[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4500 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4500

To prohibit agencies of the government from soliciting or entering into 
    agreements 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 Executive Order 14019, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 6, 2023

Ms. Tenney (for herself and Mr. Ellzey) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in 
      addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, 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 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 Executive Order 14019, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Free and Fair Elections 
Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL AGENCY INVOLVEMENT IN VOTER REGISTRATION ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Clarification of Federal Agency Involvement in Voter 
Registration Activities.--Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 13623; 
relating to promoting access to voting) shall have no force or effect 
to the extent that it is inconsistent with section 7 of the National 
Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20506).
    (b) Prohibiting Promotion of Voter Registration by Agencies.--
            (1) Agreements with nongovernmental organizations.--None of 
        the funds made available for the salaries and expenses of an 
        agency may be used to solicit or enter into an agreement with a 
        nongovernmental organization to conduct voter registration or 
        voter mobilization activities, including registering voters or 
        providing any person with voter registration materials, 
        absentee or vote-by-mail ballot applications, voting 
        instructions, or candidate-related information, on the property 
        or website of the agency.
            (2) Activities under executive order 14019.--
                    (A) Delay in implementation.--
                            (i) Delay.--Except as provided in clause 
                        (ii), none of the funds made available for the 
                        salaries and expenses of an agency may be used 
                        to implement activities directed under 
                        Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 13623) 
                        until--
                                    (I) in the case of an agency that 
                                is required to submit a report to the 
                                appropriate congressional committees 
                                under subparagraph (B)(i), 180 days 
                                after the agency submits the report; or
                                    (II) in the case of an agency that 
                                is required to submit a report to the 
                                appropriate congressional committees 
                                under subparagraph (B)(ii), the date on 
                                which the agency submits the report.
                            (ii) Exception.--Clause (i) shall not apply 
                        to any activity described in section 7(c) of 
                        the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 
                        U.S.C. 20506(c)).
                    (B) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
                of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency shall 
                submit to the appropriate congressional committees--
                            (i) a copy of the strategic plan of the 
                        agency for promoting voter registration and 
                        voter participation under section 3(b) of 
                        Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 13623) that 
                        the agency developed or submitted to the 
                        Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy; 
                        or
                            (ii) if the agency did not develop or 
                        submit a plan described in clause (i) to the 
                        Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, 
                        a certification signed by the head of the 
                        agency that the agency did not develop or 
                        submit such a plan.
            (3) Effective date.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (2)(B), this section shall apply with respect to fiscal year 
        2023 and each succeeding fiscal year.
    (c) Additional Report on Voter Registration and Mobilization.--Not 
later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of 
each agency shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report describing the activities carried out by the agency pursuant to 
sections 3 and 4 of Executive Order 14019 (86 Fed. Reg. 13623).
    (d) Prohibiting Voter Registration and Mobilization in Federal 
Work-study Programs.--Section 443(b)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087-53(b)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'';
            (2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E); 
        and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
                    ``(D) does not involve registering or mobilizing 
                voters on or off the campus of the institution; and''.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 3502(1) of title 44, United States Code, except 
        that for purposes of subsection (c)(2) such term does not 
        include an independent regulatory agency as defined in section 
        3502(5) of title 44, United States Code.
            (2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Rules and Administration of 
                the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
                    (C) the Committee on House Administration of the 
                House of Representatives; and
                    (D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives.
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