''; and
            (2) in the table of contents for such chapter, by inserting 
        after the item relating to section 5326 the following:

``5327. Reports to Congress; Review of protocols for agency access to 
                            reports''.
    (b) Sunset.--On the date that is the end of the 7-year period 
beginning on the date of enactment of this Act--
            (1) section 5327 of title 31, United States Code, is 
        repealed; and
            (2) the table of contents for chapter 53 of title 31, 
        United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 
        section 5327.
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