Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate.
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on September 9, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act or the Restraining Excessive Seizure of Property through the Exploitation of Civil Asset Forfeiture Tools Act
This bill revises the authority and procedures that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses to seize property that has been structured to avoid Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reporting requirements.
(Sec. 2) The IRS may only seize property it suspects has been structured to avoid BSA reporting requirements if the property was derived from an illegal source or the funds were structured for the purpose of concealing the violation of a criminal law or regulation other than structuring transactions to evade BSA reporting requirements.
Within 30 days of seizing property, the IRS must: (1) make a good faith effort to find all owners of the property, and (2) notify the owners of the post-seizure hearing rights established by this bill. The IRS may apply to a court for one 30-day extension of the notice requirement if it can establish probable cause of an imminent threat to national security or personal safety.
If the owner of the property requests a court hearing within 30 days after the date on which notice is provided, the property must be returned unless the court holds a hearing within 30 days after notice is provided and finds that there is probable cause to believe that the property was derived from an illegal source or the funds were structured to conceal the violation of a criminal law or regulation other than a structuring violation.
(Sec. 3) The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income any interest received from the federal government in connection with an action to recover property seized by the IRS pursuant to a claimed violation of the structuring provisions of the BSA.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on September 22, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Received in the Senate.
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Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on September 26, 2016: Received in the Senate.
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 has no outstanding steps 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?
Peter Roskam (R-IL) introduced it on June 16, 2016, and 12 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 9 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 June 16, 2016, 3738 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3636 days ago, on September 26, 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
- HouseReceived in the Senate.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action