Terrorist Asset Seizure Reform Act of 2016
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
Terrorist Asset Seizure Reform Act of 2016
This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to require each financial institution to transfer annually to it all amounts of interest it has paid on certain frozen bank accounts, which shall be deposited into the Confiscated Assets Fund establish by this bill.
With respect to certain frozen assets of a foreign terrorist organization or a specially designated terrorist, including a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, at the time an asset is frozen or otherwise blocked (or within six months of enactment of this bill for an asset already frozen or blocked) Treasury shall:
publish a public notice that the asset is being frozen or otherwise blocked, and
give the owner of the asset and other interested parties one year to challenge such freezing or blocking.
If the asset remains frozen or otherwise blocked after a year, Treasury shall require the financial institution holding the frozen asset to transfer it to Treasury.
Treasury shall:
deposit all money received under such asset confiscation requirements into the Confiscated Assets Fund, and
sell any non-monetary assets received under the bill and deposit the proceeds into the Fund.
Treasury shall establish the Confiscated Assets Fund, which shall be made available to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make grants under the Urban Area Security Initiative (for assisting high-risk urban areas in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism).
The Government Accountability Office shall study how Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control can better track frozen assets, manage data related to them, and improve reporting to Congress about them across all sanctions programs the Office of Foreign Assets Control administers.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 23, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 7, 2016: Referred to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Daniel Donovan (R-NY) introduced it on May 23, 2016, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 23, 2016, 3762 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3655 days ago, on September 7, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers