I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8234 

To authorize the Secretary of State to designate additional persons eligible 

to serve as passport acceptance agents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2024 

Mr. MAST (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, and Ms. SALAZAR) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of State to designate additional 

persons eligible to serve as passport acceptance agents, 

and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF STATE TO DES4 IGNATE ADDITIONAL PERSONS ELIGIBLE TO 

5 SERVE AS PASSPORT ACCEPTANCE AGENTS. 

6 (a) AUTHORITY TO DESIGNATE.—The Secretary of 

7 State may designate any person described in subsection 

8 (b) that meets such other requirements as the Secretary 

9 may prescribe under regulations to serve as a passport acVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 May 30, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8234.IH H8234

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1 ceptance agent, unless the Secretary withdraws such au2 thorization on a case-by-case basis with respect to a given 

3 person. 

4 (b) AUTHORIZED PERSONS.—A person described in 

5 this subsection is any of the following: 

6 (1) An employee of the clerk of any Federal 

7 court. 

8 (2) An employee of the clerk of any State court 

9 of record. 

10 (3) A postal employee at a United States post 

11 office that has been selected to accept passport ap12 plications. 

13 (4) An employee of the Department of Defense 

14 at a military installation that has been authorized to 

15 accept passport applications. 

16 (5) An employee of a Federal department or 

17 agency that has been selected to accept passport ap18 plications. 

19 (6) Any person commissioned or appointed as a 

20 notary or notary public or otherwise authorized to 

21 perform a notarization under the laws of a State or 

22 territorial government. 

23 (7) Any other person specifically designated by 

24 the Secretary. 


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1 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of State shall pre2 scribe or revise such regulations as may be necessary to 

3 carry out this Act. 

4 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO HAND-CARRY COU5 RIER SERVICES FOR PASSPORT APPLICA6 TIONS AND PASSPORTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall take 

8 such steps as may be necessary to— 

9 (1) facilitate an increase in the number of com10 panies certified to provide hand-carry courier serv11 ices; and 

12 (2) increase the daily maximum number of ap13 plications for United States passports, by type, that 

14 such companies may submit to a passport agency of 

15 the Department of State (commonly referred to as 

16 ‘‘meeting slots’’) as part of the hand-carry courier 

17 services of such company. 

18 (b) HAND-CARRY COURIER SERVICE DEFINED.—In 

19 this section, the term ‘‘hand-carry courier service’’ in20 cludes— 

21 (1) the transport of applications for United 

22 States passports to a passport agency of the Depart23 ment of State for processing; and 


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1 (2) the retrieval of newly issued United States 

2 passports for delivery, directly or indirectly, to the 

3 passport holder. 

4 SEC. 3. REVISION TO DATE OF EXPIRATION OF UNITED 

5 STATES PASSPORTS. 

6 The Secretary of State shall take such actions as may 

7 be necessary to provide for the date of expiration of each 

8 United States passport issued or renewed on or after the 

9 date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

10 this Act to be the same date as the date of birth of the 

11 applicant or holder of the passport. 

Æ 


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