Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1677 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1677
5	5	To secure the Federal voting rights of persons when released from
6	6	incarceration.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MAY18, 2023
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	ARDIN(for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. CASEY, Mrs. FEIN-
11	11	STEIN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. SMITH, Mr.
12	12	W
13	13	ELCH, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. KLO-
14	14	BUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. VANHOLLEN,
15	15	Ms. H
16	16	IRONO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. DURBIN)
17	17	introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
18	18	Committee on the Judiciary
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To secure the Federal voting rights of persons when released
21	21	from incarceration.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Democracy Restoration 4
26	26	Act of 2023’’. 5
27	27	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
28	28	Congress makes the following findings: 7
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32	32	(1) The right to vote is the most basic constitu-1
33	33	tive act of citizenship. Regaining the right to vote 2
34	34	reintegrates individuals with criminal convictions 3
35	35	into free society, helping to enhance public safety. 4
36	36	(2) Article I, section 4, of the Constitution 5
37	37	grants Congress ultimate supervisory power over 6
38	38	Federal elections, an authority which has repeatedly 7
39	39	been upheld by the United States Supreme Court. 8
40	40	(3) Basic constitutional principles of fairness 9
41	41	and equal protection require an equal opportunity 10
42	42	for citizens of the United States to vote in Federal 11
43	43	elections. The right to vote may not be abridged or 12
44	44	denied by the United States or by any State on ac-13
45	45	count of race, color, gender, or previous condition of 14
46	46	servitude. The 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 15
47	47	26th Amendments to the Constitution empower Con-16
48	48	gress to enact measures to protect the right to vote 17
49	49	in Federal elections. The 8th Amendment to the 18
50	50	Constitution provides for no excessive bail to be re-19
51	51	quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and 20
52	52	unusual punishments inflicted. 21
53	53	(4) There are 3 areas in which discrepancies in 22
54	54	State laws regarding criminal convictions lead to un-23
55	55	fairness in Federal elections— 24
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59	59	(A) the lack of a uniform standard for vot-1
60	60	ing in Federal elections leads to an unfair dis-2
61	61	parity and unequal participation in Federal 3
62	62	elections based solely on where a person lives; 4
63	63	(B) laws governing the restoration of vot-5
64	64	ing rights after a criminal conviction vary 6
65	65	throughout the country and persons in some 7
66	66	States can easily regain their voting rights 8
67	67	while in other States persons effectively lose 9
68	68	their right to vote permanently; and 10
69	69	(C) State disenfranchisement laws dis-11
70	70	proportionately impact racial and ethnic minori-12
71	71	ties. 13
72	72	(5) State disenfranchisement laws vary widely. 14
73	73	Two States (Maine and Vermont) and the Common-15
74	74	wealth of Puerto Rico do not disenfranchise individ-16
75	75	uals with criminal convictions at all. In 2020, the 17
76	76	District of Columbia re-enfranchised its citizens who 18
77	77	are under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of 19
78	78	Prisons. Twenty-five States disenfranchise certain 20
79	79	individuals on felony probation or parole. During 21
80	80	2023, lawmakers in Minnesota and New Mexico ex-22
81	81	panded voting rights to citizens on felony probation 23
82	82	and parole. In 11 States, a conviction for certain of-24
83	83	fenses can result in lifetime disenfranchisement. 25
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87	87	(6) Several States deny the right to vote to in-1
88	88	dividuals convicted of certain misdemeanors. 2
89	89	(7) In 2022, over 4,600,000 citizens of the 3
90	90	United States, or about 1 in 50 adults in the United 4
91	91	States, could not vote as a result of a felony convic-5
92	92	tion. Of the 4,600,000 citizens barred from voting 6
93	93	then, only 23 percent were in prison or jail. By con-7
94	94	trast, 75 percent of persons disenfranchised then re-8
95	95	sided in their communities while on probation or pa-9
96	96	role or after having completed their sentences. Ap-10
97	97	proximately 2,200,000 citizens who had completed 11
98	98	their sentences were disenfranchised due to restric-12
99	99	tive State laws. Over 930,000 Floridians who com-13
100	100	pleted their sentence remain disenfranchised because 14
101	101	of a pay-to-vote requirement that was enacted by 15
102	102	Florida lawmakers in 2019 to undermine the impact 16
103	103	of a 2018 ballot initiative that eliminated the life-17
104	104	time ban for persons with certain felony convictions. 18
105	105	In 3 States—Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee— 19
106	106	more than 8 percent of the total population is 20
107	107	disenfranchised. 21
108	108	(8) In those States that disenfranchise individ-22
109	109	uals post-sentence, the right to vote can be regained 23
110	110	in theory, but in practice this possibility is often 24
111	111	granted in a non-uniform and potentially discrimina-25
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115	115	tory manner. Disenfranchised individuals sometimes 1
116	116	must either obtain a pardon or an order from the 2
117	117	Governor or an action by the parole or pardon 3
118	118	board, depending on the offense and State. Financial 4
119	119	restrictions may also inhibit individuals who have 5
120	120	completed their sentences from re-enfranchisement. 6
121	121	Individuals convicted of a Federal offense often have 7
122	122	additional barriers to regaining voting rights. 8
123	123	(9) Many felony disenfranchisement laws today 9
124	124	derive directly from post-Civil War efforts to stifle 10
125	125	the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Between 11
126	126	1865 and 1880, at least 14 States—Alabama, Ar-12
127	127	kansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mis-13
128	128	sissippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Caro-14
129	129	lina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas—en-15
130	130	acted or expanded their felony disenfranchisement 16
131	131	laws. One of the primary goals of these laws was to 17
132	132	prevent African Americans from voting. Of the 18
133	133	States that enacted or expanded their felony dis-19
134	134	enfranchisement laws during this post-Civil War pe-20
135	135	riod, at least 11 continue to preclude persons on fel-21
136	136	ony probation or parole from voting. 22
137	137	(10) State disenfranchisement laws dispropor-23
138	138	tionately impact racial and ethnic minorities. In re-24
139	139	cent years, African Americans have been imprisoned 25
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143	143	at over 5 times the rate of Whites. More than 6 per-1
144	144	cent of the voting-age African-American population, 2
145	145	or 1,800,000 African Americans, are disenfranchised 3
146	146	due to a felony conviction. In 9 States—Alabama 4
147	147	(16 percent), Arizona (13 percent), Florida (15 per-5
148	148	cent), Kentucky (15 percent), Mississippi (16 per-6
149	149	cent), South Dakota (14 percent), Tennessee (21 7
150	150	percent), Virginia (16 percent), and Wyoming (36 8
151	151	percent)—more than 1 in 8 African Americans are 9
152	152	unable to vote because of a felony conviction, twice 10
153	153	the national average for African Americans. 11
154	154	(11) Latino citizens are also disproportionately 12
155	155	disenfranchised based upon their disproportionate 13
156	156	representation in the criminal justice system. Al-14
157	157	though data on ethnicity in correctional populations 15
158	158	are unevenly reported and undercounted in some 16
159	159	States, a conservative estimate is that at least 17
160	160	506,000 Latino Americans or 1.7 percent of the vot-18
161	161	ing-age population are disenfranchised. More than 2 19
162	162	percent of the voting-age Latino population, or 20
163	163	560,000 Latinos, are disenfranchised due to a felony 21
164	164	conviction. In 31 States Latinos are disenfranchised 22
165	165	at a higher rate than the general population. In Ari-23
166	166	zona and Tennessee over 6 percent of Latino voters 24
167	167	are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. 25
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171	171	(12) Women have been significantly impacted 1
172	172	by mass incarceration since the early 1980s. Ap-2
173	173	proximately 1,000,000 women were disenfranchised 3
174	174	in 2022, comprising over 20 percent of the total 4
175	175	disenfranchised population. 5
176	176	(13) Disenfranchising citizens who have been 6
177	177	convicted of a criminal offense and who are living 7
178	178	and working in the community serves no compelling 8
179	179	State interest and hinders their rehabilitation and 9
180	180	reintegration into society. Models of successful re- 10
181	181	entry for persons convicted of a crime emphasize the 11
182	182	importance of community ties, feeling vested and in-12
183	183	tegrated, and prosocial attitudes. Individuals with 13
184	184	criminal convictions who succeed in avoiding recidi-14
185	185	vism are typically more likely to see themselves as 15
186	186	law-abiding members of the community. Restoration 16
187	187	of voting rights builds those qualities and facilitates 17
188	188	reintegration into the community. That is why allow-18
189	189	ing citizens with criminal convictions who are living 19
190	190	in a community to vote is correlated with a lower 20
191	191	likelihood of recidivism. Restoration of voting rights 21
192	192	thus reduces violence and protects public safety. 22
193	193	(14) State disenfranchisement laws can sup-23
194	194	press electoral participation among eligible voters by 24
195	195	discouraging voting among family and community 25
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199	199	members of disenfranchised persons. Future elec-1
200	200	toral participation by the children of disenfranchised 2
201	201	parents may be impacted as well. 3
202	202	(15) The United States is one of the only West-4
203	203	ern democracies that permits the permanent denial 5
204	204	of voting rights for individuals with felony convic-6
205	205	tions. 7
206	206	(16) The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on 8
207	207	cruel and unusual punishments ‘‘guarantees individ-9
208	208	uals the right not to be subjected to excessive sanc-10
209	209	tions.’’ (Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 560 11
210	210	(2005)). That right stems from the basic precept of 12
211	211	justice ‘‘that punishment for crime should be grad-13
212	212	uated and proportioned to [the] offense.’’ Id. 14
213	213	(quoting Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349, 15
214	214	367 (1910)). As the Supreme Court has long recog-16
215	215	nized, ‘‘[t]he concept of proportionality is central to 17
216	216	the Eighth Amendment.’’ (Graham v. Florida, 560 18
217	217	U.S. 48, 59 (2010)). Many State disenfranchisement 19
218	218	laws are grossly disproportional to the offenses that 20
219	219	lead to disenfranchisement and thus violate the bar 21
220	220	on cruel and unusual punishments. For example, a 22
221	221	number of States mandate lifetime disenfranchise-23
222	222	ment for a single felony conviction or just two felony 24
223	223	convictions, even where the convictions were for non- 25
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227	227	violent offenses. In numerous other States, dis-1
228	228	enfranchisement can last years or even decades while 2
229	229	individuals remain on probation or parole, often only 3
230	230	because a person cannot pay their legal financial ob-4
231	231	ligations. These kinds of extreme voting bans run 5
232	232	afoul of the Eighth Amendment. 6
233	233	(17) The Twenty-Fourth Amendment provides 7
234	234	that the right to vote ‘‘shall not be denied or 8
235	235	abridged by the United States or any State by rea-9
236	236	son of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.’’ Sec-10
237	237	tion 2 of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment gives Con-11
238	238	gress the power to enforce this article by appropriate 12
239	239	legislation. Court fines and fees that individuals 13
240	240	must pay to have their voting rights restored con-14
241	241	stitute an ‘‘other tax’’ for purposes of the Twenty- 15
242	242	Fourth Amendment. At least five States explicitly 16
243	243	require the payment of fines and fees before individ-17
244	244	uals with felony convictions can have their voting 18
245	245	rights restored. More than 20 other States effec-19
246	246	tively tie the right to vote to the payment of fines 20
247	247	and fees, by requiring that individuals complete their 21
248	248	probation or parole before their rights are restored. 22
249	249	In these States, the non-payment of fines and fees 23
250	250	is a basis on which probation or parole can be ex-24
251	251	tended. Moreover, these States sometimes do not 25
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255	255	record the basis on which an individual’s probation 1
256	256	or parole was extended, making it impossible to de-2
257	257	termine from the State’s records whether non-pay-3
258	258	ment of fines and fees is the reason that an indi-4
259	259	vidual remains on probation or parole. For these 5
260	260	reasons, the only way to ensure that States do not 6
261	261	deny the right to vote based solely on non-payment 7
262	262	of fines and fees is to prevent States from condi-8
263	263	tioning voting rights on the completion of probation 9
264	264	or parole. 10
265	265	SEC. 3. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 11
266	266	The right of an individual who is a citizen of the 12
267	267	United States to vote in any election for Federal office 13
268	268	shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has 14
269	269	been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual 15
270	270	is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution 16
271	271	or facility at the time of the election. 17
272	272	SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 18
273	273	(a) A
274	274	TTORNEYGENERAL.—The Attorney General 19
275	275	may, in a civil action, obtain such declaratory or injunctive 20
276	276	relief as is necessary to remedy a violation of this Act. 21
277	277	(b) P
278	278	RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.— 22
279	279	(1) I
280	280	N GENERAL.—A person who is aggrieved 23
281	281	by a violation of this Act may provide written notice 24
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285	285	of the violation to the chief election official of the 1
286	286	State involved. 2
287	287	(2) R
288	288	ELIEF.—Except as provided in paragraph 3
289	289	(3), if the violation is not corrected within 90 days 4
290	290	after receipt of a notice under paragraph (1), or 5
291	291	within 20 days after receipt of the notice if the viola-6
292	292	tion occurred within 120 days before the date of an 7
293	293	election for Federal office, the aggrieved person 8
294	294	may, in a civil action, obtain declaratory or injunc-9
295	295	tive relief with respect to the violation. 10
296	296	(3) E
297	297	XCEPTION.—If the violation occurred 11
298	298	within 30 days before the date of an election for 12
299	299	Federal office, the aggrieved person need not provide 13
300	300	notice to the chief election official of the State under 14
301	301	paragraph (1) before bringing a civil action to obtain 15
302	302	declaratory or injunctive relief with respect to the 16
303	303	violation. 17
304	304	SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION OF RESTORATION OF VOTING 18
305	305	RIGHTS. 19
306	306	(a) S
307	307	TATENOTIFICATION.— 20
308	308	(1) N
309	309	OTIFICATION.—On the date determined 21
310	310	under paragraph (2), each State shall notify in writ-22
311	311	ing any individual who has been convicted of a 23
312	312	criminal offense under the law of that State that 24
313	313	such individual has the right to vote in an election 25
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317	317	for Federal office pursuant to the Democracy Res-1
318	318	toration Act of 2023 and may register to vote in any 2
319	319	such election and provide such individuals with any 3
320	320	materials that are necessary to register to vote in 4
321	321	any such election. 5
322	322	(2) D
323	323	ATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 6
324	324	(A) F
325	325	ELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 7
326	326	such an individual who has been convicted of a 8
327	327	felony, the notification required under para-9
328	328	graph (1) shall be given on the date on which 10
329	329	the individual— 11
330	330	(i) is sentenced to serve only a term 12
331	331	of probation; or 13
332	332	(ii) is released from the custody of 14
333	333	that State (other than to the custody of 15
334	334	another State or the Federal Government 16
335	335	to serve a term of imprisonment for a fel-17
336	336	ony conviction). 18
337	337	(B) M
338	338	ISDEMEANOR CONVICTION .—In the 19
339	339	case of such an individual who has been con-20
340	340	victed of a misdemeanor, the notification re-21
341	341	quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 22
342	342	the date on which such individual is sentenced 23
343	343	by a State court. 24
344	344	(b) F
345	345	EDERALNOTIFICATION.— 25
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349	349	(1) NOTIFICATION.—Any individual who has 1
350	350	been convicted of a criminal offense under Federal 2
351	351	law shall be notified in accordance with paragraph 3
352	352	(2) that such individual has the right to vote in an 4
353	353	election for Federal office pursuant to the Democ-5
354	354	racy Restoration Act of 2023 and may register to 6
355	355	vote in any such election. 7
356	356	(2) D
357	357	ATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 8
358	358	(A) F
359	359	ELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 9
360	360	such an individual who has been convicted of a 10
361	361	felony, the notification required under para-11
362	362	graph (1) shall be given— 12
363	363	(i) in the case of an individual who is 13
364	364	sentenced to serve only a term of proba-14
365	365	tion, by the Assistant Director for the Of-15
366	366	fice of Probation and Pretrial Services of 16
367	367	the Administrative Office of the United 17
368	368	States Courts on the date on which the in-18
369	369	dividual is sentenced; or 19
370	370	(ii) in the case of any individual com-20
371	371	mitted to the custody of the Bureau of 21
372	372	Prisons, by the Director of the Bureau of 22
373	373	Prisons, during the period beginning on 23
374	374	the date that is 6 months before such indi-24
375	375	vidual is released and ending on the date 25
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379	379	such individual is released from the cus-1
380	380	tody of the Bureau of Prisons. 2
381	381	(B) M
382	382	ISDEMEANOR CONVICTION .—In the 3
383	383	case of such an individual who has been con-4
384	384	victed of a misdemeanor, the notification re-5
385	385	quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 6
386	386	the date on which such individual is sentenced 7
387	387	by a court established by an Act of Congress. 8
388	388	SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 9
389	389	For purposes of this Act: 10
390	390	(1) C
391	391	ORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OR FACIL -11
392	392	ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’ 12
393	393	means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu-13
394	394	tion or facility for the confinement of individuals 14
395	395	convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or 15
396	396	privately operated, except that such term does not 16
397	397	include any residential community treatment center 17
398	398	(or similar public or private facility). 18
399	399	(2) E
400	400	LECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means— 19
401	401	(A) a general, special, primary, or runoff 20
402	402	election; 21
403	403	(B) a convention or caucus of a political 22
404	404	party held to nominate a candidate; 23
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408	408	(C) a primary election held for the selec-1
409	409	tion of delegates to a national nominating con-2
410	410	vention of a political party; or 3
411	411	(D) a primary election held for the expres-4
412	412	sion of a preference for the nomination of per-5
413	413	sons for election to the office of President. 6
414	414	(3) F
415	415	EDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of-7
416	416	fice’’ means the office of President or Vice President 8
417	417	of the United States, or of Senator or Representa-9
418	418	tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, 10
419	419	the Congress of the United States. 11
420	420	(4) P
421	421	ROBATION.—The term ‘‘probation’’ means 12
422	422	probation, imposed by a Federal, State, or local 13
423	423	court, with or without a condition on the individual 14
424	424	involved concerning— 15
425	425	(A) the individual’s freedom of movement; 16
426	426	(B) the payment of damages by the indi-17
427	427	vidual; 18
428	428	(C) periodic reporting by the individual to 19
429	429	an officer of the court; or 20
430	430	(D) supervision of the individual by an of-21
431	431	ficer of the court. 22
432	432	SEC. 7. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 23
433	433	(a) S
434	434	TATELAWSRELATING TOVOTINGRIGHTS.— 24
435	435	Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any 25
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439	439	State from enacting any State law which affords the right 1
440	440	to vote in any election for Federal office on terms less 2
441	441	restrictive than those established by this Act. 3
442	442	(b) C
443	443	ERTAINFEDERALACTS.—The rights and rem-4
444	444	edies established by this Act are in addition to all other 5
445	445	rights and remedies provided by law, and neither rights 6
446	446	and remedies established by this Act shall supersede, re-7
447	447	strict, or limit the application of the Voting Rights Act 8
448	448	of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), the National Voter 9
449	449	Registration Act (52 U.S.C. 20501), or the Help America 10
450	450	Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.). 11
451	451	SEC. 8. FEDERAL PRISON FUNDS. 12
452	452	No State, unit of local government, or other person 13
453	453	may receive or use, to construct or otherwise improve a 14
454	454	prison, jail, or other place of incarceration, any Federal 15
455	455	funds unless that State, unit of local government, or per-16
456	456	son— 17
457	457	(1) is in compliance with section 3; and 18
458	458	(2) has in effect a program under which each 19
459	459	individual incarcerated in that person’s jurisdiction 20
460	460	who is a citizen of the United States is notified, 21
461	461	upon release from such incarceration, of that indi-22
462	462	vidual’s rights under section 3. 23
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465	465	•S 1677 IS
466	466	SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 1
467	467	This Act shall apply to citizens of the United States 2
468	468	voting in any election for Federal office held on or after 3
469	469	the date of the enactment of this Act. 4
470	470	Æ
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