(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate has passed a bill requiring state agencies to identify and sanction corrupt foreign nationals, limit their access to Texas state universities, and prevent state agencies from contracting with individuals, entities and businesses linked to those on the list.
SB 1884, filed by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, seeks to create a Texas version of the federal Engel List, which Congress created in 2021 through the United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act. The law requires the U.S. Department of State to submit an annual report to Congress, called the Engel List, which includes a list of corrupt and undemocratic actors in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. It authorizes federal agencies to impose targeted economic and trade sanctions against those on the list, including freezing assets, and denying visas and admission to the U.S.
“Foreign corruption spilling over into Texas calls for action,” Flores said on social media after the Senate passed his bill “to track and monitor corrupt actors doing business in our state.”
He called on members of the Texas House to “hold them accountable and protect our home.”
SB 1884 amends state Government Code and current law related to identifying and sanctioning certain foreign actors. It requires the Texas Secretary of State to prepare a report every year by Sept. 1 identifying each foreign actor it’s found to have knowingly engaged in actions that undermine the security and sovereignty of Texas.
The list must include individuals who’ve engaged in “significant corruption or obstruction of investigations into acts of corruption in the foreign actor’s home country, including corruption related to government contracts; bribery and extortion; the transfer or facilitation of the transfer of proceeds of corruption, including through money laundering; acts of violence, harassment, or intimidation directed at governmental and nongovernmental corruption investigators; engaging in or aiding and abetting criminal activity, including human trafficking, across the Texas-Mexico border; and facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into this state from the United Mexican States,” according to the bill analysis.
It would directs the Secretary of State to obtain information necessary to prepare the report from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Comptroller’s Office, and any other relevant agencies. It also includes notification and rule making requirements as well as requiring the SOS to publish the report every year online.
The bill would require the Texas Comptroller’s Office to prohibit individuals, entities and businesses or those affiliated with them from entering into contracts with any state agency or political subdivision.
It also would amend the state education code to require governing boards of higher education institutions to deny admission to prospective students or expel enrolled students who are identified on the list or to corrupt foreign activities.
Courts would be required to revoke the registration of a foreign filing entity if an action brought against it by the Texas Attorney General’s Office found that “a high managerial agent of the entity is a foreign actor identified in SOS’s annual report of corrupt foreign actors,” according to the bill analysis.
The bill has been received by the House, which must hear it within a week. Otherwise, it and other bills not heard by a May 8 deadline will die.
This article First appeared in the center square