119-s1221

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1221 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1221

To prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with 
 the Maduro regime, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 April 1 (legislative day, March 31), 2025

 Mr. Scott of Florida (for himself, Mr. Cruz, and Mrs. Blackburn) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with 
 the Maduro regime, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Banning Operations and Leases with 
the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act'' or the ``BOLIVAR 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH PERSONS THAT HAVE BUSINESS 
 OPERATIONS WITH THE MADURO REGIME.

    (a) Prohibition.--Except as provided in subsections

    (b) ,
            (c) , and
            (d) , the head of an executive agency may not enter into a contract for 
the procurement of goods or services with any person that the head of 
an executive agency determines, with the concurrence of the Secretary 
of State, knowingly engages in significant business operations with an 
authority of the Government of Venezuela that is not recognized as the 
legitimate Government of Venezuela by the United States.

    (b) Exceptions.--

    (1) In general.--The prohibition under subsection

    (a) does 
 not apply to a contract that the Secretary of State 
 determines--
        (A) is necessary--
            (i) for purposes of providing humanitarian 
 assistance to the people of Venezuela;
            (ii) for purposes of providing disaster 
 relief and other urgent life-saving measures; 
 or
            (iii) to carry out noncombatant 
 evacuations; or
        (B) is in the national security interests of the 
 United States.

    (2) Support for united states government activities.--The 
 prohibition in subsection

    (a) shall not apply to contracts that 
 support United States Government activities in Venezuela, 
 including those necessary for the maintenance of United States 
 Government facilities in Venezuela, or to contracts with 
 international organizations.

    (3) Notification requirement.--The Secretary of State shall 
 notify the appropriate congressional committees of any contract 
 entered into on the basis of an exception provided for under 
 paragraph

    (1) .
            (c) Office of Foreign Assets Control Licenses.--The prohibition in 
subsection

    (a) does not apply to a person that has a valid license to 
operate in Venezuela issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
            (d) American Diplomatic Mission in Venezuela.--The prohibition in 
subsection

    (a) does not apply to contracts related to the operation and 
maintenance of the United States Government's consular offices and 
diplomatic posts in Venezuela.

    (e) Waiver.--The Secretary of State may waive the requirements of 
subsection

    (a) if the Secretary of State determines that to do so is in 
the national interest of the United States.

    (f) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
 ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland 
 Security and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
 Representatives.

    (2) Business operations.--The term ``business operations'' 
 means engaging in commerce in any form, including acquiring, 
 developing, maintaining, owning, selling, possessing, leasing, 
 or operating equipment, facilities, personnel, products, 
 services, personal property, real property, or any other 
 apparatus of business or commerce.

    (3) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
 the meaning given the term in 

section 133 of title 41, United 
 States Code.

    (4) Government of venezuela.--
        (A) The term ``Government of 
 Venezuela'' includes the government of any political 
 subdivision of Venezuela, and any agency or instrumentality of 
 the Government of Venezuela.
        (B) For purposes of subparagraph
        (A) , the term ``agency or 
 instrumentality of the Government of Venezuela'' means an 
 agency or instrumentality of a foreign state as defined in 
 

section 1603

    (b) of title 28, United States Code, with each 
 reference in such section to ``a foreign state'' deemed to be a 
 reference to ``Venezuela''.

    (5) Person.--The term ``person'' means--
        (A) a natural person, corporation, company, 
 business association, partnership, society, trust, or 
 any other nongovernmental entity, organization, or 
 group;
        (B) any governmental entity or instrumentality of a 
 government; and
            (C) any successor, subunit, parent entity, or 
 subsidiary of, or any entity under common ownership or 
 control with, any entity described in subparagraph
        (A) or
        (B) .

    (g) Term of Applicability.--This section shall apply with respect 
to any contract entered into during the three-year period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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