UPDATE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1662 To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the Post- master General to provide State election officials with change of address information before a general election for Federal office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 8, 2021 Mr. VAN DREW (for himself and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the Postmaster General to provide State election officials with change of address information before a general election for Federal office, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Updating Postal Data 4 on Addresses for Trustworthy Elections Act’’ or the ‘‘UP- 5 DATE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Apr 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1662.IH H1662 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1662 IH SEC. 2. CHANGE OF ADDRESS INFORMATION PROVIDED TO 1 STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the National Voter 3 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20508) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 5 ‘‘(c) UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE CHANGE OF 6 ADDRESS INFORMATION.—Not later than 90 days after 7 the date of enactment of this subsection, and every 90 8 days thereafter, the Postmaster General of the United 9 States Postal Service shall provide to the chief State elec- 10 tion official of each State the change of address records 11 available in the National Change of Address product main- 12 tained by the United States Postal Service.’’. 13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 14 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 15 this Act. 16 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 17 authorized to be appropriated to the Postmaster General 18 of the United States Postal Service $600,000 to carry out 19 the amendment made by this section. 20 SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF 21 VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance Commis- 23 sion shall make a payment to each eligible State for car- 24 rying out maintenance of each such State’s computerized 25 voter registration list under section 303 of the Help Amer- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Apr 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1662.IH H1662 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1662 IH ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21083) and for carrying 1 out programs under section 8 of the National Voter Reg- 2 istration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507) to ensure the 3 accuracy of voter registration lists in the State. 4 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a pay- 5 ment under this section if the State submits to the Com- 6 mission an application at such time, in such form, and 7 containing such information and assurances as the Com- 8 mission may require. 9 (c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 11 the amount of a payment made to a State under this 12 section shall be equal to the product of— 13 (A) the total amount appropriated for such 14 payments pursuant to the authorization under 15 subsection (f); and 16 (B) the State allocation percentage for the 17 State. 18 (2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 19 amount of a payment made to a State under this 20 section may not be less than— 21 (A) in the case of any of the several States 22 or the District of Columbia, one-half of 1 per- 23 cent of the total amount appropriated for such 24 payments; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Apr 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1662.IH H1662 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1662 IH (B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 1 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 2 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common- 3 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one- 4 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 5 (3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commission 6 shall make such pro rata reductions to the alloca- 7 tions determined under paragraph (1) as are nec- 8 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 9 (2). 10 (d) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AFTER 11 APPROPRIATION.—A payment made to a State under this 12 section shall be available to the State without fiscal year 13 limitation. 14 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 16 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 17 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 18 Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the 19 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 20 (2) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE.—The 21 term ‘‘State allocation percentage’’ means, with re- 22 spect to a State, the amount (expressed as a per- 23 centage) equal to the quotient of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Apr 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1662.IH H1662 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1662 IH (A) the voting age population of the State 1 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen- 2 sus); and 3 (B) the total voting age population of all 4 States (as reported in the most recent decennial 5 census). 6 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 7 authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for payments 8 under this section. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Apr 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1662.IH H1662 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS