[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9846 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9846

   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

                           September 25, 2024

Mr. Neguse (for himself and Mr. Curtis) 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.''.
                                 <all>