REPLACE Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The REPLACE Act amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act's critical document fee waiver. When a major disaster receiving Stafford Act individual assistance destroys a critical document, the President, in consultation with the Governor, must provide the fee waiver. The bill also makes the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services post public notices explaining that replacement-document waivers are available. The practical effect is to turn fee relief for passports, immigration papers, and other critical records into a clearer disaster-recovery duty rather than an obscure discretionary option.
Who Benefits and How
Disaster survivors benefit because they can replace destroyed passports, immigration documents, and other critical records without paying normal federal fees. Low-income disaster households benefit most because document fees can block access to work, travel, benefits, housing, or identity verification after a disaster. State emergency managers benefit because the President must consult the Governor and public notices give survivors clearer instructions. Immigrant disaster survivors benefit because USCIS must post waiver information instead of leaving fee relief buried in agency procedures.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Department of State passport services must publicize and process fee waivers for covered disaster survivors. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must publicize and process immigration-document fee waivers. FEMA and White House disaster staff must coordinate the waiver decision with State Governors after major disasters. Federal fee-funded offices bear lost fee revenue and added processing work for replacement documents.
Key Provisions
- Requires the President to provide critical-document fee waivers after covered major disasters.
- Amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act so waiver duties apply regardless of other document-replacement rules.
- Directs the Department of State to post public notice of available replacement-document fee waivers.
- Directs USCIS to post public notice of available immigration-document fee waivers.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires fee waivers for disaster survivors whose critical identity or immigration documents were destroyed in a major disaster receiving Stafford Act individual assistance.
Key Policy Areas
Disaster Recovery, Federal Fees, Immigration
Primary Purpose
Requires fee waivers for disaster survivors whose critical identity or immigration documents were destroyed in a major disaster receiving Stafford Act individual assistance.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Disaster survivors
- Low-income disaster households
- State emergency managers
- Immigrant disaster survivors
Identified Costs
- Department of State passport services
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- FEMA disaster staff
- Federal fee-funded offices
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Neguse (for himself and Ms. Maloy) introduced the following …
Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and …
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of State passport services, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
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