To amend the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 to preserve the confidentiality of certain records, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Mike Lee
R-UT | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Lee (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Saving Privacy Act dramatically strengthens financial privacy protections for Americans by requiring law enforcement to obtain search warrants before accessing bank records, terminating a securities surveillance system that tracks investor trading activity, prohibiting the Federal Reserve from creating a digital dollar, and requiring Congress to approve major federal regulations before they take effect.
Who Benefits and How
Banks and financial institutions benefit significantly through reduced compliance burdens, as the bill repeals major Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements including currency transaction reports. Cryptocurrency companies and users benefit from explicit protections that prevent federal agencies from restricting their use of digital currencies, while also eliminating potential competition from a government-issued digital dollar. The securities industry (brokers, exchanges, FINRA) benefits from the termination of the Consolidated Audit Trail, which required them to report detailed trading data including investor personal information. Payment processors like PayPal and Venmo benefit from higher reporting thresholds for IRS Form 1099-K. Individual Americans gain stronger legal protections for their financial privacy, including the right to sue for violations and criminal penalties for government employees who illegally access records.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Law enforcement agencies face significant new obstacles to financial investigations, as they must now obtain search warrants rather than using subpoenas, administrative summons, or national security letters. The Treasury Department and FinCEN lose their primary tools for detecting money laundering and terrorist financing. The SEC loses its ability to monitor market manipulation and insider trading through the Consolidated Audit Trail. Federal regulatory agencies must obtain Congressional approval for any rule with significant economic impact before it can take effect, substantially slowing the regulatory process. The IRS receives less tax compliance information from payment platforms.
Key Provisions
- Requires search warrants for government access to financial records, with Fourth Amendment protections and criminal penalties (up to 10 years imprisonment) for violations
- Terminates the SEC Consolidated Audit Trail within 30 days and prohibits future centralized databases collecting investor personal information
- Prohibits the Federal Reserve and Treasury from issuing a central bank digital currency to individuals or using it on the Fed balance sheet
- Implements the REINS Act requiring Congressional approval of "major rules" (those with M+ economic impact) before they take effect
- Raises IRS reporting threshold for payment platforms from to ,000 and 200 transactions per year
- Protects cryptocurrency users from federal restrictions on personal use of digital currencies
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Strengthens financial privacy protections by requiring warrants for government access to financial records, terminates the SEC Consolidated Audit Trail, prohibits central bank digital currencies, and requires Congressional approval for major federal regulations.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Combines financial privacy protections with deregulatory measures and limits on executive branch rulemaking authority; frames as constitutional rights protection"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Financial institutions (reduced compliance burden from BSA reporting)
- Cryptocurrency and fintech companies (no CBDC competition)
- Securities industry (no CAT surveillance system)
- Regulated industries generally (Congressional approval for major rules)
- Individuals (stronger financial privacy protections)
Likely Burden Bearers
- Law enforcement agencies (harder to access financial records)
- Financial regulators (SEC, FinCEN lose surveillance tools)
- Federal Reserve (prohibited from CBDC development)
- Executive branch agencies (major rules require Congressional approval)
- Anti-money laundering enforcement (BSA provisions repealed)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Securities and Exchange Commission
- "the_board"
- → Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
- "federal_agency"
- → Any Federal agency promulgating rules
- "the_comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General (GAO)
Note: The Secretary in Title IV refers to Secretary of the Treasury in context of CBDC prohibition
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Includes Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Rule likely to result in annual effect on economy of 100,000,000 dollars or more, major increase in costs/prices, or significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, or innovation
Any rule that is not a major rule
Securities and Exchange Commission
The consolidated audit trail and central repository created pursuant to 17 CFR 242.613
Information that can be used to distinguish or trace identity of an individual, including name, address, DOB, SSN, phone, email, IP address; excludes CAT-Order-ID and CAT-Reporter-ID
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology