[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5585-H5586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COOPERATE WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND WATCH ACT OF 2018

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 5783) to provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that 
maintain a customer account at the request of a Federal or State law 
enforcement agency, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5783

       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 2018''.

     SEC. 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:

     ``Sec. 5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters

       ``(a) In General.--With respect to a customer account of a 
     financial institution, if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local 
     law enforcement agency requests, in writing, the financial 
     institution to keep such account open--
       ``(1) the financial institution shall not be liable under 
     this subchapter for maintaining such account 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

[[Page H5586]]

     the financial institution for maintaining such account 
     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.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as a former community banker, I have dealt with the 
conflict of wanting to help law enforcement agencies when receiving 
what is called a keep open letter, while not being able to because of 
the need also to comply with the requirements of my regulatory 
responsibilities, the rules on setting out how banks have to open and 
close a suspected account by a regulator.
  Today, the overall purpose of this bill is to support law enforcement 
and reduce money laundering and terrorist financing through our banking 
system. That is why, along with my good friend from Illinois, Dr. 
Foster, I was pleased to introduce this commonsense bill. It enables 
partnerships without repercussions between law enforcement agencies and 
local community financial institutions by allowing law enforcement to 
monitor the cash flows associated with criminal investigations at a 
financial institution.
  Under the Bank Secrecy Act and the anti-money laundering regulations, 
banks face strict rules for managing accounts so that they cannot 
facilitate money laundering, terrorism financing, drug running, or 
other illegal activities.
  Sometimes banks receive notices from law enforcement agencies known 
as keep open letters. That requests a bank to keep open an account so 
that the law enforcement agency can track payments and better monitor 
criminals.
  Such requests might come from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. 
Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, local 
police, or any other law enforcement agency.
  If banks help law enforcement comply with keep open letter requests, 
they in turn, unfortunately, risk being penalized by regulators for 
allowing an account to be open and continue to be open by someone who 
is suspected of a crime.
  This commonsense bill supports those efforts by law enforcement by 
allowing the financial institutions to comply with the keep open 
requests and maintain a suspicious account without being penalized by 
regulators.
  Financial institutions will no longer be liable for maintaining an 
account for law enforcement investigative purposes.
  Under this bill, no Federal department or agency may take an adverse 
supervisory action with respect to that financial institution for 
keeping open such an account.
  This is a commonsense bill and I urge all my colleagues to support 
it. It will give law enforcement the tools they need to prosecute bad 
actors and, I think, be better and more fair in its treatment for our 
financial institutions.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill would strengthen cooperation between financial 
institutions and law enforcement to better combat terrorism and 
financial crime by providing a narrow safe harbor from BSA/AML--that is 
Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, that is the acronym--
scrutiny of financial institutions that keep a customer account open at 
the written request of Federal and State law enforcement.
  This cooperation will enable law enforcement agencies to follow the 
money in the bank accounts of terrorists, human traffickers, corrupt 
officials, and those involved in organized crime.
  We support this. This is a commonsense, bipartisan bill, and I urge 
support.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to just urge my colleagues to 
recognize this as a strong group of bipartisan work by Dr. Foster and 
it received solid support in the committee, that it balances the law 
enforcement obligations to investigate criminals, but also treats, in 
the regulatory system, our community financial institutions in a more 
fair manner. I hope all my colleagues will support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 5783, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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