Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017

Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017

This bill directs the Department of State, with respect to covered countries, to annually include within either the relevant Annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices, the International Religious Freedom Report, or other appropriate report an assessment of the nature and extent of national laws or enforceable policies regarding the identification, return, or restitution of wrongfully seized or transferred Holocaust era assets and compliance with the goals of the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues, including:

• the return to the rightful owner of wrongfully seized or transferred property, including religious or communal property, or the provision of comparable substitute property or the payment of equitable compensation to the rightful owner;
• the use of the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and the Terezin Declaration in settling claims involving publicly and privately held movable property;
• the restitution of heirless property to assist needy Holocaust survivors; and
• progress on the resolution of claims for U.S. citizen Holocaust survivors and family members.

"Covered countries" means signatories to the Terezin Declaration that are determined by the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues to be countries of particular concern with respect to such restitution.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1226 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1226

To require reporting on acts of certain foreign countries on Holocaust 
         era assets and related issues, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2017

 Mr. Crowley (for himself and Mr. Smith of New Jersey) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require reporting on acts of certain foreign countries on Holocaust 
         era assets and related issues, 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 ``Justice for Uncompensated Survivors 
Today (JUST) Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORTING ON HOLOCAUST ERA ASSETS AND RELATED ISSUES.

    (a) In General.--For covered countries, the Secretary of State 
shall annually include within either the relevant Annual Country Report 
on Human Rights Practices, the International Religious Freedom Report, 
or other appropriate report as determined by the Secretary, an 
assessment and description of the nature and extent of national laws or 
enforceable policies regarding the identification and the return of or 
restitution for wrongfully seized or transferred Holocaust era assets 
and compliance with or progress toward the goals and objectives of the 
2009 Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues, 
including--
            (1) the return to the rightful owner of any property, 
        including religious or communal property, that was wrongfully 
        seized or transferred;
            (2) if return of such property is no longer possible, the 
        provision of comparable substitute property or the payment of 
        equitable compensation to the rightful owner in accordance with 
        principles of justice and through an expeditious claims-driven 
        administrative process that is just, transparent, and fair;
            (3) the use of the Washington Conference Principles on 
        Nazi-Confiscated Art, agreed to December 3, 1998, and the 
        Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Assets and Related Issues, 
        agreed to June 30, 2009, in settling all claims involving 
        publically and privately held movable property;
            (4) the restitution of heirless property to assist needy 
        Holocaust survivors, and for other purposes;
            (5) the extent to which such laws and policies are 
        implemented and enforced in practice, including through any 
        applicable administrative or judicial processes; and
            (6) the mechanism for and demonstrable progress on the 
        resolution of claims for United States citizen Holocaust 
        survivors and United States citizen family members of Holocaust 
        victims.
    (b) Effective Date of Inclusion.--
            (1) Inclusion in annual country report on human rights 
        practices or international religious freedom report.--If the 
        Secretary of State includes the information required under 
        subsection (a) in the report required under section 116(d) of 
        the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d); 
        commonly referred to as the ``Annual Country Reports on Human 
        Rights Practices'') or the report required under section 102(b) 
        of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 
        6412(b); commonly referred to as the ``International Religious 
        Freedom Report''), the requirement to include such information 
        shall apply beginning with the first such report under either 
        Act, as the case may be, submitted later than 180 days after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Inclusion in other department of state report.--If the 
        Secretary of State includes the information required under 
        subsection (a) in an existing report of the Department of State 
        other than a report described in paragraph (1), the requirement 
        to include such information shall apply beginning with the 
        first such report submitted later than 180 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) Inclusion in new report.--If the Secretary of State 
        includes the information required under subsection (a) in a new 
        report, the Secretary shall submit such report not later than 
        one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
            (2) Covered countries.--The term ``covered countries'' 
        means signatories to the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust 
        Assets and Related Issues, agreed to June 30, 2009, that are 
        determined by the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, in 
        consultation with expert nongovernmental organizations, to be 
        countries of particular concern relative to the issues listed 
        in subsection (a).
            (3) Wrongfully seized or transferred.--The term 
        ``wrongfully seized or transferred'' includes confiscations, 
        expropriations, nationalizations, forced sales or transfers, 
        and sales or transfers under duress during the Holocaust era or 
        the period of Communist rule of a covered country.
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