I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5233
To amend the Passport Act of June 4, 1920, to make certain improvements
with respect to expenditure and other authorities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST18, 2023
Mr. C
ARTERof Georgia (for himself, Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER, Ms. LEEof
Nevada, Mr. M
ILLERof Ohio, Mr. MILLS, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. NUNNof
Iowa, Ms. S
ALAZAR, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. WEBSTERof Flor-
ida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Passport Act of June 4, 1920, to make certain
improvements with respect to expenditure and other au-
thorities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 3
In this Act, the following definitions apply: 4
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -5
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-6
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Relations 7
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of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 1
of the House of Representatives. 2
(2) D
EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 3
means the Department of State. 4
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5
the Secretary of State. 6
SEC. 2. PASSPORT FEE EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY EXTEN-7
SION. 8
(a) W
ESTERNHEMISPHERETRAVELINITIATIVE 9
F
EE.—To make permanent the Western Hemisphere 10
Travel Initiative fee, section 1(b) of the Passport Act of 11
June 4, 1920, (22 U.S.C. 214(b)(1)) is amended— 12
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 13
(2) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3). 14
(b) P
ASSPORTFEES.—Section 1(b) of the Passport 15
Act of June 4, 1920, as amended by subsection (a), shall 16
be applied through fiscal year 2028 by striking ‘‘such 17
costs’’ and inserting ‘‘the costs of providing consular serv-18
ices’’. 19
(c) M
ODERNIZATION OFPASSPORTPROCESSING.—A 20
portion of the expanded expenditure authorities provided 21
in subsections (a) and (b) shall be used— 22
(1) to modernize consular systems, with an em-23
phasis on passport and citizenship services; and 24
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(2) towards a feasibility study on how the De-1
partment could provide urgent, in-person passport 2
services to significant populations with the longest 3
travel times to existing passport agencies, including 4
the possibility of building new passport agencies. 5
SEC. 3. SPECIAL HIRING AUTHORITY FOR PASSPORT SERV-6
ICES. 7
During the 3-year period beginning on the date of 8
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, without 9
regard to the provisions under sections 3309 through 10
3318 of title 5, United States Code, may directly appoint 11
candidates to positions in the competitive service (as de-12
fined in section 2102 of such title) at the Department in 13
the Passport and Visa Examining Series 0967. 14
SEC. 4. QUARTERLY REPORT ON PASSPORT WAIT TIMES. 15
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-16
ment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter for the following 17
3 years, the Secretary shall submit a report to the appro-18
priate congressional committees that describes— 19
(1) the current estimated wait times for pass-20
port processing; 21
(2) the steps that have been taken by the De-22
partment to reduce wait times to a reasonable time; 23
(3) efforts to improve the rollout of the online 24
passport renewal processing program, including how 25
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much of passport revenues the Department is spend-1
ing on consular systems modernization; 2
(4) the demand for urgent passport services by 3
major metropolitan area; 4
(5) the steps that have been taken by the De-5
partment to reduce and meet the demand for urgent 6
passport services, particularly in areas that are 7
greater than 5 hours driving time from the nearest 8
passport agency; and 9
(6) how the Department details its staff and re-10
sources to passport services programs. 11
SEC. 5. PASSPORT TRAVEL ADVISORIES. 12
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-13
ment of this Act, the Department shall make prominently 14
available in United States regular passports, on the first 15
3 pages of the passport, the following information: 16
(1) A prominent, clear advisory for all travelers 17
to check travel.state.gov for updated travel warnings 18
and advisories. 19
(2) A prominent, clear notice urging all trav-20
elers to register with the Department prior to over-21
seas travel. 22
(3) A prominent, clear advisory— 23
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(A) noting that many countries deny entry 1
to travelers during the last 6 months of their 2
passport validity period; and 3
(B) urging all travelers to renew their 4
passport not later than 1 year prior to its expi-5
ration. 6
SEC. 6. STRATEGY TO ENSURE ACCESS TO PASSPORT SERV-7
ICES FOR ALL AMERICANS. 8
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-9
ment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a strategy 10
to the appropriate congressional committees, the Com-11
mittee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the Com-12
mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 13
for ensuring reasonable access to passport services for all 14
Americans, which shall include— 15
(1) a detailed strategy describing how the De-16
partment could— 17
(A) by not later than 1 year after submis-18
sion of the strategy, reduce passport processing 19
times to an acceptable average for renewals and 20
for expedited service; and 21
(B) by not later than 2 years after the 22
submission of the strategy, provide United 23
States residents living in a significant popu-24
lation center more than a 5-hour drive from a 25
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passport agency with urgent, in-person passport 1
services, including the possibility of building 2
new passport agencies; and 3
(2) a description of the specific resources re-4
quired to implement the strategy. 5
SEC. 7. STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL PASSPORT INFOR-6
MATION CENTER. 7
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-8
gress that passport wait times since 2021 have been unac-9
ceptably long and have created frustration among those 10
seeking to obtain or renew passports. 11
(b) O
NLINECHATFEATURE.—The Department 12
should develop an online tool with the capability for cus-13
tomers to correspond with customer service representa-14
tives regarding questions and updates pertaining to their 15
application for a passport or for the renewal of a passport. 16
(c) G
AOREPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 17
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 18
of the United States shall initiate a review of NPIC oper-19
ations, which shall include an analysis of the extent to 20
which NPIC— 21
(1) responds to constituent inquiries by tele-22
phone, including how long constituents are kept on 23
hold and their ability to be placed in a queue; 24
(2) provides personalized customer service; 25
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(3) maintains its telecommunications infra-1
structure to ensure it effectively handles call vol-2
umes; and 3
(4) other relevant issues the Comptroller Gen-4
eral deems appropriate. 5
SEC. 8. STRENGTHENING PASSPORT CUSTOMER VISIBILITY 6
AND TRANSPARENCY. 7
(a) O
NLINESTATUSTOOL.—Not later than 2 years 8
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Depart-9
ment should modernize the online passport application 10
status tool to include, to the greatest extent possible, step 11
by step updates on the status of their application, includ-12
ing with respect to the following stages: 13
(1) Submitted for processing. 14
(2) In process at a lockbox facility. 15
(3) Awaiting adjudication. 16
(4) In process of adjudication. 17
(5) Adjudicated with a result of approval or de-18
nial. 19
(6) Materials shipped. 20
(b) A
DDITIONALINFORMATION.—The tool pursuant 21
to subsection (a) should include a display that informs 22
each passport applicant of— 23
(1) the date on which his or her passport appli-24
cation was received; and 25
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(2) the estimated wait time remaining in the 1
passport application process. 2
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 3
of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of 4
State for Consular Affairs shall submit a report to the 5
appropriate congressional committees that outlines a plan 6
for coordinated comprehensive public outreach to increase 7
public awareness and understanding of— 8
(1) the online status tool required under sub-9
section (a); 10
(2) passport travel advisories required under 11
section 4; and 12
(3) passport wait times. 13
Æ
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