I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 1338 To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the President to automatically waive certain critical document fees for individuals and households affected by major disasters for which assistance is provided under the Individuals and Households Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY13, 2025 Mr. N EGUSE(for himself and Ms. MALOY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the President to automatically waive certain crit- ical document fees for individuals and households af- fected by major disasters for which assistance is provided under the Individuals and Households Program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Replacing Essential 4 Passports and Licenses After Certain Emergencies Act’’ 5 or the ‘‘REPLACE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 1338 IH SEC. 2. CRITICAL DOCUMENT FEE WAIVER. 1 Section 1238(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act 2 of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5174b) is amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘applies re-4 gardless’’ and inserting ‘‘and the requirement of the 5 President to waive fees under paragraph (4) apply 6 regardless’’; 7 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para-8 graph (8); and 9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol-10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(4) W AIVER.—The President, in consultation 12 with the Governor of a State, shall provide a fee 13 waiver described in paragraph (1) to any individual 14 or household that has been adversely affected by a 15 major disaster declared under section 401 of the 16 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 17 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170)— 18 ‘‘(A) for which the President provides as-19 sistance to individuals and households under 20 section 408 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 5174); and 21 ‘‘(B) that destroyed a critical document de-22 scribed in paragraph (1) of the individual or 23 household. 24 ‘‘(5) W AIVER AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of 25 State and the Director of the United States Citizen-26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 1338 IH ship and Immigration Services shall make publicly 1 available on the website of the Department of State 2 and the United States Citizenship and Immigration 3 Services, respectively, a notice of the availability of 4 fee waivers described in paragraph (4). 5 ‘‘(6) R EPORT FROM USCIS .—Not later than 1 6 year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 7 and every year thereafter, the Director of the United 8 States Citizenship and Immigration Services shall 9 submit to Congress a report that includes, for the 10 period covered by the report— 11 ‘‘(A) the number of fee waivers granted 12 under this subsection; and 13 ‘‘(B) the cost to the United States Citizen-14 ship and Immigration Services of granting fee 15 waivers under this subsection. 16 ‘‘(7) R EPORT FROM DEPARTMENT OF STATE .— 17 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 18 of this paragraph, and every year thereafter, the 19 Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report 20 that includes, for the period covered by the report— 21 ‘‘(A) the number of fee waivers granted 22 under this subsection; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 1338 IH ‘‘(B) the cost to the Department of State 1 of granting fee waivers under this subsection.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB