text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Judgment Evading Foreign States 
  Accountability Act of 2008''.
  
  SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.
  
      The purpose of this Act is to protect the economic interests of the 
  United States and its citizens from the irresponsible conduct of 
  certain foreign states, and agencies and instrumentalities of such 
  states, that willfully refuse to satisfy United States court judgments.
  
  SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) Foreign states and instrumentalities that do business 
          or raise capital in the United States, and then refuse to 
          satisfy judgments of United States courts entered against them 
          in connection with disputes resulting from these activities, 
          inflict billions of dollars of damage on United States 
          taxpayers, and undermine the credibility of the United States 
          courts.
              (2) The Republic of Argentina is a recent and egregious 
          example of such behavior. Argentina has borrowed tens of 
          billions of dollars in the United States capital markets 
          through the issuance of bonds, notes, and other securities 
          pursuant to which it agreed to be subject to the jurisdiction 
          of the United States courts in actions relating to those bonds 
          notes and securities, and both waived and pledged not to assert 
          immunity in such actions. Argentina defaulted on its debt to 
          foreign creditors in 2001, and scores of judgments, totaling 
          more than $2,000,000,000, have been entered against it by the 
          United States courts based on its default. Rather than satisfy 
          these obligations, Argentina has expressed its intention never 
          to pay any of the resulting judgments.
              (3) Since its default in 2001, Argentina's economy has 
          recovered dramatically. This recovery has enabled Argentina to 
          accumulate foreign exchange reserves worth tens of billions of 
          dollars, and to use those reserves to pay some creditors 
          preferentially over United States citizens and holders of 
          United States court judgments.
              (4) Other foreign states have expressed interest in 
          following Argentina's lead. For example, the Republic of 
          Ecuador has recently threatened to default on and repudiate 
          part of its sovereign debt, citing Argentina's default 
          approvingly as a precedent.
              (5) Foreign states that engage in such behavior can infect 
          the management of businesses within their borders with their 
          profligate and irresponsible habits. When the lax ethical 
          standards that permit government officials to flout lawful 
          judgments corrupt the corporate behavior as well, the injury to 
          United States taxpayers is intensified.
              (6) United States taxpayers who are injured by such 
          irresponsible conduct often have little or no recourse. The 
          existing laws of the United States are highly protective of 
          foreign states, and public and private corporations of judgment 
          evading foreign states often enjoy a safe haven within their 
          home country's borders from those who are injured by their 
          behavior.
              (7) Action by the United States Government to combat this 
          growing problem must include measures that both protect United 
          States taxpayers against the irresponsible conduct of judgment 
          evading foreign states and their domestic corporations, and 
          motivate such states and corporations to raise their standards 
          of behavior.
              (8) An effective means of achieving this important 
          objective without impinging on the President's freedom to act 
          in the foreign policy arena is to deprive judgment evading 
          foreign states and their domestic corporations of the privilege 
          of raising capital in the United States until those states 
          demonstrate that such measures are no longer necessary by 
          satisfying all outstanding judgments of the United States 
          courts.
  
  SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
  
      For purposes of this Act:
              (1) Judgment evading foreign state.--The term ``judgment 
          evading foreign state'' means any foreign state that--
                      (A) has one or more judgments entered against the 
                  foreign state by any United States district court or 
                  the court of any State, the combined amount of which 
                  exceeds $1,000,000; and
                      (B) fails to satisfy in full any such judgment for 
                  a period of more than 6 months after the judgment 
                  becomes a final judgment.
              (2) Domestic corporation of a judgment evading foreign 
          state.--The term ``domestic corporation of a judgment evading 
          foreign state'' means any corporation or entity, other than a 
          natural person--
                      (A) that is organized under the laws of a judgment 
                  evading foreign state; or
                      (B) a majority of the shares or other ownership 
                  interest of which is held, either directly or 
                  indirectly, by a judgment evading foreign state, or by 
                  one or more corporations or entities that is organized 
                  under the laws of a judgment evading foreign state.
              (3) Final judgment.--The term ``final judgment'' means any 
          judgment of a United States district court or the court of any 
          State, that is no longer eligible to be appealed to any court 
          in the United States.
              (4) Foreign state.--The term ``foreign state'' has the 
          meaning given that term in 1603(a) of title 28, United States 
          Code.
              (5) International organization.--The term ``international 
          organization'' means an entity designated by the President as 
          being entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions, and 
          immunities provided by the International Organizations 
          Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288 et seq.).
              (6) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
          States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
          territory, or possession of the United States.
  
  SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
  
      It shall be the policy of the United States--
              (1) to advocate within the governing bodies of 
          international organizations and in other foreign policy 
          settings for the full compensation and fair treatment of United 
          States citizens and other persons in whose favor judgments have 
          been awarded by the United States courts;
              (2) to seek to protect the economic interests of United 
          States taxpayers by restricting the access to the United States 
          capital markets of judgment evading foreign states, and 
          subjecting to Congressional scrutiny requests for aid made by 
          judgment evading foreign states to the United States 
          Government;
              (3) to seek to protect the authority of the United States 
          courts by preventing judgment evading foreign states from 
          willfully flouting the judgments of those courts; and
              (4) to enforce a series of mandatory penalties, increasing 
          over time, to prevent judgment evading foreign states from 
          engaging in such misconduct.
  
  SEC. 6. BAR ON ACCESS TO UNITED STATES CAPITAL MARKETS.
  
      The Securities and Exchange Commission shall take all effective 
  measures to deny every judgment evading foreign state access to United 
  States capital markets, including the ability, directly or indirectly, 
  to borrow or sell securities in the United States unless the proceeds 
  of such borrowing or sale are to be used, in the first instance, to 
  satisfy in full all final judgments that form the basis for that 
  foreign state's designation as a judgment evading foreign state. If any 
  judgment evading foreign state remains in default on any such final 
  judgment for more than 2 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission 
  shall take all measures to deny any domestic corporation of a judgment 
  evading foreign state access to the United States capital markets.
  
  SEC. 7. REQUESTS FOR AID OR ASSISTANCE FROM JUDGMENT EVADING FOREIGN 
                STATES.
  
      (a) Bilateral Assistance.--Whenever any proposal is made to a 
  department, agency, or other instrumentality of the United States 
  Government to extend aid, a loan, or any other form of assistance to a 
  judgment evading foreign state, the head of the department, agency, or 
  other instrumentality may consider the proposal only if it bears 
  prominently the legend described in subsection (c).
      (b) Multilateral Assistance.--Whenever any proposal is made to an 
  international organization of which the United States is a member to 
  extend aid, a loan, or any other form of assistance to a judgment 
  evading foreign state, the Secretary of State shall provide notice of 
  such proposal to the Congress in a prompt manner. Such notice shall 
  bear prominently the legend described in subsection (c).
      (c) Legend Described.--The legend of a proposal referred to in 
  subsection (a) and the legend of a notice referred to in subsection (b) 
  is the following: ``REQUEST FOR GRANT-IN-AID OR LOAN BY A JUDGMENT 
  EVADING FOREIGN STATE''.
  
  SEC. 8. REPORTS; RECOMMENDATIONS OF ADDITIONAL MEASURES.
  
      (a) Report.--Not later than January 31 of each year, the Secretary 
  of the Treasury shall provide a report, in writing, to the Congress 
  identifying each judgment evading foreign state, and, for each such 
  judgment evading foreign state--
              (1) setting forth the basis of the Secretary's 
          determination that it meets the definition of judgment evading 
          foreign state;
              (2) quantifying the impact on the United States economy, 
          and the cost to United States taxpayers, of the unsatisfied 
          final judgments that form the basis for the foreign state's 
          designation as a judgment evading foreign state; and
              (3) describing all measures that the Department of the 
          Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Securities and 
          Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
          and representatives of the United States before international 
          organizations have taken in the preceding year to carry out 
          this Act.
      (b) Termination of Designation as Judgment Evading Foreign State.--
  At such time as the Secretary of the Treasury determines that a foreign 
  state no longer qualifies as a judgment evading foreign state, the 
  Secretary shall so certify to the Congress no later than in the next 
  annual report to Congress under subsection (a), at which time the 
  requirements and prohibitions under this Act shall no longer apply to 
  such former judgment evading foreign state.
      (c) Responsibilities of Other Departments.--In every report 
  prepared by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, or 
  the Secretary of Commerce for the public relating to the economic risk 
  or investment climate of a judgment evading foreign state, such 
  Secretary shall reference the findings of the Secretary of the Treasury 
  from the Secretary of the Treasury's most recent annual report to 
  Congress under subsection (a) relating to the unsatisfied final 
  judgments outstanding against the judgment evading foreign state.
      (d) Recommendations to Congress.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
  shall provide to the Congress written recommendations on additional 
  measures to carry out the purposes of this Act.
target: Judgment Evading Foreign States Accountability Act of 2008 - Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to deny a judgment evading foreign state (as defined by this Act) access to U.S. capital markets unless the proceeds of such borrowing or sale are to be used to satisfy in full all final judgments that form the basis for such designation as a judgment evading foreign state.
  
  Requires: (1) a proposal to extend bilateral or multilateral assistance to a judgment evading state to bear notice that such state is a judgment evading state; and (2) the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to Congress identifying each such state.
feat_title: To take certain measures against countries that fail to satisfy judgments totaling more than $1,000,000 entered against them in courts in the United States.