H.R. 9284 — Foreign Investment Review Monitoring and Commitment Tracking Oversight Board Act

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “Foreign Investment Review Monitoring and Commitment Tracking Oversight Board Act” or the “FIRM Commitment Tracking Oversight Board Act” and sets forth the table of contents.

This section defines terms used in the Act. It establishes "covered foreign investment commitment" as a foreign country's pledge to invest in the United States made through a trade agreement, in response to specified U.S. trade measures under sections 122, 201, 232, 301, or 406 of the Trade Act of 1974, or through executive branch negotiations. It defines "net economic benefit" as an investment that promotes domestic growth, creates quality jobs accessible without a college degree, avoids excess capacity, and supports domestically sourced materials. It defines "quality job" as providing at least 30 hours per week, compensation at or above median state wages with health care and pension benefits, and union neutrality. It also defines "qualified investment," "FIRA," "registered apprenticeship program," and related terms.

This section establishes the Foreign Investment Review Authority, headed by a board of directors consisting of a Senate-confirmed presidential appointee as chair, designees of the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor and the Attorney General, and four additional Senate-confirmed members from the party opposite the President, all serving 4-year terms. It creates an Office of the Chief Ethics Officer, headed by a Senate-confirmed appointee serving a 6-year term removable only for gross misconduct, and within that office a Public Oversight Board of five members appointed by congressional leaders and organized labor serving 3-year terms with a one-term limit per decade. It requires a complaint process with substantive responses within 30 days and grants rulemaking authority.

This section requires FIRA to identify all covered foreign investment commitments and publish on a public website the names of investing and receiving parties (including beneficial owners), locations, amounts, obligation dates, activities performed, and any conflicts of interest examined. It deems commitments to exist from the People’s Republic of China (amount and date determined by FIRA), Japan ($550 billion), South Korea ($350 billion), and Taiwan ($500 billion), all with obligation dates as the date of enactment.

This section requires persons making covered investments to notify FIRA in writing at the outset with lists of owners, beneficial owners, financial advisers, financing participants, and other interested parties, and to submit quarterly updates until completion. It mandates signed attestations by senior officials of both the investor and recipient on whether the investment provides a net economic benefit to the United States and complies with applicable ethics rules. The President, Vice President, and cabinet-level officials must disclose if they or any family member benefit from a covered investment. FIRA must give the Chief Ethics Officer and Public Oversight Board real-time access to all notices, updates, attestations, and disclosures. Noncompliance triggers civil penalties up to 10 percent of the investment value or of any undisclosed interest.

This section directs FIRA to review investments to determine which are covered investments and which qualify as qualified investments. It requires ethics compliance, a net economic benefit to the United States, and heightened review for investments involving covered nations. It prohibits qualified status for investments linked to entities on the UFLPA Entity List, active Withhold Release Orders, Federal ethics violations, foreign government influence on U.S. officials, or certain antidumping and intellectual property orders unless a mitigation agreement is reached. It exempts government bonds and diversified market-index funds from the net-benefit requirement and excludes charitable donations from coverage. It establishes a petition process and a limited appeal right for determinations and mitigation agreements.

This section authorizes FIRA to require mediation with the person making a covered investment that FIRA determines is not qualified, to negotiate new terms that would allow FIRA to deem the investment qualified. It also permits FIRA to suspend or prohibit any covered investment that is not qualified.

This section requires the FIRA to issue rules applying federal ethics and transparency laws to any person, including a federal agency or foreign government, making, receiving, or negotiating a covered investment, but only to the extent the person takes actions in connection with the investment. The laws include chapter 131 of title 5 (financial disclosures), subchapter III of chapter 73 of title 5 (political activities), sections 201, 203, 205, 207, 208, and 209 of title 18 (bribery and conflicts of interest), section 2635.502 of title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations (impartiality), and sections 552 and 552b of title 5 (FOIA and open meetings).

This section requires the Foreign Investment Review Agency to maintain and regularly update on its public website a calculation of all qualified investments tied to each covered foreign investment commitment. It directs the President to negotiate with the committing country to address any shortfall if, four years after the obligation date, the total qualified investments remain below the commitment amount.

This section requires FIRA to issue an annual report to Congress on investments reviewed and trends or risks identified, in unclassified form with a possible classified annex. It also requires a semiannual public report on implementation progress, jobs created (including compensation, unionization, and foreign employee details), production inputs and their origins, and mitigation agreement compliance and enforcement actions. It further requires the Chief Ethics Officer to issue a quarterly report to Congress and the public on complaints received and their resolutions.