I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2919 To amend the Second Chance Act of 2007 to require identification for returning citizens, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 26, 2023 Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN (for herself, Mr. MFUME, and Ms. NORTON) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary A BILL To amend the Second Chance Act of 2007 to require identification for returning citizens, 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 ‘‘New Pathways Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION FOR RETURNING CITIZENS. 5 Section 231(b) of the Second Chance Act of 2007 (34 6 U.S.C. 60541(b)) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION AND RELEASE ASSISTANCE 8 FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS.— 9 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2919 IH ‘‘(A) the term ‘community confinement’ 1 means residence in a community treatment cen- 2 ter, halfway house, restitution center, mental 3 health facility, alcohol or drug rehabilitation 4 center, or other community facility; 5 ‘‘(B) the term ‘direct-release prisoner’ 6 means a prisoner who is scheduled for release 7 and will not be placed in prerelease custody; 8 ‘‘(C) the term ‘noncitizen covered indi- 9 vidual’— 10 ‘‘(i) means an individual in the cus- 11 tody of the Bureau of Prisons or sentenced 12 to a term in community confinement 13 who— 14 ‘‘(I) is lawfully present and eligi- 15 ble for employment authorization in 16 the United States; and 17 ‘‘(II) has a document dem- 18 onstrating that the individual will 19 have a place of residence upon release; 20 and 21 ‘‘(ii) includes an alien lawfully admit- 22 ted for permanent residence (as defined in 23 section 101(a) of the Immigration and Na- 24 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a))), a ref- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2919 IH ugee (as defined in that section of that 1 Act), and an asylee; and 2 ‘‘(D) the term ‘United States citizen cov- 3 ered individual’ means an individual in the cus- 4 tody of the Bureau of Prisons or sentenced to 5 a term in community confinement who has— 6 ‘‘(i) a social security card; 7 ‘‘(ii) a document described in para- 8 graph (2)(B)(ii) as proof of United States 9 citizenship; and 10 ‘‘(iii) a document demonstrating that 11 the individual will have a place of residence 12 upon release. 13 ‘‘(2) OBTAINING IDENTIFICATION FOR UNITED 14 STATES CITIZENS.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a 16 United States citizen covered individual, the Di- 17 rector shall provide a photo identification card, 18 which shall comply with the minimum require- 19 ments described in section 202(b) of the REAL 20 ID Act of 2005 (49 U.S.C. 30301 note), prior 21 to— 22 ‘‘(i) the release of the United States 23 citizen covered individual from a term of 24 imprisonment in a Federal prison; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2919 IH ‘‘(ii) the release of the United States 1 citizen covered individual from a sentence 2 to a term in community confinement. 3 ‘‘(B) ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING DOCU- 4 MENTS.— 5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 6 (iii), for the purpose of issuing an identi- 7 fication card under this subsection, the Di- 8 rector shall obtain, on behalf of United 9 States citizen covered individuals— 10 ‘‘(I) a social security card; and 11 ‘‘(II) a document described in 12 clause (ii) as proof of United States 13 citizenship. 14 ‘‘(ii) PROOF OF UNITED STATES CITI- 15 ZENSHIP.—A document described in this 16 clause is— 17 ‘‘(I) a United States passport; 18 ‘‘(II) an original or certified copy 19 of a birth certificate that indicates 20 that the individual was born in the 21 United States or a territory of the 22 United States; 23 ‘‘(III) in the case of a United 24 States citizen born inside the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2919 IH States for whom a document de- 1 scribed in subclause (I) or (II) is not 2 available, any document described in 3 subsection (a), (b), or (c) of section 4 435.407 of title 42, Code of Federal 5 Regulations, or any successor thereto; 6 or 7 ‘‘(IV) in the case of a United 8 States citizen born outside the United 9 States, an original or certified copy 10 of— 11 ‘‘(aa) a certificate of natu- 12 ralization (Form N–550 or N– 13 570); 14 ‘‘(bb) a consular report of 15 birth abroad (Form FS–240); 16 ‘‘(cc) a certification of birth 17 abroad (Form FS–545); 18 ‘‘(dd) a certification of re- 19 port of birth (Form DS–1350); 20 or 21 ‘‘(ee) a certificate of citizen- 22 ship (Form N–560). 23 ‘‘(iii) EXCEPTIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2919 IH ‘‘(I) LACK OF RESPONSE FROM 1 FEDERAL OR STATE AGENCY.—If the 2 Director cannot obtain a copy of a 3 document required under clause (i) 4 because of inaction by the Federal or 5 State agency from which the docu- 6 ment was requested, the Director 7 shall provide to the United States cit- 8 izen covered individual— 9 ‘‘(aa) a written statement 10 that explains what steps the Di- 11 rector took in trying to obtain 12 the document; and 13 ‘‘(bb) any documents trans- 14 mitted to the Director by the 15 Federal or State agency in re- 16 sponse to the request for the doc- 17 ument. 18 ‘‘(II) LACK OF AUTHORIZATION 19 FROM UNITED STATES CITIZEN COV- 20 ERED INDIVIDUAL.—If the Director 21 cannot obtain a copy of a document 22 required under clause (i) because the 23 United States citizen covered indi- 24 vidual does not provide the authoriza- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2919 IH tion required to obtain the document, 1 the Director shall provide a written 2 statement to the United States citizen 3 covered individual that explains why 4 the document was not obtained. 5 ‘‘(C) PROVISION OF DOCUMENTS.—Upon 6 issuance of an identification card to a covered 7 individual under this paragraph, the Director 8 shall provide all documents obtained for the 9 United States citizen covered individual under 10 subparagraph (B). 11 ‘‘(3) OBTAINING DOCUMENTS FOR NONCITI- 12 ZENS.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a non- 14 citizen covered individual, the Director shall as- 15 sist in obtaining from the Director of the U.S. 16 Citizenship and Immigration Services— 17 ‘‘(i) proof of lawful status in the 18 United States of the noncitizen covered in- 19 dividual; and 20 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a noncitizen cov- 21 ered individual who is not admitted for 22 lawful permanent residence, an employ- 23 ment authorization document. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2919 IH ‘‘(B) ASSISTANCE.—The assistance pro- 1 vided by the Director under subparagraph (A) 2 shall include— 3 ‘‘(i) providing the noncitizen covered 4 individual with applicable U.S. Citizenship 5 and Immigration Services forms and in- 6 structions; and 7 ‘‘(ii) assisting the noncitizen covered 8 individual in completing and submitting 9 such forms, together with any required 10 supporting documentation. 11 ‘‘(C) PROVISION OF DOCUMENTS.—Upon 12 receipt of a document for a noncitizen covered 13 individual under this paragraph, the Director 14 shall provide such document to the noncitizen 15 covered individual. 16 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANCE DEVELOPING RELEASE 17 PLAN.—At the request of a direct-release prisoner, a 18 representative of the United States Probation Sys- 19 tem shall, prior to the release of that prisoner, help 20 that prisoner develop a release plan.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2919.IH H2919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS