Sponsors (3)
Last progress June 9, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on June 9, 2025 by Edward John Markey
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Requires the Treasury (FinCEN) and the Small Business Administration to coordinate publicly on corporate beneficial ownership reporting by executing and publishing a memorandum of understanding (MOU), carrying out targeted outreach to covered companies and small-business partners, reviewing the MOU every six months, and prohibiting pay-for-attendance at those review meetings. It also requires the two agencies to submit joint status reports to designated congressional committees beginning within 30 days after the MOU is signed and then every 30 days, describing outreach, compliance counts/estimates, and planned next steps.
Malign actors seek to hide ownership of corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities in the United States to facilitate illicit activity (including money laundering, financing of terrorism, proliferation financing, serious tax fraud, human and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, piracy, securities fraud, financial fraud, and acts of foreign corruption), harming U.S. national security interests and allies of the United States.
Federal legislation providing for the collection of beneficial ownership information for corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities formed under State laws is needed.
Purpose A: Such federal legislation is needed to set a clear, Federal standard for incorporation practices.
Purpose B: Such federal legislation is needed to protect vital United States national security interests.
Purpose C: Such federal legislation is needed to protect interstate and foreign commerce.
Who is affected and how:
• Entities required to report beneficial ownership information: The agencies’ outreach and public information should increase awareness among covered companies and may improve compliance rates. The bill itself does not change reporting rules but seeks to improve implementation and communication.
• Small businesses and small‑business resource partners: The MOU must include steps to reduce burdens on small businesses (targeted outreach, language access, partnerships with resource providers). Outreach could lower confusion and compliance costs, though the core reporting obligations come from existing law.
• Beneficial owners (individuals who own or control reporting companies): Better outreach and education could increase the likelihood their companies comply and that filings are correct; this may raise privacy and data‑handling concerns for some individuals, but the bill focuses on outreach and coordination rather than changing data access or protection rules.
• Federal agencies (FinCEN and SBA staff and leadership): Agencies will incur administrative work to negotiate, publish, review, and execute the MOU, run outreach programs, and produce highly frequent (30‑day) reports to Congress. That may require staff time and reallocation of resources; no new appropriations are specified in the text provided.
• Law enforcement and financial regulators: Improved outreach and higher compliance should strengthen access to accurate beneficial ownership data for AML, counter‑terrorism, and anti‑corruption efforts (subject to existing access rules for the underlying database).
• Congress and oversight committees: The frequent reporting requirement gives committees regular visibility into implementation and compliance progress, enabling closer oversight but also creating a stream of recurrent reports to review.
Net effects: The bill aims to improve implementation and compliance of existing beneficial ownership rules with modest administrative burdens on agencies and potentially reduced practical burdens for small businesses through targeted outreach. It does not itself change reporting standards, penalties, or funding in the text provided, so most substantive effects come from better communication, monitoring, and accountability.
Updated 18 hours ago
Last progress June 6, 2025 (8 months ago)