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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would make it easier for people to replace important documents after a major disaster. If a disaster is serious enough for federal help for individuals and families, the President would have to automatically waive certain government fees for people whose critical documents were lost or destroyed. The goal is to reduce the burden on disaster victims who need to replace things like identity or citizenship papers in order to get back on their feet.
- The fee waiver would apply to individuals and households affected by a major disaster that qualifies for federal assistance under the Individuals and Households Program.
- The President would issue the waiver in consultation with the governor of the affected state.
- The State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would have to post public notices on their websites telling people that these fee waivers are available.
- Both agencies would also have to send Congress yearly reports showing how many waivers were granted and how much the waivers cost.
Official Summaries
Replacing Essential Passports and Licenses After Certain Emergencies Act or the REPLACE Act
This bill automatically waives the fees to replace certain federal documents (e.g., passports, visas, or immigration documents) destroyed by a major disaster.
Under current law, the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may waive replacement fees for these critical documents for individuals or households adversely affected by a major disaster. The bill requires the State Department and USCIS to waive these replacement fees when the documents are destroyed by a major disaster for which assistance is provided under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individuals and Households Program. The agencies must notify the public of the availability of these waivers on their respective websites.
The bill also requires the State Department and USCIS to annually report to Congress the number of such fee waivers granted and the resulting cost to the respective agencies.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1338 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
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
February 13, 2025
Mr. Neguse (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 critical document fees for
individuals and households affected by major disasters for which
assistance is provided under the Individuals and Households Program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Replacing Essential Passports and
Licenses After Certain Emergencies Act'' or the ``REPLACE Act''.
SEC. 2. CRITICAL DOCUMENT FEE WAIVER.
Section 1238(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (42
U.S.C. 5174b) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``applies regardless''
and inserting ``and the requirement of the President to waive
fees under paragraph (4) apply regardless'';
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (8); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
``(4) Waiver.--The President, in consultation with the
Governor of a State, shall provide a fee waiver described in
paragraph (1) to any individual or household that has been
adversely affected by a major disaster declared under section
401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170)--
``(A) for which the President provides assistance
to individuals and households under section 408 of that
Act (42 U.S.C. 5174); and
``(B) that destroyed a critical document described
in paragraph (1) of the individual or household.
``(5) Waiver availability.--The Secretary of State and the
Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services shall make publicly available on the website of the
Department of State and the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services, respectively, a notice of the
availability of fee waivers described in paragraph (4).
``(6) Report from uscis.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this paragraph, and every year thereafter,
the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services shall submit to Congress a report that includes, for
the period covered by the report--
``(A) the number of fee waivers granted under this
subsection; and
``(B) the cost to the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services of granting fee waivers under this
subsection.
``(7) Report from department of state.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and every
year thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to
Congress a report that includes, for the period covered by the
report--
``(A) the number of fee waivers granted under this
subsection; and
``(B) the cost to the Department of State of
granting fee waivers under this subsection.''.
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