[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3983 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3983

    To provide for certain procedures applicable to the issuance of 
                    passports for children under 16.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 3, 1998

 Mr. Gibbons introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for certain procedures applicable to the issuance of 
                    passports for children under 16.

    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 to punish acts of 
interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the 
foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better 
to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other 
purposes (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 more than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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