Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act

Subjects: Government Operations and Politics


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1398 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1398

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 2, 2023

 Mr. Budd (for himself, Mr. Lee, Mr. Braun, Mr. Hagerty, Mrs. Fischer, 
Mr. Marshall, and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following bill; which 
       was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and 
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING PROMOTION OF VOTER REGISTRATION BY AGENCIES.

    (a) 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.
    (b) Activities Under Executive Order 14019.--
            (1) Delay in implementation.--
                    (A) Delay.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
                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 paragraph 
                        (2)(A), 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 paragraph 
                        (2)(B), the date on which the agency submits 
                        the report.
                    (B) Exception.--Subparagraph (A) 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)).
            (2) 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--
                    (A) 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
                    (B) if the agency did not develop or submit a plan 
                described in subparagraph (A) 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.
    (c) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b)(2), this 
section shall apply with respect to fiscal year 2023 and each 
succeeding fiscal year.

SEC. 3. 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).

SEC. 4. 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''.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (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 section 2(b) of this Act 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 Judiciary of the Senate;
                    (C) the Committee on House Administration of the 
                House of Representatives; and
                    (D) the Committee on Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
</pre></body></html>