| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1338 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the President |
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| 6 | 6 | | to automatically waive certain critical document fees for individuals and |
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| 7 | 7 | | households affected by major disasters for which assistance is provided |
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| 8 | 8 | | under the Individuals and Households Program. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | FEBRUARY13, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. N |
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| 12 | 12 | | EGUSE(for himself and Ms. MALOY) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 13 | 13 | | was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to |
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| 16 | 16 | | require the President to automatically waive certain crit- |
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| 17 | 17 | | ical document fees for individuals and households af- |
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| 18 | 18 | | fected by major disasters for which assistance is provided |
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| 19 | 19 | | under the Individuals and Households Program. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Replacing Essential 4 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Passports and Licenses After Certain Emergencies Act’’ 5 |
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| 25 | 25 | | or the ‘‘REPLACE Act’’. 6 |
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| 26 | 26 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 |
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| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •HR 1338 IH |
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| 29 | 29 | | SEC. 2. CRITICAL DOCUMENT FEE WAIVER. 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Section 1238(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5174b) is amended— 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘applies re-4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | gardless’’ and inserting ‘‘and the requirement of the 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | President to waive fees under paragraph (4) apply 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | regardless’’; 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para-8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | graph (8); and 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol-10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | lowing: 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(4) W |
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| 41 | 41 | | AIVER.—The President, in consultation 12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | with the Governor of a State, shall provide a fee 13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | waiver described in paragraph (1) to any individual 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | or household that has been adversely affected by a 15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | major disaster declared under section 401 of the 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170)— 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | ‘‘(A) for which the President provides as-19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | sistance to individuals and households under 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | section 408 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 5174); and 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ‘‘(B) that destroyed a critical document de-22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | scribed in paragraph (1) of the individual or 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | household. 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ‘‘(5) W |
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| 55 | 55 | | AIVER AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | State and the Director of the United States Citizen-26 |
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| 58 | 58 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •HR 1338 IH |
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| 60 | 60 | | ship and Immigration Services shall make publicly 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | available on the website of the Department of State 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | and the United States Citizenship and Immigration 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | Services, respectively, a notice of the availability of 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | fee waivers described in paragraph (4). 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ‘‘(6) R |
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| 66 | 66 | | EPORT FROM USCIS .—Not later than 1 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | and every year thereafter, the Director of the United 8 |
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| 69 | 69 | | States Citizenship and Immigration Services shall 9 |
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| 70 | 70 | | submit to Congress a report that includes, for the 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | period covered by the report— 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ‘‘(A) the number of fee waivers granted 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | under this subsection; and 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ‘‘(B) the cost to the United States Citizen-14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ship and Immigration Services of granting fee 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | waivers under this subsection. 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘(7) R |
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| 78 | 78 | | EPORT FROM DEPARTMENT OF STATE .— 17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | of this paragraph, and every year thereafter, the 19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | that includes, for the period covered by the report— 21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ‘‘(A) the number of fee waivers granted 22 |
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| 84 | 84 | | under this subsection; and 23 |
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| 85 | 85 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 |
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| 86 | 86 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 87 | 87 | | •HR 1338 IH |
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| 88 | 88 | | ‘‘(B) the cost to the Department of State 1 |
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| 89 | 89 | | of granting fee waivers under this subsection.’’. 2 |
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| 90 | 90 | | Æ |
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| 91 | 91 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1338.IH H1338 |
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| 92 | 92 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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