Voters on the Move Registration Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3555 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2021 Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. SEWELL, and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 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 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3555 IH 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 of Consumer Protection. 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 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3555 IH (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 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3555 IH 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 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3555 IH (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.—The uniform statement re- 13 quired under paragraph (1) shall be developed and 14 made available in English and each of the 10 lan- 15 guages most commonly spoken by individuals with 16 limited English proficiency, as determined by the Di- 17 rector using information published by the Director 18 of the Bureau of the Census. The Director shall 19 make all translated versions of the uniform state- 20 ment publicly available in a centralized location on 21 the Bureau’s website. 22 (c) LEASES AND VOUCHERS FOR FEDERALLY AS- 23 SISTED RENTAL HOUSING.—Each Federal agency admin- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3555 IH istering a federal rental assistance program, as appro- 1 priate, shall require— 2 (1) each public housing agency to provide a 3 copy of the uniform statement developed pursuant to 4 subsection (b) to each lessee of a dwelling unit in 5 public housing administered by the agency— 6 (A) together with the lease for the dwelling 7 unit, at the same time the lease is signed by the 8 lessee; and 9 (B) together with any income verification 10 form, at the same time the form is provided to 11 the lessee; 12 (2) each public housing agency that administers 13 rental assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher 14 program under section 8(o) of the United States 15 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), includ- 16 ing the program under paragraph (13) of such sec- 17 tion 8(o), to provide a copy of the uniform statement 18 developed pursuant to subsection (b) to each assisted 19 family or individual— 20 (A) together with the voucher for the as- 21 sistance, at the time the voucher is issued for 22 the family or individual; and 23 (B) together with any income verification 24 form, at the same time the form is provided to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3555 IH the applicant or assisted family or individual; 1 and 2 (3) each owner of a dwelling unit assisted with 3 Federal rental assistance to provide a copy of the 4 uniform statement developed pursuant to subsection 5 (b) to provide to the lessee of the dwelling unit— 6 (A) together with the lease for such dwell- 7 ing unit, at the same time the lease is signed 8 by the lessee; and 9 (B) together with any income verification 10 form, at the same time the form is provided to 11 the applicant or tenant. 12 (d) APPLICATIONS FOR RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE 13 LOANS.—The Director shall require each creditor (within 14 the meaning of such term as used in section 1026.2(a)(17) 15 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations) that receives an 16 application (within the meaning of such term as used in 17 section 1026.2(a)(3)(ii) of title 12, Code of Federal Regu- 18 lations) to provide a copy of the uniform statement devel- 19 oped pursuant to subsection (b) in written form to the 20 applicant for a residential mortgage loan not later than 21 5 business days after the date of the application. 22 (e) FEDERALLY BACKED MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE 23 LOANS.—The head of the Federal agency insuring, guar- 24 anteeing, supplementing, or assisting a Federally backed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3555 IH multifamily mortgage loan, or the Director of the Federal 1 Housing Finance Agency in the case of a Federally backed 2 multifamily mortgage loan that is purchased or securitized 3 by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the 4 Federal National Mortgage Association, shall require the 5 owner of the property securing the Federally backed multi- 6 family mortgage loan to provide a copy of the uniform 7 statement developed pursuant to subsection (b) in written 8 form to each lessee of a dwelling unit assisted by that loan 9 at the time the lease is signed by the lessee. 10 (f) OPTIONAL COMPLETION OF VOTER REGISTRA- 11 TION APPLICATION.—Nothing in this section may be con- 12 strued to require any individual to complete a voter reg- 13 istration application. 14 (g) REGULATIONS.—The head of a Federal agency 15 administering a federal rental assistance program, the 16 head of the Federal agency insuring, guaranteeing, 17 supplementing, or assisting a Federally backed multi- 18 family mortgage loan, the Director of the Federal Housing 19 Finance Agency, and the Director may issue such regula- 20 tions as may be necessary to carry out this section. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3555.IH H3555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS