I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7220 

To establish in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department 

of Homeland Security an EB–5 Regional Center Program Advisory Committee. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2024 

Mr. STANTON (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. EVANS, and Mr. GOODEN

of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

of the Department of Homeland Security an EB–5 Regional Center Program Advisory Committee. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EB–5 Regional Center 

5 Program Advisory Committee Authorization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EB–5 REGIONAL CENTER PROGRAM ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE. 

3 Subtitle E of title IV of the Homeland Security Act 

4 of 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following 

5 new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 463. EB–5 REGIONAL CENTER PROGRAM ADVISORY 

7 COMMITTEE. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab9 lish within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services an 

10 EB–5 Regional Center Program Advisory Committee. The 

11 Advisory Committee shall be terminated upon adjudication 

12 of all benefits filed under section 203(b)(5) and 216A of 

13 the Immigration and Nationality Act from time to time 

14 or any other public law implementing the EB–5 Regional 

15 Center Program. 

16 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Committee 

18 shall advise, consult with, report to, and make rec19 ommendations to the Director of U.S. Citizenship 

20 and Immigration Services regarding the EB–5 Re21 gional Center Program. 

22 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Com24 mittee shall develop recommendations for im25 provements to the EB–5 Regional Center ProVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Feb 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7220.IH H7220

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1 gram within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

2 Services. 

3 ‘‘(B) RECOMMENDATIONS OF SUBCOMMIT4 TEES.—Recommendations agreed upon by the 

5 subcommittees established under subsection (d) 

6 for any year shall be approved by a majority of 

7 the Advisory Committee before the Advisory 

8 Committee submits to the Director the annual 

9 report under paragraph (4) for that year. The 

10 Advisory Committee shall not make any petition 

11 or case-specific recommendations to the pro12 gram under section 203(b)(5) and section 216A 

13 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

14 ‘‘(3) PERIODIC REPORTS.—The Advisory Com15 mittee shall annually, or when deemed necessary by 

16 a majority of the Advisory Committee members, sub17 mit to the Director— 

18 ‘‘(A) reports on matters identified by the 

19 Director; or 

20 ‘‘(B) reports on other matters identified by 

21 a majority of the members of the Advisory 

22 Committee. 

23 ‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Advisory Com24 mittee shall submit to the Secretary of Homeland 

25 Security and Director an annual report providing inVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Feb 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7220.IH H7220

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1 formation on the activities, findings, and rec2 ommendations of the Advisory Committee, including 

3 its subcommittees, for the preceding fiscal year. Not 

4 later than six months after the date that the Sec5 retary of Homeland Security and the Director re6 ceives an annual report for a year, the Director shall 

7 publish a public version of the report describing the 

8 activities of the Advisory Committee and such re9 lated matters as would be informative to the public 

10 during that year. 

11 ‘‘(5) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—For 

12 each fiscal quarter beginning after the date of the 

13 enactment of this section, the Director shall provide 

14 to the Committees on the Judiciary, and the Com15 mittees on Appropriations a briefing on the activities 

16 of the Advisory Committee. 

17 ‘‘(6) CONFORMITY WITH THE EB–5 REFORM

18 AND INTEGRITY ACT OF 2022.—Nothing in this sec19 tion may be construed to violate or be inconsistent 

20 with section 107 of the EB–5 Reform and Integrity 

21 Act of 2022. 

22 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

23 ‘‘(1) APPOINTMENT.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

25 days after the date of the enactment of this 


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1 Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

2 appoint the members of the Advisory Com3 mittee consisting of representatives of Federal, 

4 State, local and Tribal Governments and EB– 

5 5 regional centers in good standing representing 

6 projects from diverse geographies and diverse 

7 project types. 

8 ‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—The membership of 

9 the Advisory Committee shall consist of not 

10 more than 35 members, each of whom represent 

11 a category referred to in subparagraph (C)(i). 

12 The member shall be considered the appointed 

13 regional center or governmental agency, and the 

14 member shall appoint, subject to Secretary ap15 proval, the individual that represents such re16 gional center or governmental agency. 

17 ‘‘(C) REPRESENTATION.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Regional centers 

19 members shall be appointed only from re20 gional centers in good standing and oper21 ating under the EB–5 Reform and Integ22 rity Act of 2022, notwithstanding any 

23 lapse or termination of the EB–5 Regional 

24 Center Program, and each regional center 

25 member shall represent a regional center 


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1 that has submitted petitions to sponsor no 

2 fewer than two projects in the same re3 gional center category pursuant to clause 

4 (ii). 

5 ‘‘(ii) REPRESENTATION CAT6 EGORIES.—Regional center members shall 

7 include at least two from each of the fol8 lowing categories: 

9 ‘‘(I) Regional Center—High un10 employment area. 

11 ‘‘(II) Regional Center—Rural. 

12 ‘‘(III) Regional Center—Infra13 structure. 

14 ‘‘(IV) Regional Center—Census 

15 Region Northeast. 

16 ‘‘(V) Regional Center—Census 

17 Region South. 

18 ‘‘(VI) Regional Center—Census 

19 Region Midwest. 

20 ‘‘(VII) Regional Center—Census 

21 Region West. 

22 ‘‘(iii) ADDITIONAL REPRESENTA23 TION.—Representatives shall, in addition, 

24 include at least one from each of the fol25 lowing categories: 


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1 ‘‘(I) Mayor—City, large; Terri2 tory inside Urbanized Area and inside 

3 a Principal City with population of 

4 250,000 or more. 

5 ‘‘(II) Mayor—City, midsize; Ter6 ritory inside Urbanized Area and in7 side a Principal City with population 

8 less than 250,000 and greater than or 

9 equal to 100,000. 

10 ‘‘(III) Mayor—City, small; Terri11 tory inside Urbanized Area and inside 

12 a Principal City with population less 

13 thank 100,000. 

14 ‘‘(IV) County Economic Develop15 ment Officer—Urbanized Area. 

16 ‘‘(V) County Economic Develop17 ment Officer—Urban Place Outside of 

18 Urbanized Area. 

19 ‘‘(VI) County Economic Develop20 ment Officer—Rural Place. 

21 ‘‘(VII) State Economic Develop22 ment Officer. 

23 ‘‘(VIII) Department of State, ex 

24 officio. 


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1 ‘‘(IX) Department of Commerce, 

2 ex officio. 

3 ‘‘(X) Trade association rep4 resenting no fewer than 50 EB–5 re5 gional centers. 

6 ‘‘(XI) Other relevant fields iden7 tified by the Director. 

8 ‘‘(iv) PROHIBITION.—The Advisory 

9 Committee shall include at least two mem10 bers from each category under clause (ii) 

11 but not exceed three members from any 

12 one category. 

13 ‘‘(2) TERM OF OFFICE.— 

14 ‘‘(A) TERMS.—The term of each member 

15 of the Advisory Committee shall be two years, 

16 but a member may continue to serve, notwith17 standing any term limit, until a successor is ap18 pointed. In the event that an individual rep19 resenting the member is no longer associated 

20 with the member, the member shall appoint, 

21 subject to Secretary of Homeland Security ap22 proval, a new individual to serve the remaining 

23 term of such member. 

24 ‘‘(B) REMOVAL.—The Director may review 

25 the participation of a member of the Advisory 


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1 Committee and remove such member for cause 

2 at any time, after notifying the Secretary of 

3 Homeland Security. 

4 ‘‘(C) REAPPOINTMENT.—A member of the 

5 Advisory Committee may be reappointed for a 

6 maximum of 6 consecutive terms. 

7 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION ON COMPENSATION.—The 

8 members of the Advisory Committee may not receive 

9 pay or benefits from the United States Government 

10 by reason of their service on the Advisory Com11 mittee, other than pay and benefits for Federal em12 ployees serving on the Advisory Committee that are 

13 incident to their Federal employment. 

14 ‘‘(4) MEETINGS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall re16 quire the Advisory Committee to meet at least 

17 quarterly, and may convene additional meetings 

18 as necessary. 

19 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC MEETINGS.—At least one of 

20 the meetings referred to in subparagraph (A) 

21 shall be open to the public. 

22 ‘‘(C) ATTENDANCE.—The Advisory Com23 mittee shall maintain a record of the persons 

24 present at each meeting. 


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1 ‘‘(5) CHAIRPERSON.—The Advisory Committee 

2 shall select, from among the members of the Advi3 sory Committee— 

4 ‘‘(A) a member to serve, for a term of 4 

5 years, as chairperson of the Advisory Com6 mittee; and 

7 ‘‘(B) a member to serve as chairperson of 

8 each subcommittee of the Advisory Committee 

9 established under subsection (d). 

10 ‘‘(d) SUBCOMMITTEES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director and the Advi12 sory Committee shall establish subcommittees within 

13 the Advisory Committee to address EB–5 Regional 

14 Center Program issues, including the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) Administration, including— 

16 ‘‘(i) agency staffing; 

17 ‘‘(ii) petition processing times; 

18 ‘‘(iii) improved communication be19 tween the Agency and EB–5 Regional Cen20 ter stakeholders; 

21 ‘‘(iv) fraud prevention; and 

22 ‘‘(v) compliance with securities laws. 

23 ‘‘(B) Impact, including— 

24 ‘‘(i) job creation and job retention; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) capital investment. 

2 ‘‘(C) Policy, subject to applicable require3 ments under law, including— 

4 ‘‘(i) legislative interpretation and spe5 cific policies and guidelines of U.S. Citizen6 ship and Immigration Services relevant to 

7 the EB–5 Regional Center Program; 

8 ‘‘(ii) policymaking procedures outside 

9 of formal legislative or regulatory rule10 making processes; 

11 ‘‘(iii) regulations; 

12 ‘‘(iv) financial structuring of invest13 ments; and 

14 ‘‘(v) source of funds issues. 

15 ‘‘(D) Other such issues relevant to the 

16 EB–5 Regional Center Program and requested 

17 by members of the Advisory Committee. 

18 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL SUBCOMMITTEES.—In addi19 tion to the subcommittees established pursuant to 

20 paragraph (1), the Advisory Committee chairperson, 

21 in coordination with the Director, shall establish 

22 within the Advisory Committee such additional sub23 committees that the majority of the Advisory Com24 mittee determine to be necessary. 


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1 ‘‘(3) MEETINGS AND REPORTING.—Each sub2 committee shall meet at least quarterly, and at least 

3 once in-person annually, and submit to the Advisory 

4 Committee for inclusion in the annual report re5 quired under subsection (b)(4) information, includ6 ing activities, findings, and recommendations, re7 garding subject matter considered by the sub8 committee. 

9 ‘‘(4) SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS.—The chair of 

10 the Advisory Committee shall appoint members to 

11 subcommittees. 

12 ‘‘(e) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Federal 

13 Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply 

14 to the Advisory Committee and its subcommittees.’’. 

Æ 


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