S. 1592 — Introduced in Senate

II 116th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1592 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 22, 2019Mr. Cotton (for himself and Mr. Jones) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that maintain a customer account or customer transaction at the request of a Federal or State law enforcement agency, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act of 2019. 2. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters (a) In general (1) Amendment to title 31 Subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters (a) In general With respect to a customer account or customer transaction of a financial institution, if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency requests, in writing, the financial institution to keep that account or transaction open— (1) the financial institution shall not be liable under this subchapter for maintaining that account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request; and (2) no Federal or State department or agency may take any adverse supervisory action under this subchapter with respect to the financial institution for maintaining that account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request. (b) Rule of construction Nothing in this section may be construed— (1) from preventing a Federal or State department or agency from verifying the validity of a written request described in subsection (a) with the Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency making that written request; or (2) to relieve a financial institution from complying with any reporting requirements, including the reporting of suspicious transactions under section 5318(g). (c) Letter termination date For the purposes of this section, any written request described in subsection (a) shall include a termination date after which that request shall no longer apply. . (2) Amendment to Public Law 91–508 Chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters (a) Definition In this section, the term financial institution has the meaning given the term in section 123(b). (b) Safe harbor With respect to a customer account or customer transaction of a financial institution, if a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency requests, in writing, the financial institution to keep that account or transaction open— (1) the financial institution shall not be liable under this chapter for maintaining that account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request; and (2) no Federal or State department or agency may take any adverse supervisory action under this chapter with respect to the financial institution for maintaining that account or transaction consistent with the parameters of the request. (c) Rule of construction Nothing in this section may be construed— (1) from preventing a Federal or State department or agency from verifying the validity of a written request described in subsection (b) with the Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency making that written request; or (2) to relieve a financial institution from complying with any reporting requirements, including the reporting of suspicious transactions under section 5318(g) of title 31, United States Code. (d) Letter termination date For the purposes of this section, any written request described in subsection (b) shall include a termination date after which that request shall no longer apply. . (b) Clerical amendments (1) Title 31 The table of contents for chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5332 the following: 5333. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters. . (2) Public Law 91–508 The table of contents for chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91–508 (12 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 130. Safe harbor with respect to keep open letters. . 3. Determination of Budgetary Effects The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.