Bill Details
HR.1602 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-03-21 - Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 14.
Introduced Date
2025-02-26
Policy Area
Finance and Financial Sector
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
Cosponsors
View cosponsors (1)
6
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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would increase oversight of bank secrecy data collected by the Treasury Department’s FinCEN office. It would require regular reports to Congress about how many financial reports are being collected, how many are kept, and how other government agencies are allowed to access or share that information. The bill also tells Treasury to review these access rules every year to make sure the data is used only for authorized law enforcement, national security, or intelligence purposes, while also protecting people’s privacy and legal rights. The new rule would last for seven years unless it is extended or changed by Congress.
- FinCEN would have to send Congress a report within 180 days after the law takes effect, and then every year after that.
- The report must include how many different types of financial reports were filed each year since January 1, 2022, and how many of those reports FinCEN keeps.
- Treasury must also describe any written rules or guidance for law enforcement, national security, or intelligence agencies that access FinCEN records, including how often they ask for access and whether any requests were denied or taken back.
- Each year, Treasury must review those rules with the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General, and update them if needed to better protect privacy, civil liberties, and against unauthorized disclosure.
Official Summaries
Financial Privacy Act of 2025
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to annually report to Congress details of reports made to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). FinCEN collects reports on suspicious financial transactions and the beneficial ownership of companies in order to detect financial crimes, including money laundering.
Under the bill, FinCEN must report on the number and types of reports and whether they are retained by FinCEN, any guidance regarding outside agency access to these reports, agency requests for these reports, and any denials of access to these reports.
Treasury must annually review access guidance and revise as appropriate to protect the legal rights of U.S persons, among other objectives.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1602 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 14
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1602
[Report No. 119-24]
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
March 21, 2025
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on
February 26, 2025]
_______________________________________________________________________
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 revisions.--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.
Union Calendar No. 14
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1602
[Report No. 119-24]
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
March 21, 2025
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed