Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1351 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1351
5	5	To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study
6	6	to evaluate the activities of sister city partnerships operating within
7	7	the United States, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	APRIL8, 2025
10	10	Mrs. B
11	11	LACKBURN(for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill;
12	12	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to
15	15	conduct a study to evaluate the activities of sister city
16	16	partnerships operating within the United States, and
17	17	for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sister City Trans-4
22	22	parency Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
24	24	In this Act: 7
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27	27	•S 1351 IS
28	28	(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
29	29	TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
30	30	mittees’’ means— 3
31	31	(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 4
32	32	the Senate; 5
33	33	(B) the Committee on Health, Education, 6
34	34	Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 7
35	35	(C) the Committee on Armed Services of 8
36	36	the Senate; 9
37	37	(D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 10
38	38	the House of Representatives; 11
39	39	(E) the Committee on Education and the 12
40	40	Workforce of the House of Representatives; and 13
41	41	(F) the Committee on Armed Services of 14
42	42	the House of Representatives. 15
43	43	(2) F
44	44	OREIGN COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘foreign 16
45	45	community’’ means any subnational unit of govern-17
46	46	ment outside of the United States. 18
47	47	(3) S
48	48	ISTER CITY PARTNERSHIP .—The term 19
49	49	‘‘sister city partnership’’ means a formal agreement 20
50	50	between a United States community and a foreign 21
51	51	community that— 22
52	52	(A) is recognized by Sister Cities Inter-23
53	53	national; and 24
54	54	(B) is operating within the United States. 25
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57	57	•S 1351 IS
58	58	(4) UNITED STATES COMMUNITY .—The term 1
59	59	‘‘United States community’’ means a State, county, 2
60	60	city, or other unit of local government in the United 3
61	61	States. 4
62	62	SEC. 3. STUDY OF SISTER CITY PARTNERSHIPS OPERATING 5
63	63	WITHIN THE UNITED STATES INVOLVING 6
64	64	FOREIGN COMMUNITIES IN COUNTRIES WITH 7
65	65	SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC SECTOR CORRUPTION. 8
66	66	(a) I
67	67	NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 9
68	68	United States shall conduct a study of the activities of 10
69	69	sister city partnerships involving foreign communities in 11
70	70	countries receiving a score of 45 or less on Transparency 12
71	71	International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index. 13
72	72	(b) E
73	73	LEMENTS OF THE STUDY.—The study con-14
74	74	ducted under subsection (a) shall— 15
75	75	(1) identify— 16
76	76	(A) the criteria by which foreign commu-17
77	77	nities identify United States communities as 18
78	78	candidates for sister city partnerships, including 19
79	79	themes with respect to the prominent economic 20
80	80	activities and demographics of such United 21
81	81	States communities; 22
82	82	(B) the activities conducted within sister 23
83	83	city partnerships; 24
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86	86	•S 1351 IS
87	87	(C) the economic and educational outcomes 1
88	88	of such activities; 2
89	89	(D) the types of information that sister 3
90	90	city partnerships make publicly available, in-4
91	91	cluding information relating to contracts and 5
92	92	activities; 6
93	93	(E) the means by which United States 7
94	94	communities safeguard freedom of expression 8
95	95	within sister city partnerships; and 9
96	96	(F) the oversight practices that United 10
97	97	States communities implement to mitigate the 11
98	98	risks of foreign espionage and economic coer-12
99	99	cion within sister city partnerships; 13
100	100	(2) assess— 14
101	101	(A) the extent to which United States com-15
102	102	munities ensure transparency regarding sister 16
103	103	city partnership contracts and activities; 17
104	104	(B) the extent to which sister city partner-18
105	105	ships involve economic arrangements that make 19
106	106	United States communities vulnerable to malign 20
107	107	market practices; 21
108	108	(C) the extent to which sister city partner-22
109	109	ships involve educational arrangements that di-23
110	110	minish the freedom of expression; 24
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113	113	•S 1351 IS
114	114	(D) the extent to which sister city partner-1
115	115	ships allow foreign nationals to access local 2
116	116	commercial, educational, and political institu-3
117	117	tions; 4
118	118	(E) the extent to which foreign commu-5
119	119	nities could use sister city partnerships to real-6
120	120	ize strategic objectives that are not conducive to 7
121	121	the economic and national security interests of 8
122	122	the United States; 9
123	123	(F) the extent to which sister city partner-10
124	124	ships could enable or otherwise contribute to 11
125	125	foreign communities’ malign activities globally, 12
126	126	including activities relating to human rights 13
127	127	abuses and academic and industrial espionage; 14
128	128	and 15
129	129	(G) the extent to which United States com-16
130	130	munities seek to mitigate foreign nationals’ po-17
131	131	tentially inappropriate use of visa programs to 18
132	132	participate in activities relating to sister city 19
133	133	partnerships; and 20
134	134	(3) review— 21
135	135	(A) the range of activities conducted within 22
136	136	sister city partnerships, including activities re-23
137	137	lating to cultural exchange and economic devel-24
138	138	opment; 25
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141	141	•S 1351 IS
142	142	(B) how such activities differ between sis-1
143	143	ter city partnerships; and 2
144	144	(C) best practices to ensure transparency 3
145	145	regarding sister city partnerships’ agreements, 4
146	146	activities, and employees. 5
147	147	(c) R
148	148	EPORT.— 6
149	149	(1) I
150	150	N GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months 7
151	151	after initiating the study required under subsection 8
152	152	(a), the Comptroller General shall submit a report to 9
153	153	the appropriate congressional committees that con-10
154	154	tains the results of such study, including the find-11
155	155	ings, conclusions, and recommendations (if any) of 12
156	156	the study. 13
157	157	(2) F
158	158	ORM.—The report required under para-14
159	159	graph (1) may include a classified annex, if nec-15
160	160	essary. 16
161	161	Æ
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