(The Center Square) – Assistance from one of North Carolina’s 100 county sheriffs helped a freshman congressman craft legislation to assist law enforcement’s fight against international cartels.

If passed, the Financial Intelligence and National Security Act – FINS Act for short – would amend Section 5312 of Title 31, classifying wire transfer service providers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.

“This is a vital step in addressing the national drug crisis that is taking American lives every single day,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.

U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., author of the bill, said drug traffickers, human smugglers and terrorist financiers use wire transfer companies such as Western Union and Ria as “a backdoor into our financial system.”

“It’s been a gift to the worst people in the world – and Washington let it happen,” Harrigan said. “The FINS Act shuts that door. It brings accountability, oversight and puts our national security first.”

Harrigan says billions of dollars are moving with little to no oversight. He says it funds fentanyl, human trafficking and organized crime.

In examples, Harrigan said three cellphone stores in Ohio laundered $44 million in cartel drug proceeds. Fake names were used, and heroin and fentanyl profits went across the border. In Atlanta, $40 million was used in drug money for trafficking and organized crime, he said.

In Oakland, the representative from the 10th Congressional District said, a shop called Rincon Musical used WhatsApp to shift thousands of dollars in street drug profits. A woman in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, Harrigan said, got what appeared to be legitimate transfers even though it was thousands of dollars for a cartel from fentanyl and heroin sold in American cities.

“This bill requires wire services to follow the same anti-money laundering rules as banks – so these kinds of operations can’t happen,” Harrigan said.

(The Center Square) – Diversity polices in state government would be eliminated if legislation passing the North Carolina House of Representatives becomes law.

Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI, known also as House Bill 171, is in the Senate’s Rules Committee after clearing the lower chamber 69-45. No Democrats supported it, and no Republicans were against.

“Bureaucracy has grown, not to serve but to sort, dividing people by race, sex, background, and calling it progress,” Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, said in his floor speech for the bill he authored. “It puts an end to the idea that the background should outweigh ability. It stops public jobs, promotions and contracts from being awarded based on political agendas, and it restores the principle that should have never been lost: Can you do the job? Did you earn it? Are you qualified?”

He told the chamber the proposal will ensure hiring and promotion decision based on qualifications. He also took time to explain it will not ban Black History Month, Pride Month or any cultural celebrations; rather, he said, “it explicitly protects them.”

“It bans unequal treatment funded by the public,” Jones said.

Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, leader of the minority party in the chamber, on the floor said, “Rep. Jones said, ‘We value diversity.’ But the first line of this bill says, ‘an act eliminating diversity initiatives.’ You cannot value what you are seeking to eliminate.”

The bill says, “No state agency shall promote, support, fund, implement, or maintain workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), including using DEI in state government hirings and employment; maintaining dedicated DEI staff positions or offices; or offering or requiring DEI training.”

The Senate has passed bills banning DEI in higher education and K-12 schools.