[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4597 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4597

  To amend the REAL ID Act of 2005 to include an indication of United 
 States citizenship in the minimum requirements for driver's licenses 
    and identification cards under such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2023

Mr. Van Orden introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the REAL ID Act of 2005 to include an indication of United 
 States citizenship in the minimum requirements for driver's licenses 
    and identification cards under such Act, 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; FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Citizen Vote 
Protection Act''.
    (b) Findings; Sense of Congress.--
            (1) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
                    (A) Photo voter identification programs established 
                by the States should be administered without unlawful 
                discrimination and with an eye toward balancing 
                appropriate access to the ballot box with election 
                integrity and voter confidence goals.
                    (B) As confirmed by the bipartisan Commission on 
                Federal Election Reform (commonly known as the Carter-
                Baker Commission), ``[v]oters in nearly 100 democracies 
                use a photo identification card without fear of 
                infringement of their rights''.
                    (C) As confirmed by the Carter-Baker Commission, 
                ``[t]he right to vote is a vital component of U.S. 
                citizenship and all States should use their best 
                efforts to obtain proof of citizenship before 
                registering voters.''.
                    (D) The Carter-Baker Commission was correct in its 
                2005 report when it recommended that the REAL ID Act be 
                ``modestly adapted for voting purposes to indicate on 
                the front or back whether the individual is a U.S. 
                citizen.''.
                    (E) Congress acknowledges the important work 
                completed by the Carter-Baker Commission and, by 
                amending the REAL ID Act, resolves the concerns in the 
                Commission's report that ``[t]he REAL ID Act does not 
                require that the card indicates citizenship, but that 
                would need to be done if the card is to be used for 
                voting purposes''.
                    (F) Photographic voter identification is important 
                for ensuring voter confidence in election processes and 
                outcomes.
                    (G) Requiring photographic voter identification is 
                well within States' constitutional competence, 
                including pursuant to the Qualifications Clause of the 
                Constitution of the United States (article I, section 
                2, clause 2), the Presidential Electors Clause of the 
                Constitution (article II, section 1, clause 2), and the 
                Seventeenth Amendment.
                    (H) The Fifteenth Amendment, the Nineteenth 
                Amendment, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, and the Twenty-
                Sixth Amendment, among other references, make clear 
                that the Constitution prohibits voting by non-citizens 
                in Federal elections.
                    (I) Congress has the constitutional authority, 
                including under the aforementioned amendments, to pass 
                statutes preventing non-citizens from voting in Federal 
                elections, and did so with the Illegal Immigration 
                Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
                    (J) Congress may further exercise its 
                constitutional authority to ensure the Constitution's 
                prohibition on non-citizen voting in Federal elections 
                is upheld.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the States should implement the substance of the recommendation 
        of the Carter-Baker Commission that, ``[t]o ensure that persons 
        presenting themselves at the polling place are the ones on the 
        registration list, the Commission recommends that states 
        [encourage] voters to use the REAL ID card, which was mandated 
        in a law signed by the President in May 2005''.

SEC. 2. REAL ID ACT AMENDMENT.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 202(b) of the Real ID Act of 2005 (49 
U.S.C. 30301 note) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(10) If the person is a citizen of the United States, an 
        indication of that citizenship, except that no other 
        information may be included with respect to the immigration 
        status of the person.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by this section shall be 
effective January 1, 2027, and shall apply with respect to any driver's 
license or identification card issued by a State on and after such 
date.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section or in any 
amendment made by this section may be construed to establish or mandate 
the use of a national identification card or to authorize any office of 
the executive branch to establish or mandate the use of a national 
identification card.
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