House Passes Costa, Issa Bill to Modernize Passport System

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6610 - The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act by voice vote. The legislation is authored by Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) and co-led by Rep. Jim Costa (CA-21), Rep. María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Rep. Nikema Williams (GA-05).

“American taxpayers shouldn’t have to face long delays to get their passports. It has impacted many of my constituents who have medical, work, and family obligations. This legislation takes a multi-approach towards tackling the backlog and modernizing our passport system.” said Rep. Costa.  

“The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act is the solution Americans deserve in the wake of a two-year-long passport backlog that impacted 50 million of our fellow citizens and still takes more than a month to process an application. With the House’s approval, we are now one step closer to transforming our flawed process, preventing future backlogs, and setting the system right for decades to come,” said Rep. Issa. 

“We are now four years after the start of the pandemic and the State Department is still behind on processing passports for my constituents. Three months for a passport is way too long. The House of Representatives is addressing an important issue that all Americans are still being forced to deal with. Let’s clean the mess up at the State Department and bring this critical service back to order,” said Rep. Salazar.

The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act is a comprehensive modernization of the passport issuance process from document submission through the processing of finished documents. The legislation deploys numerous tools to address problems exposed by the post-COVID backlog, ensures that the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs’ processing capabilities avoid such backlogs in the future, and streamlines the application and processing experience for American travelers. 

The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act would:

• Enact the first set of performance standards for the passport system.

• Require the Bureau of Consular Affairs to set up a tool to allow congressional caseworkers to track the status of a passport through the passport process.

• Require the Bureau to implement a system for text/email notifications to applicants for each stage of the issuance process and reminder notifications for renewal.

• Require the Bureau to develop an app for submitting passport applications, receiving notifications, and any other communications with the State Department such as evacuation requests overseas.

• Require the Bureau to expand the Online Passport Renewal (OPR) system to accept new passport applications, including online document submission. 

• Implement rules-based software products to process routine renewal applications while maintaining the integrity of the U.S. passport.

• Require the Bureau of Consular Affairs to set up a working group to liaise with private sector technology providers to identify commercial products that can further improve the passport system and encourage the Bureau to pilot at least three such technology solutions.

• Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive review of the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ information technology infrastructure.

The bill has received the endorsement of the U.S. Travel Association.

Read the endorsement letter HERE.

The bill text can be found HERE.