II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1351
To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study
to evaluate the activities of sister city partnerships operating within
the United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL8, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to
conduct a study to evaluate the activities of sister city
partnerships operating within the United States, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sister City Trans-4
parency Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 4
the Senate; 5
(B) the Committee on Health, Education, 6
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 7
(C) the Committee on Armed Services of 8
the Senate; 9
(D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 10
the House of Representatives; 11
(E) the Committee on Education and the 12
Workforce of the House of Representatives; and 13
(F) the Committee on Armed Services of 14
the House of Representatives. 15
(2) F
OREIGN COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘foreign 16
community’’ means any subnational unit of govern-17
ment outside of the United States. 18
(3) S
ISTER CITY PARTNERSHIP .—The term 19
‘‘sister city partnership’’ means a formal agreement 20
between a United States community and a foreign 21
community that— 22
(A) is recognized by Sister Cities Inter-23
national; and 24
(B) is operating within the United States. 25
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(4) UNITED STATES COMMUNITY .—The term 1
‘‘United States community’’ means a State, county, 2
city, or other unit of local government in the United 3
States. 4
SEC. 3. STUDY OF SISTER CITY PARTNERSHIPS OPERATING 5
WITHIN THE UNITED STATES INVOLVING 6
FOREIGN COMMUNITIES IN COUNTRIES WITH 7
SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC SECTOR CORRUPTION. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 9
United States shall conduct a study of the activities of 10
sister city partnerships involving foreign communities in 11
countries receiving a score of 45 or less on Transparency 12
International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index. 13
(b) E
LEMENTS OF THE STUDY.—The study con-14
ducted under subsection (a) shall— 15
(1) identify— 16
(A) the criteria by which foreign commu-17
nities identify United States communities as 18
candidates for sister city partnerships, including 19
themes with respect to the prominent economic 20
activities and demographics of such United 21
States communities; 22
(B) the activities conducted within sister 23
city partnerships; 24
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(C) the economic and educational outcomes 1
of such activities; 2
(D) the types of information that sister 3
city partnerships make publicly available, in-4
cluding information relating to contracts and 5
activities; 6
(E) the means by which United States 7
communities safeguard freedom of expression 8
within sister city partnerships; and 9
(F) the oversight practices that United 10
States communities implement to mitigate the 11
risks of foreign espionage and economic coer-12
cion within sister city partnerships; 13
(2) assess— 14
(A) the extent to which United States com-15
munities ensure transparency regarding sister 16
city partnership contracts and activities; 17
(B) the extent to which sister city partner-18
ships involve economic arrangements that make 19
United States communities vulnerable to malign 20
market practices; 21
(C) the extent to which sister city partner-22
ships involve educational arrangements that di-23
minish the freedom of expression; 24
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(D) the extent to which sister city partner-1
ships allow foreign nationals to access local 2
commercial, educational, and political institu-3
tions; 4
(E) the extent to which foreign commu-5
nities could use sister city partnerships to real-6
ize strategic objectives that are not conducive to 7
the economic and national security interests of 8
the United States; 9
(F) the extent to which sister city partner-10
ships could enable or otherwise contribute to 11
foreign communities’ malign activities globally, 12
including activities relating to human rights 13
abuses and academic and industrial espionage; 14
and 15
(G) the extent to which United States com-16
munities seek to mitigate foreign nationals’ po-17
tentially inappropriate use of visa programs to 18
participate in activities relating to sister city 19
partnerships; and 20
(3) review— 21
(A) the range of activities conducted within 22
sister city partnerships, including activities re-23
lating to cultural exchange and economic devel-24
opment; 25
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(B) how such activities differ between sis-1
ter city partnerships; and 2
(C) best practices to ensure transparency 3
regarding sister city partnerships’ agreements, 4
activities, and employees. 5
(c) R
EPORT.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months 7
after initiating the study required under subsection 8
(a), the Comptroller General shall submit a report to 9
the appropriate congressional committees that con-10
tains the results of such study, including the find-11
ings, conclusions, and recommendations (if any) of 12
the study. 13
(2) F
ORM.—The report required under para-14
graph (1) may include a classified annex, if nec-15
essary. 16
Æ
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