Hearings have been held recently in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on so-called “beneficial ownership” legislation to fight terrorism and money laundering by compelling both newly formed and already existing corporations and limited liability companies to disclose to the government every individual who “directly or indirectly” has “a substantial interest in or receives substantial economic benefits from” or exercises “substantial control” over the entity. The legislation under consideration in the House of Representatives is Section 9 of the Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act, and the Senate legislation is S. 1454. The legislation requires people responsible for new and existing corporations and LLCs to report the name, address and an unexpired driver’s license or passport number to the government for every individual who meets this standard, as it may be ultimately defined by regulators. These bills require updates within 60 days of the occurrence of any change in the list of people meeting one of these definitions, or any of the identifying information previously disclosed about them. The legislation includes criminal penalties. These legislative proposals have engendered considerable debate on Capitol Hill for many years. Clay Fuller of AEI and David Burton of Heritage will join us to discuss the new legislation and what it would mean for American businesses.
Featuring:
David R. Burton, Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, Roe institute for Economic Policy Studies, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity, The Heritage Foundation
Clay R. Fuller, AEI Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

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