3.0.0 2812 2023-01-11T13:18:51Z 2023-01-11T13:18:51Z House H HR 2009-06-10 111 hsfa00 Foreign Affairs Committee House Standing Referred to 2009-06-10T14:02:46Z 2009-06-10 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. IntroReferral H11100 2 House floor actions hsfa00 Foreign Affairs Committee 2009-06-10 Introduced in House IntroReferral Intro-H 9 Library of Congress 2009-06-10 Introduced in House IntroReferral 1000 9 Library of Congress O000107 Rep. Ortiz, Solomon P. [D-TX-27] SOLOMON ORTIZ D TX P. 27 N H000636 Rep. Hinojosa, Ruben [D-TX-15] RUBEN HINOJOSA D TX 15 2009-06-10 True G000544 Rep. Gonzalez, Charles A. [D-TX-20] CHARLES GONZALEZ D TX A. 20 2009-06-10 True R000170 Rep. Reyes, Silvestre [D-TX-16] SILVESTRE REYES D TX 16 2009-06-10 True G000551 Rep. Grijalva, Raúl M. [D-AZ-7] Raúl Grijalva D AZ M. 7 2009-06-10 True R000568 Rep. Rodriguez, Ciro D. [D-TX-23] CIRO RODRIGUEZ D TX D. 23 2009-06-10 True Immigration Administrative remedies Citizenship and naturalization Department of State Evidence and witnesses Racial and ethnic relations Visas and passports Immigration 00 2009-06-10 Introduced in House 2009-07-21T21:19:38Z Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Improvement Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of State to adjudicate U.S. passport applications in an individualized, evidence-based manner.

Requires the passport application adjudicatory process to be based on an assessment of individual circumstances and evidence.

Prohibits an applicant's race, ethnicity, or ancestry from being taken into account in the passport application adjudicatory process.

Requires: (1) an applicant to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the applicant is a U.S. citizen or national; (2) the preponderance of the evidence standard to be applied in a uniform and consistent manner to all passport applications; and (3) any determination that an applicant has not met the burden of proving U.S. citizenship or nationality by a preponderance of the evidence to be made in writing, state the reasons for the determination, and be provided to the applicant in a timely manner.

States that a birth certificate signed by a person authorized under state law to sign such a document, or a previously-issued U.S. passport, shall constitute prima facie evidence of U.S. citizenship or nationality and, absent individualized evidence that a birth did not take place in the United States, shall satisfy the preponderance of the evidence standard.

]]> Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Improvement Act of 2009 Display Title Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Improvement Act of 2009 Official Title as Introduced To establish certain standards for the adjudication of United States passport applications, and for other purposes. Introduced in House IH Short Titles as Introduced Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Improvement Act of 2009 Introduced in House 2009-06-10T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-111hr2812ih/xml/BILLS-111hr2812ih.xml 2009-06-10 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.