I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 773

To amend section 5318 of title 31, United States Code, to authorize financial 

institutions to accept matricula consular issued in the United States 

as a valid form of identification. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2003

Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. REYES, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. ORTIZ, 

Mr. BACA, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́, Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To amend section 5318 of title 31, United States Code, 

to authorize financial institutions to accept matricula 

consular issued in the United States as a valid form 

of identification.

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 ‘‘21st Century Access 

5 to Banking Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) As financial institutions more carefully 

2 scrutinize identifying documents presented by for3 eign nationals seeking to open new accounts, they 

4 are increasingly accepting the matricula consular as 

5 the primary form of identification for Mexican citi6 zens residing in the United States. 

7 (2) The matricula consular is a water-sealed 

8 photo identification card issued by the Government 

9 of Mexico to Mexican nationals who—

10 (A) complete an application form in person 

11 at any of the 47 consulate offices of the Gov12 ernment of Mexico within the United States; 

13 and 

14 (B) submit a certified copy of a birth cer15 tificate, present an official picture ID issued by 

16 any Mexican or U.S. authority, and show proof 

17 of residence in the consular district by pre18 senting a phone, rent, or power bill. 

19 (3) The card known as the matricula consular 

20 contains a serial number, the individual’s name, date 

21 and place of birth, the United States address of such 

22 individual, as well as the card’s date of issuance and 

23 expiration. 

24 (4) Mexican consulate offices in the United 

25 States are also developing a telephone verification 
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1 service that will allow financial institutions and 

2 other persons to confirm the authenticity of any 

3 matricula consular. 

4 (5) Accepting matricula consular as a form of 

5 identification allows Mexican immigrants to enter 

6 the financial mainstream and provides banks and 

7 other financial institutions with a new, fast-growing 

8 market. 

9 (6) Opening a bank account is often impossible 

10 for Mexican nationals who lack the generally re11 quired 2 forms of identification and as a con12 sequence, they often use expensive check-cashing 

13 services to cash payroll checks and wire services to 

14 send money to relatives in Mexico and carry large 

15 sums of cash, which has increasingly made them tar16 gets of crime. 

17 (7) Institutions located in areas with large His18 panic populations have established a variety of pro19 grams to meet the needs of this growing segment of 

20 the population, including the maintenance of bilin21 gual automated teller machines, the employment of 

22 bilingual staff, and the establishment of loan pack23 ages and business banking services geared to His24 panic businesses. 
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1 (8) The acceptance of the matricula consular 

2 issued by consulates of the Government of Mexico as 

3 a form of identification is consistent with the pro4 posed customer identification verification regulations 

5 prescribed under section 5318(l) of title 31, United 

6 States Code. 

7 SEC. 3. ACCEPTANCE OF MATRICULA CONSULAR FOR IDEN8 TIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OF CUS9 TOMERS WHO OPEN ACCOUNTS AT FINAN10 CIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (6) of section 5318(l) 

12 of title 31, United States Code, is amended to read as 

13 follows: 

14 ‘‘(6) MATRICULA CONSULAR.—Subject to regu15 lations prescribed under this subsection, a matricula 

16 consular issued in the United States by a duly au17 thorized consular officer of the Government of Mex18 ico shall be a valid form of identification of the indi19 vidual to whom the card is issued for purposes of 

20 this subsection.’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The Sec22 retary of the Treasury shall prescribe such regulations in 

23 final form as may be necessary to give effect to the amend24 ment made by subsection (a) before the end of the 90-
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1 day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

2 Act.

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