Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3072 To prohibit agencies of the government from soliciting or entering into agree- ments with nongovernmental organizations to conduct voter registration or voter mobilization activities on the property or website of the agency or from using Federal funds to carry out activities directed under Execu- tive Order 14019, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 2, 2023 Ms. TENNEY (for herself, Mr. POSEY, Mr. CLYDE, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on the Judici- ary, Oversight and Accountability, Science, Space, and Technology, and Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit agencies of the government from soliciting or entering into agreements with nongovernmental organiza- tions to conduct voter registration or voter mobilization activities on the property or website of the agency or from using Federal funds to carry out activities directed under Executive Order 14019, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 May 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3072.IH H3072 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3072 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Free and 2 Fair Elections Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING PROMOTION OF VOTER REGISTRA- 4 TION BY AGENCIES. 5 (a) AGREEMENTS WITH NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGA- 6 NIZATIONS.—None of the funds made available for the sal- 7 aries and expenses of an agency may be used to solicit 8 or enter into an agreement with a nongovernmental orga- 9 nization to conduct voter registration or voter mobilization 10 activities, including registering voters or providing any 11 person with voter registration materials, absentee or vote- 12 by-mail ballot applications, voting instructions, or can- 13 didate-related information, on the property or website of 14 the agency. 15 (b) ACTIVITIES UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 14019.— 16 (1) DELAY IN IMPLEMENTATION.— 17 (A) DELAY.—Except as provided in sub- 18 paragraph (B), none of the funds made avail- 19 able for the salaries and expenses of an agency 20 may be used to implement activities directed 21 under Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 22 13623) until— 23 (i) in the case of an agency that is re- 24 quired to submit a report to the appro- 25 priate congressional committees under 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 May 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3072.IH H3072 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3072 IH paragraph (2)(A), 180 days after the agen- 1 cy submits the report; or 2 (ii) in the case of an agency that is 3 required to submit a report to the appro- 4 priate congressional committees under 5 paragraph (2)(B), the date on which the 6 agency submits the report. 7 (B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 8 not apply to any activity described in section 9 7(c) of the National Voter Registration Act of 10 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20506(c)). 11 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the 12 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each 13 agency shall submit to the appropriate congressional 14 committees— 15 (A) a copy of the strategic plan of the 16 agency for promoting voter registration and 17 voter participation under section 3(b) of Execu- 18 tive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 13623) that 19 the agency developed or submitted to the As- 20 sistant to the President for Domestic Policy; or 21 (B) if the agency did not develop or submit 22 a plan described in subparagraph (A) to the As- 23 sistant to the President for Domestic Policy, a 24 certification signed by the head of the agency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 May 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3072.IH H3072 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3072 IH that the agency did not develop or submit such 1 a plan. 2 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub- 3 section (b)(2), this section shall apply with respect to fiscal 4 year 2023 and each succeeding fiscal year. 5 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REPORT ON VOTER REGISTRATION 6 AND MOBILIZATION. 7 Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 8 of this Act, the head of each agency shall submit to the 9 appropriate congressional committees a report describing 10 the activities carried out by the agency pursuant to sec- 11 tions 3 and 4 of Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 12 13623). 13 SEC. 4. PROHIBITING VOTER REGISTRATION AND MOBILI- 14 ZATION IN FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PRO- 15 GRAMS. 16 Section 443(b)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 17 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087–53(b)(1)) is amended— 18 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’; 19 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub- 20 paragraph (E); and 21 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol- 22 lowing: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 May 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3072.IH H3072 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3072 IH ‘‘(D) does not involve registering or mobi- 1 lizing voters on or off the campus of the institu- 2 tion; and’’. 3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 6 meaning given the term in section 3502(1) of title 7 44, United States Code, except that for purposes of 8 section 2(b) of this Act such term does not include 9 an independent regulatory agency as defined in sec- 10 tion 3502(5) of title 44, United States Code. 11 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 12 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 13 mittees’’ means— 14 (A) the Committee on Rules and Adminis- 15 tration of the Senate; 16 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 17 Senate; 18 (C) the Committee on House Administra- 19 tion of the House of Representatives; and 20 (D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 21 House of Representatives. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 May 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3072.IH H3072 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB