[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1602 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1602
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
February 26, 2025
Mr. Davidson (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 2025''.
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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