Protecting American Voters Act

IB Union Calendar No. 318 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3162 [Report No. 118–389] To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the Sec- retary of Homeland Security and the Commissioner of Social Security to provide information to States upon request which will enable States to verify the citizenship status of applicants for voter registration in elections for Federal office in the State and remove individuals who are not citizens of the United States from the list of individuals reg- istered to vote in elections for Federal office in the State, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 9, 2023 Mr. ROY (for himself, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. SESSIONS, and Mr. BURGESS) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration FEBRUARY 14, 2024 Additional sponsor: Mr. POSEY FEBRUARY 14, 2024 Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3162 RH A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Commissioner of Social Security to provide information to States upon request which will enable States to verify the citizenship status of applicants for voter registration in elections for Federal office in the State and remove individuals who are not citizens of the United States from the list of individuals registered to vote in elections for Federal office in the State, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3162 RH 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 ‘‘Protecting American 4 Voters Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PROVISION OF INFORMATION UPON RE- 6 QUEST TO ENABLE STATES TO VERIFY CITI- 7 ZENSHIP STATUS OF APPLICANTS FOR 8 VOTER REGISTRATION AND INDIVIDUALS ON 9 VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS. 10 (a) PROVISION OF INFORMATION UPON REQUEST.— 11 Section 9 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 12 (52 U.S.C. 20508) is amended by adding at the end the 13 following new subsection: 14 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF INFORMATION UPON REQUEST 15 TO ENABLE STATES TO VERIFY CITIZENSHIP STATUS OF 16 APPLICANTS AND REGISTRANTS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a State 18 election official, the Secretary of Homeland Security 19 and the Commissioner of the Social Security Admin- 20 istration shall provide the official with such informa- 21 tion as may be necessary to enable the official to 22 verify that an applicant for voter registration in elec- 23 tions for Federal office held in the State or a reg- 24 istrant on the official list of eligible voters in elec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3162 RH tions for Federal office held in the State is a citizen 1 of the United States. 2 ‘‘(2) USE OF SAVE SYSTEM.—The Secretary of 3 Homeland Security may respond to a request re- 4 ceived under paragraph (1) by using the system for 5 the verification of immigration status under the ap- 6 plicable provisions of section 1137 of the Social Se- 7 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–7), as established pur- 8 suant to section 121(c) of the Immigration Reform 9 and Control Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–603). 10 ‘‘(3) SHARING OF INFORMATION.—The Sec- 11 retary and the Commissioner may share information 12 with each other with respect to an individual who is 13 the subject of a request received under paragraph 14 (1) in order to enable the Secretary and the Com- 15 missioner to respond to the request. 16 ‘‘(4) PRIVACY.—The Secretary shall carry out 17 this subsection in accordance with such safeguards 18 as the Commissioner determines to be necessary or 19 appropriate to protect the confidentiality of the so- 20 cial security account number of any individual. 21 ‘‘(5) PROHIBITING FEES.—The Secretary may 22 not charge a fee for responding to a State’s request 23 under paragraph (1). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3162 RH ‘‘(6) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall pro- 1 mulgate such regulations as may be necessary to 2 carry out this subsection.’’. 3 (b) CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY OF STATE TO 4 REMOVE NONCITIZENS FROM OFFICIAL LIST OF ELIGI- 5 BLE VOTERS.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(a)(4) of the Na- 7 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 8 20507(a)(4)) is amended— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara- 10 graph (A); 11 (B) by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara- 12 graph (B); and 13 (C) by adding at the end the following new 14 subparagraph: 15 ‘‘(C) a determination that the registrant is 16 not a citizen of the United States;’’. 17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 18 8(c)(2)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 19 20507(c)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘(4)(A)’’ 20 and inserting ‘‘(4)(A) or (C)’’. 21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 22 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 23 or after January 1, 2024. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 318 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 3162 [Report No. 118–389] A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require the Secretary of Homeland Secu- rity and the Commissioner of Social Security to provide information to States upon request which will enable States to verify the citizenship status of applicants for voter registration in elections for Federal office in the State and remove indi- viduals who are not citizens of the United States from the list of individuals registered to vote in elections for Federal office in the State, and for other purposes. FEBRUARY 14, 2024 Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Feb 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H3162.RH H3162 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS