Voters on the Move Registration Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1823 To require the inclusion of voter registration information with certain leases and vouchers for federally assisted rental housing and mortgage applica- tions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 25, 2021 Mr. WARNOCK (for himself, Mr. OSSOFF, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To require the inclusion of voter registration information with certain leases and vouchers for federally assisted rental housing and mortgage applications, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Voters on the Move 4 Registration Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1823 IS SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMA- 1 TION WITH CERTAIN LEASES AND VOUCHERS 2 FOR FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL HOUSING 3 AND MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) BUREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 6 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. 7 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 8 the Director of the Bureau. 9 (3) FEDERAL RENTAL ASSISTANCE.—The term 10 ‘‘Federal rental assistance’’ means rental assistance 11 provided under— 12 (A) any covered housing program, as de- 13 fined in section 41411(a) of the Violence 14 Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 15 12491(a)); 16 (B) title V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 17 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.), including voucher assist- 18 ance under section 542 of such title (42 U.S.C. 19 1490r); 20 (C) the Housing Trust Fund program 21 under section 1338 of the Federal Housing En- 22 terprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act 23 of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4588); or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1823 IS (D) subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney- 1 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 2 11381 et seq.). 3 (4) FEDERALLY BACKED MULTIFAMILY MORT- 4 GAGE LOAN.—The term ‘‘Federally backed multi- 5 family mortgage loan’’ includes any loan (other than 6 temporary financing such as a construction loan) 7 that— 8 (A) is secured by a first or subordinate lien 9 on residential multifamily real property de- 10 signed principally for the occupancy of 5 or 11 more families, including any such secured loan, 12 the proceeds of which are used to prepay or pay 13 off an existing loan secured by the same prop- 14 erty; and 15 (B) is made in whole or in part, or in- 16 sured, guaranteed, supplemented, or assisted in 17 any way, by any officer or agency of the Fed- 18 eral Government or under or in connection with 19 a housing or urban development program ad- 20 ministered by the Secretary of Housing and 21 Urban Development or a housing or related 22 program administered by any other such officer 23 or agency, or is purchased or securitized by the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1823 IS Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or 1 the Federal National Mortgage Association. 2 (5) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ has the mean- 3 ing given the term in section 8(f) of the United 4 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(f)). 5 (6) PUBLIC HOUSING; PUBLIC HOUSING AGEN- 6 CY.—The terms ‘‘public housing’’ and ‘‘public hous- 7 ing agency’’ have the meanings given those terms in 8 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 9 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 10 (7) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.—The term 11 ‘‘residential mortgage loan’’ includes any loan that is 12 secured by a first or subordinate lien on residential 13 real property, including individual units of con- 14 dominiums and cooperatives, designed principally for 15 the occupancy of from 1- to 4- families. 16 (b) UNIFORM STATEMENT.— 17 (1) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director, after con- 18 sultation with the Election Assistance Commission, 19 shall develop a uniform statement designed to pro- 20 vide recipients of the statement pursuant to this sec- 21 tion with information on how the recipient can reg- 22 ister to vote and the voting rights of the recipient 23 under law. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1823 IS (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—In developing the uni- 1 form statement, the Director shall be responsible 2 for— 3 (A) establishing the format of the state- 4 ment; 5 (B) consumer research and testing of the 6 statement; and 7 (C) consulting with and obtaining from the 8 Election Assistance Commission the content re- 9 garding voter rights and registration issues 10 needed to ensure the statement complies with 11 the requirements of paragraph (1). 12 (3) LANGUAGES.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The uniform statement 14 required under paragraph (1) shall be developed 15 and made available in English and in each of 16 the 10 languages most commonly spoken by in- 17 dividuals with limited English proficiency, as 18 determined by the Director using information 19 published by the Director of the Bureau of the 20 Census. 21 (B) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall 22 make all translated versions of the uniform 23 statement required under paragraph (1) pub- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1823 IS licly available in a centralized location on the 1 website of the Bureau. 2 (c) LEASES AND VOUCHERS FOR FEDERALLY AS- 3 SISTED RENTAL HOUSING.—Each Federal agency admin- 4 istering a Federal rental assistance program shall re- 5 quire— 6 (1) each public housing agency to provide a 7 copy of the uniform statement developed pursuant to 8 subsection (b) to each lessee of a dwelling unit in 9 public housing administered by the agency— 10 (A) together with the lease for the dwelling 11 unit, at the same time the lease signed by the 12 lessee; and 13 (B) together with any income verification 14 form, at the same time the form is provided to 15 the lessee; 16 (2) each public housing agency that administers 17 rental assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher 18 program under section 8(o) of the United States 19 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), includ- 20 ing the program under paragraph (13) of such sec- 21 tion 8(o), to provide a copy of the uniform statement 22 developed pursuant to subsection (b) to each assisted 23 family or individual— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1823 IS (A) together with the voucher for the as- 1 sistance, at the time the voucher is issued for 2 the family or individual; and 3 (B) together with any income verification 4 form, at the same time the form is provided to 5 the applicant or assisted family or individual; 6 and 7 (3) each owner of a dwelling unit assisted with 8 Federal rental assistance to provide a copy of the 9 uniform statement developed pursuant to subsection 10 (b) to provide to the lessee of the dwelling unit— 11 (A) together with the lease for such dwell- 12 ing unit, at the same time the lease is signed 13 by the lessee; and 14 (B) together with any income verification 15 form, at the same time the form is provided to 16 the applicant or tenant. 17 (d) APPLICATIONS FOR RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE 18 LOANS.—The Director shall require each creditor (within 19 the meaning of such term as used in section 1026.2(a)(17) 20 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations) that receives an 21 application (within the meaning of such term as used in 22 section 1026.2(a)(3)(ii) of title 12, Code of Federal Regu- 23 lations) to provide a copy of the uniform statement devel- 24 oped pursuant to subsection (b) in written form to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1823 IS applicant for the residential mortgage loan not later than 1 5 business days after the date of the application. 2 (e) FEDERALLY BACKED MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE 3 LOANS.—The head of the Federal agency insuring, guar- 4 anteeing, supplementing, or assisting a Federally backed 5 multifamily mortgage loan, or the Director of the Federal 6 Housing Finance Agency in the case of a Federally backed 7 multifamily mortgage loan that is purchased or securitized 8 by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the 9 Federal National Mortgage Association, shall require the 10 owner of the property secured by the Federally backed 11 multifamily mortgage loan to provide a copy of the uni- 12 form statement developed pursuant to subsection (b) in 13 written form to each lessee of a dwelling unit assisted by 14 that loan at the time the lease is signed by the lessee. 15 (f) OPTIONAL COMPLETION OF VOTER REGISTRA- 16 TION.—Nothing in this section may be construed to re- 17 quire any individual to complete a voter registration form. 18 (g) REGULATIONS.—The head of a Federal agency 19 administering a Federal rental assistance program, the 20 head of the Federal agency insuring, guaranteeing, 21 supplementing, or assisting a Federally backed multi- 22 family mortgage loan, the Director of the Federal Housing 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1823 IS Finance Agency, and the Director may issue such regula- 1 tions as may be necessary to carry out this section. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1823.IS S1823 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS