S 945 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

Introduced Mar 28, 2019 Originated Senate Sponsor John Kennedy R-LA

Fact sheet

Latest action · Dec 18, 2020 Became Public Law No: 116-222.

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.

  1. IntroducedMar 28, 2019
  2. Passed SenateMay 20, 2020
  3. Passed HouseDec 2, 2020
  4. To the PresidentDec 8, 2020
  5. Became lawDec 18, 2020

Summary

Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

This bill requires certain issuers of securities to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government. Specifically, an issuer must make this certification if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is unable to audit specified reports because the issuer has retained a foreign public accounting firm not subject to inspection by the board. Furthermore, if the board is unable to inspect the issuer's public accounting firm for three consecutive years, the issuer's securities are banned from trade on a national exchange or through other methods.

Foreign issuers of securities that use such a firm to prepare an audit report must disclose for each non-inspection year

  • the percentage of shares owned by governmental entities where the issuer is incorporated,
  • whether these governmental entities have a controlling financial interest,
  • information related to any board members who are officials of the Chinese Communist Party, and
  • whether the articles of incorporation of the issuer contain any charter of the Chinese Communist Party.

Cosponsors 4

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 28, 2019 to May 20, 2020, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-MDChris Van HollenOriginalMar 28, 2019
R-NDKevin CramerMay 18, 2020
R-FLRick ScottMay 19, 2020
R-ARTom CottonMay 20, 2020

Actions 20

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Dec 18, 2020Became Public Law No: 116-222.
  2. Dec 18, 2020Signed by President.
  3. Dec 8, 2020Presented to President.
  4. Dec 2, 2020Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H6031-6035)
  5. Dec 2, 2020DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 945.
Show all 20 actions

Amendments 1

Amendments offered to this bill.

AmendmentDescriptionOffered byStatus
SA 1589In the nature of a substitute.John Kennedy R-LAAmendment SA 1589 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

Related bills 2

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 4629America LEADS ActRelated billSep 17, 2020
HR 7000Holding Foreign Companies Accountable ActIdentical billMay 22, 2020

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector.

Text 3

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. —Enrolled Bill
  2. May 20, 2020Engrossed in Senate
  3. Mar 28, 2019Introduced in Senate

Support LegiList

This page is free, carries no paywall, and is built and maintained by one person. If the record here is useful to you, a few dollars keeps it going.

$1 $5 $10

Processed by Stripe in a separate window. LegiList never sees card details.

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.