[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1684 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1684

  To require that applications for passports for minors have parental 
                              signatures.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 1996

   Mr. Reid introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require that applications for passports for minors have parental 
                              signatures.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PASSPORTS ISSUED FOR CHILDREN UNDER 16.

    (a) In General.--Section 1 of title IX of the Act of June 15, 1917 
(22 U.S.C. 213) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Before'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--Before'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Passports Issued for Children Under 16.--
            ``(1) Signatures required.--In the case of a child under 
        the age of 16, the written application required as a 
        prerequisite to the issuance of a passport for such child shall 
        be signed by--
                    ``(A) both parents of the child if the child lives 
                with both parents;
                    ``(B) the parent of the child having primary 
                custody of the child if the child does not live with 
                both parents; or
                    ``(C) the surviving parent (or legal guardian) of 
                the child, if 1 or both parents are deceased.
            ``(2) Waiver.--The Secretary of State may waive the 
        requirements of paragraph (1)(A) if the Secretary determines 
        that circumstances do not permit obtaining the signatures of 
        both parents.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to applications for passports filed on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>