FIRM Act
Latest action · Jan 30, 2020 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 30, 2020
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Foreign Influence Registration Modernization Act or the FIRM Act
This bill revises provisions related to the registration of foreign agents, and it transfers certain oversight duties regarding lobbying to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Current law exempts from foreign agent registration requirements any person engaging only in religious, scholastic, or scientific pursuits. The bill eliminates this exemption for agents of foreign principals that are known violators of human rights.
The bill also narrows the definition of foreign principal, waiving registration requirements for agents of foreign enterprises that are not under the control or direction of a foreign government or political party.
The bill further requires registration statements and supplements to be filed in a digitized format and stored in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable database.
In addition, the bill authorizes DOJ to enact a civil penalty of up to $200,000 for a violation of foreign agent registration requirements.
Lastly, the bill transfers administration of lobbyist registration, reporting, disclosure and enforcement, and penalties from Congress to DOJ.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Feb 21, 2020.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-IN | Jim Banks | Feb 21, 2020 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 30, 2020Introduced in House
- Jan 30, 2020Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: International Affairs.
- Art, artists, authorship
- Charitable contributions
- Civil actions and liability
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Justice
- Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Foreign aid and international relief
- Government information and archives
- Human rights
- International Affairs
- Licensing and registrations
- Political parties and affiliation
- Public participation and lobbying
- Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
- Teaching, teachers, curricula
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 30, 2020Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.