Foreign Influence Transparency Act
This bill addresses foreign influence in higher education and in certain other academic, religious, and artistic pursuits.
Current law exempts from foreign agent registration requirements a person engaging in activities in furtherance of religious, scholastic, academic, or scientific pursuits or of the fine arts. The bill specifies that this exemption applies only to those activities that do not promote the political agenda of a foreign government.
Under current law, an institution of higher education is required to disclose to the Department of Education a gift or contract that is from a foreign source and is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with a foreign source. The bill instead requires the institution to disclose such a gift or contract that is valued at $50,000 or more.
An institution must include in its disclosure report the contents of any such contract and make the contents available for public disclosure.